Barclays warns of a financial storm as Federal Reserve's credibility crumbles

US central bank accused of unleashing an inflation shock that will rock financial markets, reports Ambrose Evans-Pritchard Barclays Capital has advised clients to batten down the hatches for a worldwide financial storm, warning that the US Federal Reserve has allowed the inflation genie out of the bottle and let its credibility fall "below zero".

"We're in a nasty environment," said Tim Bond, the bank's chief equity strategist. "There is an inflation shock underway. This is going to be very negative for financial assets. We are going into tortoise mood and are retreating into our shell. Investors will do well if they can preserve their wealth."

The grim verdict on Ben Bernanke's Fed was underscored by the markets yesterday as the dollar fell against the euro following the bank's dovish policy statement on Wednesday.

More from The Telegraph

Truckers to Washington: Drill for oil! - 'What we need is to develop what we have offshore, in Alaska, and from shale'

Truckers are telling Washington to do something about the high prices of fuel and quit blaming the oil companies and OPEC.

"The temporary solutions aren't any good," David Kilcoin, a truck owner-operator from Phoenix, Ariz., told WND at the Great West Truck Show going on now at the Las Vegas Convention Center.

"We don't need a quick fix; what we need is to develop what we have offshore, in Alaska and from oil shale," he said.

With fuel prices for gasoline for passenger vehicles hovering at $4 a gallon and diesel for the big rigs higher, he said those in Washington, including the president, the presidential candidates and Congress, have "spent far too much time focusing on getting rich quick themselves."

Truckers face fuel expenses as the largest single part of their operating expenses, often with bills that run 25 percent of their budget.

More from WorldNetDaily

Unable to Pay for Fill-Up, German Man Torches His BMW in Protest

A German man doused his BMW with gasoline and torched it on Friday in protest at skyrocketing fuel costs, police said. The unemployed 30-year-old man drove the black 1995 BMW 3-series sedan onto the lawn outside Frankfurt's convention center grounds at about 7:30 a.m., police spokesman Karlheinz Wagner said.

He then jumped out, emptied a canister of gas over the vehicle, and set fire to it, Wagner said.

By the time the fire department got to the scene, the car was entirely burned out.

The Bavarian man, whose name was being withheld because he has not been charged with a crime, told police that gas prices were so high he could no longer afford to drive the vehicle.

As in many countries, gasoline prices have risen steadily in Germany; a liter of regular gasoline now costs about $9.40 per gallon.

Police were investigating whether the man could be charged with violating German environmental laws with the stunt, Wagner said. Penalties range from fines to five years in prison.

From Fox News

Sex OK at 9, says Saudi cleric 'Muhammad is model we follow. - He took 'Aisha to be his wife when she was 6'

Age, or lack thereof, is no hindrance to marriage under Islam, according to Ahmad Al-Mu'bi, an officiant for marriages from Saudi Arabia who says sex at 9 is fine.

According to a video of the Saudi official recorded and translated by MEMRI, the Middle East Media Research Institute, Al-Mu'bi has confirmed that marriage contracts are appropriate for girls as young as age 1.

And he said the model for marriage continues to be Muhammad, who married one of his wives when she was but 6.

The video comes from a broadcast on LBC Television on June 19, according to the MEMRI report.

He confirmed, "The Prophet Muhammad is the model we follow. He took 'Aisha to be his wife when she was 6, but he had sex with her only when she was 9."

More from WorldNetDaily

Many Teens Getting Free Alcohol From Adults

More than half of American teens say they've consumed alcohol, and more than 40 percent of those children say they sometimes get their alcohol free from an adult, a new federal survey found.

Among the country's estimated 10.8 million underage drinkers, more than 40 percent said they got alcohol free from an adult during the past month. One in four said they got the alcohol from an unrelated adult, one in 16 got it from a parent or guardian, and one in 12 got the alcohol from a family member, according to the survey.

"There are a relatively large number of persons aged 12 to 20 who consume alcohol," said James Colliver, a statistician with the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). "A number of them are likely to get alcohol from a parent or another family member or other adult.

Underage drinking is responsible for more than 5,000 deaths of people under 21 each year in the United States, according to the report.

More from The Washington Post

Dobson accuses Obama of 'distorting' Bible

As Barack Obama broadens his outreach to evangelical voters, one of the movement's biggest names, James Dobson, accuses the likely Democratic presidential nominee of distorting the Bible and pushing a "fruitcake interpretation" of the Constitution.

Dobson took aim at examples Obama cited in asking which Biblical passages should guide public policy - chapters like Leviticus, which Obama said suggests slavery is OK and eating shellfish is an abomination, or Jesus' Sermon on the Mount, "a passage that is so radical that it's doubtful that our own Defense Department would survive its application."

"Folks haven't been reading their Bibles," Obama said.

Dobson and Minnery accused Obama of wrongly equating Old Testament texts and dietary codes that no longer apply to Jesus' teachings in the New Testament.

