Replies to post #129550 on Zeev's Turnips Talk Politics (ZTTP)

[heehee1]

mlsoft,

You are correct. No one can ever be forced to be a "Christian" or a label of any faith. I only wish some of your representatives are intelligent or honest enough to realize that. Especially the Bush administration. But you know exactly what I'm inferring to when I say "shove down my throat".

After some thinking, I realized I wrongfully directed my anger towards you. For that I apologize. My expressed opinion was not meant to disrespect YOUR beliefs, as long as YOUR beliefs don't infringe on my personal rights. My disdain is reserved only to the falsely alleged "Christians". The power hungry, greedy parasites who manipulate religion so that they can exploit the goodness in people, and to control the mass for personal gains.

I genuinely think for the most part, Christianity was meant to ascend humanity. There is much good in what Jesus preached. Unfortunately, fear is Christianity's main intoxicant to solicit believers. Fear of God's retribution, fear of the devil, fear of going to hell. Sadly, for the many dispossessed innocents, they are in hell. Ask the Sudanese that are being murdered without reasons. Ask the Iraqis who watch helplessly as their loved ones being blown to pieces by insurgents or Americans. Ask the New Orleanians who had to witness their parents, their children, dying of thirst, dying of hunger while their president is on vacation. You get my drift. The above injustices are a few of the many reasons why, I simply cannot place my faith in god.... any god.

[harrypothead]

Nation embraces the deceit
Ross Nelson, The Forum
Published Sunday, September 25, 2005


Corrupt, dishonest people in power have always been a threat to liberty. Corralling them is in part what constitutions are for. But it’s our miserable luck to have had two of our worst presidents in a row, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, and a public that appears to prefer corruption to limited, constitutional government.

I won’t re-argue here that we were lied into the Iraq war, though the evidence is clear enough for those with eyes to see.

Instead, suppose Bush’s defenders are right, that he was not lying but mistaken. A mistake means we should have made amends to Iraq, packed our bags, and left. Alas, this course would assume we aren’t an aggressive empire and that “patriotic” Americans still cared for their country.

I have long sympathized with the pickups-and-guns crowd and country music folk. “A country boy will survive” mentality has always struck me as a healthy attitude toward overweening government.

What an unhappy surprise it’s been to find that these people were not only the first to be fooled and manipulated by President Bush, but they also tend to be among the most fanatically devoted to our immoral war.

What of Christians? Christianity has been western civilization’s bedrock and still is in America.

Given centuries of government persecution and dominion over various Christian sects, they should be the last groups to want government power to grow needlessly. Such power always grows during crises. How is it, then, that so many Christians willfully support our war with Iraq?

If Bush lied or was mistaken, then the Iraq war is a mistake. To kill when we know we’re in the wrong is to intentionally shed innocent blood, no matter how many post hoc rationalizations we come up with.

Those Christians who support such a war not only have some of that innocent blood on their hands but mock the equality of God’s children. It’s the peak of hypocrisy to sing of the Bible’s values while supporting a war widely acknowledged as fought under mistaken premises.

Spare us pious nonsense about America being God’s cleansing sword toward other nations: we were never given such a portfolio, and our un-Christian interventions over the years have caused more human suffering, not less.

Christ’s warning to those who plead their faith but don’t do God’s will is: “And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.”

The conservative movement, never a monolith, got its start from the excesses of Franklin Roosevelt’s policies. It’s hard to imagine now, but a main tenet of conservatism was its anti-war zeal.

This zeal is of a piece with conservatism’s concern over government size and power and goes all the way back to George Washington’s advocacy of neutrality.

But on war many conservatives have lost their minds, or their principles. WDAY radio’s Jack Sunday recently pointed out anti-war statements that stalwarts such as Trent Lott, Sean Hannity, and Tom Delay made when President Clinton went to war with Serbia. That their position is now neatly reversed shows that it’s who’s in office, not principle, that informs their conservatism.

Those whose calling is to be watchdogs over government abuses and excesses are now witless lap poodles for the president, who isn’t even conservative himself.

Liberals shouldn’t be too smug either. They yapped for war with Serbia when Clinton was president and indeed have led the charge in just about every major war we’ve seen the past 100 years.

Disillusionment, thy name is American public.

Nelson is a Fargo postal worker and regular contributor to The Forum’s commentary pages. He can be reached at [e-mail]

[harrypothead]

Soon we'll be daytrading our house. Never say never. As if housing wasn't speculative enough. Never underestimate the ability of the market to drag in greater fools.