"I think he's deliberately distorting the traditional understanding of the Bible to fit his own worldview, his own confused theology," Dobson said.

"... He is dragging biblical understanding through the gutter."

More at MyWay

Also - Unstamped certificate suggests Obama may not be "natural born" US citizen - From IsrealInsider - This is a really interesting read!

Diabetes Cases Increase 15 Percent in 2 Years

The number of Americans with diabetes increased by 15 percent in two years to 24 million, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. About 8 percent of the population now has the disease, mainly Type 2 diabetes, which is linked to obesity and sedentary living, the agency said in a report using data from 2007. A quarter of people ages 60 and older had diabetes, the agency said. The number of people worldwide with diabetes will double to 366 million by 2030, according to the World Health Organization, which calls the disease an epidemic. Most people with diabetes have resistance to insulin, which the body uses to convert blood sugar to energy. The C.D.C. report was its first update of the prevalence of diabetes since 2005, when it reported that about 21 million Americans had the disease.

From The New York Times

Obama: America is 'no longer Christian' - Democrat says nation also for Muslims, nonbelievers

Some have been taking issue with largely unnoticed comments made last year by Sen. Barack Obama declaring the U.S. is "no longer a Christian nation" but is also a nation of others, including Muslims and nonbelievers.

The comments have been recently recirculating on Internet blogs.

"Whatever we once were, we're no longer a Christian nation. At least not just. We are also a Jewish nation, a Muslim nation, and a Buddhist nation, and a Hindu nation, and a nation of nonbelievers," Obama said during a June 2007 speech available on YouTube.

At the speech, Obama also seemingly blasted the "Christian Right" for hijacking religion and using it to divide the nation:

"Somehow, somewhere along the way, faith stopped being used to bring us together and started being used to drive us apart. It got hijacked. Part of it's because of the so-called leaders of the Christian Right, who've been all too eager to exploit what divides us," he said.

More from WorldNetDaily

Also - Bin Laden top man sprung in deal with terrorists? - From WorldNetDaily

Fuel Costs May Force Some Kids To Walk

Here's how rising fuel prices affect an organization with a fleet of 1,273 school buses: The Montgomery County school board today will consider giving Superintendent Jerry D. Weast

emergency powers to make students walk farther to school, if need be, in the coming academic year.

The school system's diesel costs have more than doubled in four years, from $3.6 million in fiscal 2005 to a projected $7.9 million for fiscal 2009, which begins next month. It's a hardship shared by the Fairfax County school system, with more than 1,500 buses; the Prince George's County system, with 1,285 buses; and other area systems that transport tens of thousands of students daily and are paying more for fuel than the average parent at an Exxon pump on Rockville Pike.

More at the Washington Post

Was solution to energy crunch offered in 1995?

Could the current U.S. energy crisis have been averted? One member of the U.S. Senate believes a solution was offered, but rejected, in 1995.

Americans are facing the highest energy prices in the nation's history. But according to Senator Roger F. Wicker (R-Mississippi), the whole crisis could have been averted back in 1995. That was when Republicans sent then-President Bill Clinton a bill to open up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) for oil exploration.

Clinton vetoed the bill, saying it would not help America's dependency on foreign oil because it would take ten years for the product to come on line. Fast-forward 13 years.

More from OneNewsNow

Non-doctor accused of providing abortions in Calif

The owner of a clinic has been charged with posing as a doctor to perform abortions, some of them unsuccessful or resulting in severe complications and hospitalization, prosecutors said Friday.

Bertha Pinedo Bugarin, 48, was arrested Thursday after a yearlong investigation, San Diego County district attorney spokesman Paul Levikow said.

She was charged with 10 felony counts, including performing medical procedures without a license and grand theft, he said. She faces more than nine years in prison if convicted.

More from MyWay

Bible citation costs couple jobs, home - Apartment managers evicted, fired for being 'too religious'

For eight years Daniel and Sharon Dixon, apartment managers in Lake City, Fla., displayed in the apartment complex's management office a stained glass depiction of flowers with the words "Consider the lilies … Matthew 6:28" written in the lower left corner – an act for which they were suddenly fired from their management jobs and evicted from their apartment.

The artwork that got the Dixons fired

Mathew D. Staver, founder of Liberty Counsel, a non-profit organization dedicated to advancing religious freedom that is representing the Dixons, told WND that neither before nor after the incident were the Dixons charged with any wrongdoing other than protesting the removal of the artwork and loss of their jobs.

"They were suddenly terminated as a result of the religious bigotry of one supervisor," Staver said in a press release. "The Dixons lost their jobs and were booted out on the street, solely because artwork in their office made reference to the Bible."

The Dixons managed and provided maintenance for the Thornwood Terrace Apartments, a government-subsidized complex owned and operated by the Hallmark Companies and Hallmark Management. The couple was permitted to live in the complex as part of their compensation.

More from WorldNetDaily

Study links diabetes, depression

A new study says people with Type 2 diabetes are more likely to be depressed - and vice versa.

Doctors concede they need to study patients more closely to determine whether the disease is causing depression or whether something about depression could lead to Type 2 diabetes.

"The psychological stress associated with diabetes management may lead to elevated depressive symptoms," Dr. Sherita Hill Golden writes in a report in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

"We were able to show that there's a bidirectional association," she said.

Diabetes causes high blood sugar levels, which can be fatal if left untreated. It can be treated with insulin and changes in diet and exercise.

About 21 million Americans suffer from diabetes and 30 million have symptoms of depression.

More from the New York Daily News

The Really. Really Bad Ideal Department - LET"S NATIONALIZE OIL!

So much for any personal rights, now some want the government to control everything, like the communist countries do. This is an amazing bit of video from Fox and You Tube.

Gas Station Bans Credit Cards Because Of High Fees

It's not only the customer who is taking a hit from high gas prices, some gas stations' profits are being entirely mitigated by credit card interchange fees. The AP reports that gas station manager Roger Randolph was fed up with losing money on credit card fees. His solution was to place new signs on his Chevron gas pumps that read "No more credit cards." Details, inside...

The article says,

His complaints target the so-called interchange fee — a percentage of the sale price paid to credit card companies on every transaction. The percentage is fixed — usually at just under 2 percent — but the dollar amount of the fee rises with the price of the goods or services.

As gas tops $4 a gallon, that pushes fees toward 10 cents a gallon. Now stations, which typically mark up gasoline by 11 to 12 cents a gallon, are seeing profits shrink or even reverse.

More from The Consumerist

Man reports Obama fans threaten his life

A spokesman for a political action committee that recently released an ad questioning Sen. Barack Obama's statements about his faith says supporters of the Democratic presidential candidate are trying to scare him with vulgarities and implied threats.

"Intimidation by Obama supporters is in vogue," said Floyd Brown, chief of the National Campaign Fund.

The senator has gone so far as to say he would "fire" any campaign workers that were caught taking the low road, he said.

"Yet when I participate, I find myself having my life threatened," Brown said.

"I challenge Sen. Obama to denounce the thuggish behavior of his partisans. Threats of violence and intimidation are not a mature response to any campaign advertisement," said Brown. "Sen. Obama cannot say out of one side of his mouth he wants a clean campaign and then allow his people to threaten me to 'watch my back.'

More from WorldNetDaily. Some material may be sensitive due to the nature of the threats.

Also - Obama numbered among 'false prophets' - From Onenewsnow.com

Transgender activists remove clothing in public

In Massachusetts, the first U.S. state to make same-sex marriages official, the next wave of the war over sexual identity and morality has begun.

Transgender activists, many of whom had undergone hormone treatments and surgical procedures to alter their gender appearance, marched down the main street in Northampton, Mass., last week, carrying signs demanding the passage of new laws to end discrimination against transsexuals.

Many of the marchers, born women, wore beards and boasted love for their husbands or wives. According to one observer, some who had undergone surgery to remove their breasts took off their shirts at a rally following the main event. WND was able to confirm the claim, but refrained from posting photographs for decency concerns.

More from WorldNetDaily

Energy Guzzled by Al Gore’s Home in Past Year Could Power 232 U.S. Homes for a Month

In the year since Al Gore took steps to make his home more energy-efficient, the former Vice President’s home energy use surged more than 10%, according to the Tennessee Center for Policy Research.

“A man’s commitment to his beliefs is best measured by what he does behind the closed doors of his own home,” said Drew Johnson, President of the Tennessee Center for Policy Research. “Al Gore is a hypocrite and a fraud when it comes to his commitment to the environment, judging by his home energy consumption.” In the past year, Gore’s home burned through 213,210 kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity, enough to power 232 average American households for a month.

In February 2007, An Inconvenient Truth, a film based on a climate change speech developed by Gore, won an Academy Award for best documentary feature. The next day, the Tennessee Center for Policy Research uncovered that Gore’s Nashville home guzzled 20 times more electricity than the average American household.

Well there's an Inconvenient Truth there for ya!

From Tennesseepolicy.org

Police arrest lesbians for 'torturing' boy, 5

A 5-year-old Los Angeles boy is fighting for his life after police say he was severely tortured with burns and food deprivation by his lesbian mother and her live-in girlfriend.

Officials say the child has countless cigarette burns all over his body, including his genitals, and can't open his hands because he was forced to put them flat on a hot stove.

The boy was also repeatedly beaten and forced to sit in his own urine, police said.

"In my time in policing in 27 years, I have never seen anybody with these kinds of injuries that has lived," Los Angeles Police Department First Assistant Chief James McDonnell said. "And this kid must have a tremendous will to live to be able to still hang on despite what he's been through."

The abuse was "akin to a level of torture we hope our military personnel would never encounter," said Lt. Vincent Neglia of the LAPD's Abused Child Unit.