CME and MACRO Securities Research Announce Licensing Agreement for Housing Index Derivatives

Futures Contracts for Ten U.S. Cities to Be Based on Case-Shiller Indexes®

CHICAGO, Sept. 27, 2005 – CME, the world’s largest and most diversified futures exchange, today announced that it has signed a licensing agreement with MACRO Securities Research, LLC (MSR), a financial innovations firm located in Madison, New Jersey, dedicated to the creation of instruments designed to unlock liquidity in new asset classes, to launch derivatives based on ten of the Case-Shiller Indexes® (CSIs), published by Fiserv, CSW Inc. (CSW), representing movements in housing price values. These futures contracts are scheduled to launch in the second quarter of 2006.

The ten cities include Boston, Chicago, Denver, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Miami, New York Commuter Index, San Diego, San Francisco and Washington D.C. CME will also list a composite index of the ten cities for trading. The contracts will be settled in cash based on the value of the CSIs for housing.

“CME is continually developing alternative investment products for customers seeking to better diversify their risk,” said CME Chairman Terry Duffy. “With residential real estate as a significant asset class, these new contracts represent the creation of a novel derivatives product group that could attract new users to our markets.”

“Even as the Federal Reserve valued the U.S. residential real estate market at nearly $19 trillion in 2004, there is presently no liquid market or efficient means of hedging real estate, unlike the stock and bond markets,” said CME Chief Executive Officer Craig Donohue. “These products can provide market participants with an efficient hedging mechanism for real estate risk and allow them to effectively diversify their portfolios. In the process, this innovative product may also have the effect of reducing the risk of real estate exposure.”

According to Federal Reserve Flow of Funds data, U.S. residential real estate was valued at $18.6 trillion at the end of 2004, compared to $15 trillion in stock and $23.6 trillion in fixed income.

“Housing is one of the largest asset classes in the world with approximately 75 million homeowners and tens of thousands of institutions and investors with exposure through new home construction, lending and mortgage backed securities,” said Samuel Masucci, III, President and Chief Executive Officer of MSR. “There are also many institutions looking to gain exposure to this unique asset class. Creating capital market liquidity to housing is long over due and MACRO Securities Research is excited to be partnered with CME in this historic launch.”

The Case-Shiller Indexes are widely recognized as the most authoritative Home Price Indexes for tracking home price trends, and are used by some of the country’s largest lenders for loan originations as well as various types of mortgage analysis. MSR owns the exclusive rights to develop financial products based on the CSW Indexes.

Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. (www.cme.com) is the world’s largest and most diverse financial exchange. As an international marketplace, CME brings together buyers and sellers on CME Globex electronic trading platform and on its trading floors. CME offers futures and options on futures primarily in four product areas: interest rates, stock indexes, foreign exchange and commodities. The exchange moved about $1.6 billion per day in settlement payments in the first half of 2005 and managed $43.7 billion in collateral deposits at June 30, 2005, including $4.0 billion in deposits for non-CME products. CME is a wholly owned subsidiary of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Holdings Inc. (NYSE, NASDAQ: CME), which is part of the Russell 1000® Index.

The genesis of MACRO Securities Research (MSR) dates back to 1990 and the recognition of a need for liquidity in residential real estate and other non-liquid asset classes. Robert Shiller, Allan Weiss, and Karl Case founded Case Shiller Weiss (CSW) and began the process of creating local market indices. The process resulted in the creation and development of an index methodology that is universally recognized as the harbinger and market leader in the real estate index markets. CSW is now a subsidiary of Fiserv, Inc.

Statements in this news release that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions that are difficult to predict. Therefore, actual outcomes and results may differ materially from what is expressed or implied in any forward-looking statements. More detailed information about factors that may affect our performance may be found in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including our most recent Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q, which can be obtained at its Web site at www.sec.gov. We undertake no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Chicago Mercantile Exchange, CME, the globe logo and CME Globex are registered trademarks of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. E-mini is a trademark of CME. CLEARING 21 is a registered trademark of CME and New York Mercantile Exchange, Inc. S&P, S&P 500, NASDAQ-100, Nikkei 225, Russell 1000, Russell 2000, TRAKRS, Total Return Asset Contracts and other trade names, service marks, trademarks and registered trademarks that are not proprietary to Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. are the property of their respective owners, and are used herein under license.