Other abuse the boy suffered included being denied food and water, as well as being beaten while suspended from a door with his hands above his head.

More from WorldNetDaily

Legal Drugs Kill Far More Than Illegal, Florida Says

An analysis of autopsies in 2007 released this week by the Florida Medical Examiners Commission found that the rate of deaths caused by prescription drugs was three times the rate of deaths caused by all illicit drugs combined.

“You have health care providers involved, you have doctor shoppers, and then there are crimes like robbing drug shipments,” said Jeff Beasley, a drug intelligence inspector for the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, which co-sponsored the study. “There is a multitude of ways to get these drugs, and that’s what makes things complicated.” The report’s findings track with similar studies by the federal Drug Enforcement Administration, which has found that roughly seven million Americans are abusing prescription drugs. If accurate, that would be an increase of 80 percent in six years and more than the total abusing cocaine, heroin, hallucinogens, Ecstasy and inhalants.

The Florida report analyzed 168,900 deaths statewide. Cocaine, heroin and all methamphetamines caused 989 deaths, it found, while legal opioids — strong painkillers in brand-name drugs like Vicodin and OxyContin — caused 2,328.

Drugs with benzodiazepine, mainly depressants like Valium and Xanax, led to 743 deaths. Alcohol was the most commonly occurring drug, appearing in the bodies of 4,179 of the dead and judged the cause of death of 466 — fewer than cocaine (843) but more than methamphetamine (25) and marijuana (0).

More from The New York Times

Obama's Abortion Bombshell: Unrestricted Abortion Over Wishes of Individual States a Priority for Presidency

Barack Obama, the presumptive pro-abortion nominee of the Democratic Party, has plans to reward the allies that helped him topple Hillary Clinton from her throne by making total unrestricted abortion in the United States his number one priority as president.

In light of Obama's recently achieved status as the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, Focus on the Family's CitizenLink has decided to remind its supporters that almost one year has passed since Obama made his vows to the Planned Parenthood Action Fund that abortion would be the first priority of his administration.

"The first thing I'd do as president is sign the Freedom of Choice Act," Obama said in his July speech to abortion advocates worried about the increase of pro-life legislation at the state level.

More from LifeSiteNews.com

Ohio county public library has closed its meeting rooms to the public rather than allow them to be used by a Christian group

George and Cathy Vandergriff wanted to host a Crown Financial Ministries "Financial Freedom" workshop in a public meeting room at the Clermont County, Ohio, public library. Tim Chandler, an attorney with the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF), says the couple was told that, because the class would be quoting from the Bible, they could not hold it at the library.

"The Supreme Court said, more than 25 years ago, that once you've opened up meeting space, you can't exclude anyone just because they're engaging in religious speech. And, here we are, we're still fighting this battle," Chandler contends.

ADF filed suit against the library on the Vandergriff's behalf. In the overwhelming majority of cases of this type, the government entity will back down after only a letter from attorneys threatening to sue. If not, they almost always give in when the suit is actually filed, which is why the Clermont Library's reaction shocked the ADF attorney.

"The library, in response to the lawsuit, has decided to close the meeting rooms and not allow anybody in the public to use them. So, this is the length that they're going to exclude Christians from being able to use their meeting space," Chandler explains.

More at OneNewsNow

10 Shocking Facts About Global Slavery in 2008

2008 witnesses the 200th anniversary of the abolition of the transatlantic slave trade in America. Amidst the celebrations, what many people fail to realize is that slavery persists today in the modern world on an enormous scale.

In spite of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted by the UN in 1948 stating that “slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms,” the figures accompanying the modern slave trade seem inconceivable in a global society that prides itself upon its modern-day values and emphasis on human rights.

More from Matador.org

How Speculators Are Causing the Cost of Living to Skyrocket

After investing in high-tech stocks and real estate loans for years, legions of speculators have now discovered commodities like oil and gas, wheat and rice. Their billions are pushing prices up to astronomical levels -- with serious consequences for ordinary people's quality of life and the global economy.

From Spiegel

Soaring costs are squeezing gas station owners too

Andre van der Valk hasn't been paid in six months.

He has a job, though, as owner of four service stations in Southern California. He hasn't taken a salary this year so he can pour all his money into buying fuel for his stations.

Despite the jaw-dropping prices at the pump -- they jumped 19 cents a gallon in California to $4.43 in the last week and averaged more than $4 a gallon nationwide for the first time, the Energy Department said Monday -- service station owners aren't making the killing that motorists assume.

That's because credit card fees, the price of tanker-loads of fuel and other costs are rising so rapidly that station owners haven't been able to keep pace despite the record prices they're charging.

"People see $4 gas, and they think these retailers are making a fortune," said Ben Brockwell, a director at Oil Price Information Service, which tracks fuel prices. "The reality is these guys are being stressed to the limit."

More from the LA Times

41 Secrets Your Doctor Would Never Share

If You Only Knew ...

Reader's Digest offered two dozen doctors a chance to tell it like it really is, and general practitioners, surgeons, shrinks, pediatricians, and other specialists took the challenge. Some wanted to be anonymous; some didn't care. But all of them revealed funny, frightening, and downright shocking things that can help you be a better, smarter patient.

From Readers Digest

Police: Teen Sleepover Turns Into Sex Party

Police said two Bucks County moms have been charged after a sleepover involving six teenage boys took an alleged illegal sexual turn.

Angela Honeycutt, 38, and Lynne Long, 45, are facing numerous charges after a series of alleged incidents on April 14.

Authorities said the teens, ages 14 to 16, were attending a sleepover at Long's Lower Makefield home when Honeycutt, a mother of two young children, allegedly had sex with a 14-year-old and performed sex acts with a 15-year-old. Long allegedly watched, listened and instructed the teens not to say anything.

"What is so particularly outrageous about this is the violation of trust," said Lower Makefield Twp. Police Chief Ken Coluzzi.

More from CBS3.com

Report: Marijuana potency rises

Marijuana potency increased last year to the highest level in more than 30 years, posing greater health risks to people who may view the drug as harmless, according to a report released Thursday by the White House.

The latest analysis from the University of Mississippi's Potency Monitoring Project tracked the average amount of THC, the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana, in samples seized by law enforcement agencies from 1975 through 2007. It found that the average amount of THC reached 9.6% in 2007, compared with 8.75% the previous year.

The 9.6% level represents more than a doubling of marijuana potency since 1983, when it averaged just under 4%.

"Today's report makes it more important than ever that we get past outdated, anachronistic views of marijuana," said John Walters, director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy. "Marijuana potency has grown steeply over the past decade, with serious implications in particular for young people". He cited the risk of psychological, cognitive and respiratory problems, and the potential for users to become dependent on drugs such as cocaine and heroin.

A report from the office last month found that a teenager who has been depressed in the past year was more than twice as likely to have used marijuana than teenagers who have not reported being depressed — 25% compared with 12%. The study said marijuana use increased the risk of developing mental disorders by 40%.

More from USA Today

Biblical message now criminalized - Penalties created for those who criticize homosexuality outside church walls

A new Colorado law is helping homosexual activists achieve their goal of forcing Christians to teach biblical condemnation of homosexuality only behind the closed doors of their sanctuaries.

The as-yet untested state law promotes sexual identity "perception" to the level of skin color under state discrimination laws.

Some opponents are calling it a "bona fide censorship law," and top analysts for Focus on the Family, the Christian publishing and broadcast powerhouse, are expressing concern over the "mischief" they expect to follow the signing by Gov. Bill Ritter.

The law makes it illegal to deny a person access to public accommodations, including restrooms and locker rooms, based on gender identity or the "perception" of gender identity.

"Henceforth, every woman and little girl will have to fear that a predator, bisexual, cross-dresser or even a homosexual or heterosexual male might walk in and relieve himself in their presence," Dobson said.

But now an analyst for Focus, Bruce Hausknecht, has told WND there are other, significant, potential ramifications hidden in the fine print of the new law.

More at WorldNetDaily

CHRYSLER BUILDING ON THE BLOCK - SOVEREIGN ARAB FUND TO PAY $800M

The latest Big Apple trophy being coveted by oil-rich sovereign wealth funds is the landmark Chrysler Building.

Sources say the super-rich Abu Dhabi Investment Council is negotiating an $800 million deal for a 75 percent stake in the Art Deco treasure that has defined the Midtown skyline since 1930.

The Chrysler assets would be purchased from TMW - the German arm of an Atlanta-based investment fund that's been eager to cash out of its Chrysler stake.

The deal follows last month's sale of the GM Building and three other Macklowe/Equity Portfolio properties for $3.95 billion to a group of investors including the wealth funds of Kuwait and Qatar and Boston Properties.

From The New York Post

Is Obama's candidacy constitutional? Secrecy over birth certificate, demand for 'natural-born' citizenship cited

Bloggers are raising questions about Illinois Sen. Barack Obama's qualifications to be U.S. president, because of the secrecy over his birth certificate and the requirement presidents be "natural-born" U.S. citizens.

Jim Geraghty, reporting on the Campaign Spot, a National Review blog, cited the "unlikely" but still circulating rumor that Obama was born not within the United States, but elsewhere, possibly Kenya.

Geraghty defined the concerns most clearly, stating: "If Obama were born outside the United States, one could argue that he would not meet the legal definition of natural-born citizen … because U.S. law at the time of his birth required his natural-born parent (his mother) to have resided in the United States for '10 years, at least [f]ive of which had to be after the age of 16.'"

He then points out Ann Dunham, Obama's mother, was 18 when Obama was born "so she wouldn't have met the requirement of five years after the age of 16."

Geraghty continues: " (Interestingly, apparently there isn't much paperwork on Obama's parents' marriage. 'Obama: From Promise to Power,' page. 27: 'Obama later confessed that he never searched for the government documents on the marriage, although Madelyn (Obama's maternal grandmother) insisted they were legally married.' Also note that Obama's father apparently was not legally divorced from his first wife back in Kenya at the time, a point of contention that ultimately led to their separation.)"

More from WorldNetDaily

Southern Baptists worried by decline in baptisms

Baptisms in the Southern Baptist Convention have fallen to a 20-year low, a trend that is setting off alarm bells in America's largest evangelical denomination.

The number of people baptized in Southern Baptist churches and ceremonies, an important indicator of conversions and denominational growth, fell in 2007 for the third year in a row by 5 percent to 345,941.

That was the lowest number since 1987, a trend on the minds of many of the 7,000 delegates known as "messengers" attending the SBC's annual meeting in Indianapolis.

This year's theme is called "Fulfilling the Mission" and the logo pointedly depicts a picture of a baptism in progress.

For Southern Baptists, a decline in baptisms is a worry because a major tenet of their faith is to spread it. Many believe the "unchurched" are doomed to an eternity in hell.

"We should always be concerned when baptisms dip. It's about salvation. ... We are commanded to go and preach the gospel to every person," said Tommy French, a 77-year-old pastor from Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

Several delegates interviewed by Reuters expressed their concern in such terms: fewer baptisms meant fewer saved souls. For Southern Baptists, a public baptism in water is a key rite of the conversion experience.

More from Reuters

I BET I KNOW YOR PASSWORD!!!

Have you ever had an on line account stolen? I had my E-bay account stolen once and let me tell you it was murder getting it back, taking almost 2 months. You need a secure password, but many people use some really dumb stuff. Take a peek here at the ten most commonly used passwords. If one or more are yours, change it quickly before it is stolen. You have been warned.

From Local6.com

Energy Dept. says oil, gas prices to stay high

Motorists can expect gasoline prices around $4 gallon through next year, the Energy Department said Wednesday, with oil prices staying well above $100 a barrel.

Crude oil prices are likely to average $126 a barrel in 2009, $4 higher than this year, as oil supplies and demand are expected to remain tight, Guy Caruso, head of the department's Energy Information Administration, told a House hearing.

Gasoline prices are likely to peak at $4.15 a gallon in August and won't go down much after that, the agency projected in a report. Gasoline was forecast to average $3.92 a gallon through 2009.

The agency said that the high price of gasoline has reduced expected demand for this summer, but not enough to dampen prices.

More from AP

Government to pastor: Renounce your faith!

A Canadian human rights tribunal ordered a Christian pastor to renounce his faith and never again express moral opposition to homosexuality, according to a new report.

In a decision dated May 30 in the penalty phase of the quasi-judicial proceedings run by the Alberta Human Rights Tribunal, evangelical pastor Stephen Boisson was banned from expressing his biblical perspective of homosexuality and ordered to pay $5,000 for "damages for pain and suffering" as well as apologize to the activist who complained of being hurt.

According to a report from Pete Vere at the Catholic Exchange, the penalty could foreshadow the possible fate of the Rev. Alphonse de Valk, who also cited the biblical perspective on homosexuality in the nation's debate over same-sex "marriage" and now faces HRC charges.

"[The] government now believes that if it can't convince a Christian pastor that he's wrong, it will just order him to condemn himself?" Levant wrote on his blog. "Other than tribunals in Stalin's Soviet Union and Mao's China, where is this Orwellian 'order' considered to be justice?"

"This is like a Third World jail-house confession – where accused criminals are forced to sign false statements of guilt," Levant wrote. "We don’t even 'order' murderers to apologize to their victims' families. Because we know that a forced apology is meaningless. But not if your point is to degrade Christian pastors."

More from WorldNetDaily

Smoking Tied to Memory Loss in Middle Age

Middle-aged smokers are more prone to memory problems than their non-smoking peers, a new French study suggests.

While smoking is a recognized health hazard, there has been some debate on its effect on dementia, the study authors said.

"Dementia is rare among middle-aged people, but cognitive function at this age in closely related to dementia," said lead researcher Severine Sabia, of the Institut National de la Sante et de la Recherche Medicale in Villejuif, France. "Our results show that smoking is associated with poorer cognition and decline over five years.

More from U.S. News

Low vitamin D levels linked to greater risk of heart attacks in men

Having low levels of vitamin D is associated with a doubling of the risk of heart attacks in men and an even greater risk of dying from the cardiac condition, according to a new study.

The findings, published yesterday in the journal Archives of Internal Medicine, may help shed light on why many people with no known risk factors - such as high blood pressure or smoking - inexplicably develop heart attacks. It also suggests it may be possible to reduce the incidence of the often fatal condition by popping an inexpensive pill that is widely available in pharmacies and supplement stores.

"It's an important finding," says Edward Giovannucci, professor of nutrition and epidemiology at the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston, one of the researchers.

"It does indicate that even individuals without the standard risk factors for heart disease may be at somewhat higher risk if they have lower vitamin D levels," he said.

More at the Globe and Mail.

Drivers Say U.S. Should Drill for Oil on Federal Lands

A recent Department of Interior report, requested by Congress, estimates there are 139 billion barrels of undiscovered oil in the United States, onshore and off-shore combined -- more than the known oil reserves of Iran, Iraq or Russia. But most of that oil cannot be tapped because of environmental regulations.

Cybercast News Service spoke to people at a gas station in Alexandria, Va., last Thursday, where unleaded gas was selling for $4.09 per gallon, and asked this question: Should the U.S. be allowed to tap into the billions of barrels of oil that are on federal lands, but which are off limits because they lie under national parks or are protected by environmental laws? (Watch video)

"Whatever it takes to get my gas prices lower, to tell you the truth," said "Al" from Waldorf, Md. "Obviously we've got to save some for the future and stuff like that. But at the same time, I'm paying an awful lot for gas and it's gone up so fast in such a short amount of time. [It] doesn't really make a lot of sense to a lot of people."

More at CSNN

Rural US Getting Slammed By $4 Gas

Suburban commuters may not enjoy paying an average of $4 a gallon for gas, but the rural US, where income levels are low and dependence on large vehicles is high, is getting hit the hardest says the New York Times.

The paper put together a gas impact heat map that shows the percentage of income that's being spent on gasoline. Some regions with "higher" gas prices still only spend 2% of their median income on gas, while the percentage is as high as 16% in Wilcox County, Alabama. It looks like in Eastern KY where I live, we are having a pretty tough time.

See the Map at The Consumerist

Also - Top analyst sees $200 oil, $5.75 gas at WorldNetDaily

Gas hits national average of $4 for first time

Drivers are paying an average of $4 for a gallon of gasoline for the first time. AAA and the Oil Price Information Service say the national average price for a gallon of regular gas rose to $4.005 overnight from $3.988. But consumers in many parts of the country have already been paying well above that price for some time.

Gas is expected to keep climbing, putting greater pressure on consumers and businesses, because the price of oil is soaring in futures markets. Light, sweet crude shot up nearly $11 a barrel Friday and approached $140 for the first time.

Along with higher fuel costs, consumers are also contending with higher prices for food and other goods because of rising transportation costs.

From MyWay News

One Way to Combat High Prices - Just Run Out of Gas

In area where there are emergency road services, people are running out of gas on purpose, knowing they will be provided with one or two gallons to get them to the nearest gas station. This is a risky proposition, but let's admit it, people are broke and starting to get desperate. The downside is that it cost you and me as taxpayers, someone has to pay for that gas and the money it takes to get it to them.

More on this trend it Wisebread

FDA: If You Use The Foot Ulcer Cream Regranex, You May Die From Cancer

Bad news from the FDA: people who treat their foot and leg ulcers with the cream Regranex are five-times more likely to die from cancer.

According to the AP, the agency will slap its 'most serious warning label' on all Regranex boxes.

The findings come from a long-term analysis of records from health care providers comparing 1,600 patients who took Regranex with 2,800 patients who did not, according to the FDA.

The new label, which is outlined in a black box, advises doctors to use caution when prescribing the drug to patients with malignancies.

Regranex is a man-made version of a substance produced by the human body that helps heal ulcers. Because the drug causes cells to divide more rapidly, the FDA said Johnson & Johnson closely monitored patients for reports of cancer, which spreads through uncontrolled cell division.

From the Consumerist

Beach bonfires may be banned In Seattle - They fuel global warming, parks department says

Seattle Parks and Recreation might do what even this week's chilly weather couldn't -- douse the long tradition of beach bonfires at Alki and at Golden Gardens.

Park department staff is recommending reducing bonfires at the two beaches this summer and possibly banning them altogether next year.

The park board will hear the recommendation Thursday, and the city plans to run public-service announcements and hand out brochures later this month about the effects of bonfires on global warming.

At Alki on Wednesday night, Linda Garcia, a 56-year- old West Seattle resident, walked her dog and made a slightly rose-colored argument for preserving her beloved bonfires. "It's so windy around here it probably doesn't pollute that much.

"They have to try to take everything away," she said.

More from Seattlepi.com

Unemployment rate rose by the largest amount since February 1986.

The government reported the U.S. lost 49,000 jobs in May as the unemployment rate rose by the largest amount since February 1986.

The Labor Department reported the fifth consecutive month of declines in nonfarm payrolls. The decline was better-than-expected however, as economists had been expecting a 60,000 job decline for last month.

The unemployment rate, which is calculated separately by a survey of households, soared to 5.5% in May. Wall Street had only been expecting a slight rise to 5.1%. It's the highest the rate has been since October 2004.

More at Fox Buisness

Also - Dow Drops 400 Points On Unemployment News - from KNBC.com

And - Oil's biggest day yet drags down stocks - From AP

Mercury teeth fillings may harm some: FDA

Silver-colored metal dental fillings contain mercury that may cause health problems in pregnant women, children and fetuses, the Food and Drug Administration said on Wednesday after settling a related lawsuit.

As part of the settlement with several consumer advocacy groups, the FDA agreed to alert consumers about the potential risks on its website and to issue a more specific rule next year for fillings that contain mercury, FDA spokeswoman Peper Long said.

Millions of Americans have the fillings, or amalgams, to patch cavities in their teeth.

"Dental amalgams contain mercury, which may have neurotoxic effects on the nervous systems of developing children and fetuses," the FDA said in a notice on its Web site.

More at Yahoo News

In Japan, Cellphones Have Become Too Complex to Use

Steve Jobs' new iPhone, expected to be unveiled Monday, is headed to Japan by the end of the year. But the device's famed ease of use may actually be a turnoff in Japan, where consumers want features, not simplicity.



Indeed, Japanese handsets have become prime examples of feature creep gone mad. In many cases, phones in Japan are far too complex for users to master.

"There are tons of buttons, and different combinations or lengths of time yield different results,'" says Koh Aoki, an engineer who lives in Tokyo.

Experimenting with different key combinations in search of new features is "good for killing time during a long commute," Aoki says, "but it's definitely not elegant."

Japan has long been famous for its advanced cellphones with sci-fi features like location tracking, mobile credit card payment and live TV. These handsets have been the envy of consumers in the United States, where cell technology has trailed an estimated five years or more. But while many phones would do Captain Kirk proud, most of the features are hard to use or not used at all.

More from Wired

Number of Alcohol Related Illnesses Doubled in the UK

Royal British Healthcare Organization claimed that in the UK the number of people, who have been treated from illnesses caused by alcohol consumption, has doubled during the last 10 years. As an average a British drinks an equivalent of 9.6 liters of pure alcohol per year, whereas even in Russian, the country which is supposed to be the most 'drinking' country in the world, the average number is 8.7 liters.

Last year healthcare institutions registered 280,000 people treating from alcohol related illnesses. This statistics included not only liver and kidney diseases, which are most common by the alcohol consuming people, but also injuries received when under the effect of alcohol.

More from Infoniac.com

Euthanasia tourists snap up pet shop drug in Mexico

Elderly foreign tourists are tapping Mexican pet shops for a drug used by veterinarians to put cats and dogs to sleep that has become the sedative of choice for euthanasia campaigners.

Tourists from as far as Australia have travelled to Mexico to buy liquid pentobarbital, which causes a painless death in humans in less than an hour, right-to-die advocates say.

Clutching photos of the bottled drug to overcome a lack of Spanish, they have maps sketched by euthanasia activists to locate back-street pet shops and veterinary supply stores near the US border. There they can buy a bottle for $35 to $50, enough for one suicide, no questions asked.

Used legally across the world to anesthetise and euthanise farm animals and pets, pentobarbital, sometimes known by the trade name Nembutal, is tightly restricted to veterinarians.

But lax regulation in Mexico means it can easily be bought.

More from Christian Today

Bilderbergers set to meet in D.C. - Secret confab source of global plotting theories

The annual secretive gathering of representatives from West European and North American countries, known as the Bilderberg Group, is scheduled to begin tomorrow in the Washington, D.C., area.

While the specific location is still a mystery to the general public, Sweden's Dagens Nyheter reports the conference is being held at the Westfields Marriott Hotel in Chantilly, Va., on the outskirts of the nation's capital.

The Bilderberg Group is an elite invitation-only conference of influential members of the business, media and political communities. Past attendees have included Hillary Clinton, Bill Clinton, former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

The group meets at luxury hotels and resorts throughout the world. Last year's conference was held at the Ritz-Carlton in Istanbul, Turkey. Every four years the conference is held in the U.S. or Canada. The group has an office in Leiden, South Holland, Netherlands.

Interesting note - The group is often linked to the start of a One World Government or New World Order, and is somewhat quite about their goings on. They don't even have their own website.

More at WorldNetDaily

Article on this strange and powerful group at Wikipedia

Teens' Nude Pics "Spread Like Wildfire"

Teenagers are increasingly snapping naked pictures of themselves on their cell phones, officials say, with the photos often falling into the wrong hands.

Sometimes the photos end up in everyone's hands, via the Internet.

"It used to be that kids would make mistakes, and it was local and singular and everyone knew it was part of growing up," said Catherine Davis, who had a frank talk with her two sons after several students' nude self-portraits recently spread through the wealthy New York City-area suburb of Westport, Connecticut. "Now a stupid adolescent mistake can take on major implications and go on their record for the rest of their lives."

Psychologists said the phenomenon reflects typical teenage hormones and lack of judgment, with technology multiplying the potential for mischief. It also may reflect a teenage penchant for exhibitionism, as demonstrated on MySpace and countless other Web sites and blogs.

More at CBS News - NOTE - Some info may be sensitive.