A Delicate Balance - Jun 24th news...

* Stocks Drop Sharply As Oil Surges to $60 -AP
* Experts predict 70% chance of WMD in next decade -Reuters
* Gold shoots to 7-week high of $440/oz -Reuters
* European crisis adds to market rush for gold -FT
* First silver ETF fund filed -MW
* More sell homes to lock in big gains -USAT

* What's rising faster than stocks? Coins -CSM
* Black gold rising: The hidden tax -Craig Smith
* The day the buying stopped -Dan Denning, DR
* Terrorism: An economic endgame -WND
* FUNDING EVIL - By Rachel Ehrenfeld
* Church, not state, must advance moral agenda -Cal Thomas

HISTORICAL QUOTE OF THE DAY

"Gold, like the sun, which melts wax and hardens clay, expands great souls and contracts bad hearts."

-Antoine de Rivaroli (1753-1801)
More quotes...

MARKET NEWS DIGEST

Experts predict 70% chance of WMD in next decade -Reuters
June 22, 2005

WASHINGTON - There is a 70 percent risk of an attack somewhere in the world with a weapon of mass destruction in the next decade, arms experts predicted in a survey released on Tuesday.

They also said up to five more countries are likely to acquire nuclear weapons within the next 10 years.

The survey, conducted by U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Richard Lugar, describes a threat that is “real and increasing over time” and endorses vastly increased funding for non-proliferation programs.

“Even if we succeed spectacularly at building democracy around the world, bringing stability to failed states and spreading economic opportunity broadly, we will not be secure from the actions of small, disaffected groups that acquire weapons of mass destruction,” the Indiana Republican said in a preface to the survey.

“Everything is at risk if we fail in this area,” he said.

The survey records the views of 85, mostly American, experts, including the Bush administration’s top non-proliferation official, Robert Joseph, and such former Republican and Democratic officials as John Wolf, James Woolsey, William Burns, Donald Gregg, Strobe Talbott and Robert Einhorn.

The experts estimated the risk of a nuclear attack to be 16.4 percent over the next five years and 29.2 percent over the next decade.

Asked to consider the possibility of a nuclear, biological, chemical or radiological (dirty bomb) attack on any nation, they concluded the chance of one of the four to be 50 percent over five years and 70 percent over 10 years.

A Lugar aide who oversaw the survey told Reuters 70 percent is “a very conservative estimate.”

An attack with a dirty bomb, combining a conventional explosive like dynamite with radioactive material, is seen as most likely, with a risk of 40 percent over the next decade.

FULL STORY

Related Story:
ATOMIC IRAN -- Introduction and Foreword By Craig R. Smith ...The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) reported on March 2, 2005 that Iran has backed away from cooperating in key areas with UN experts investigating possible atomic weapons work. Then comes news that a Russian plant has announced they're ready to deliver nuclear fuel "at any time and in a necessary amount to the first reactor of the Iranian nuclear power plant in Bushehr, Iran" -- over strong American objections. What's wrong with this picture? Are the inmates running the prison?

Stocks Drop Sharply As Oil Surges to $60 -AP
By MICHAEL J. MARTINEZ
Jun 23, 2005

NEW YORK (AP) - Stocks dropped sharply Thursday as oil reached a new all-time high over $60 per barrel, prompting a selloff in a battered transportation sector that spread to the rest of the market. The Dow Jones industrials closed down 166 points.

Stocks began their descent after FedEx Corp. (FDX) missed earnings forecasts and raised new concerns about oil's impact on corporate earnings. Then, in early afternoon, when oil climbed past $60 per barrel, the market's decline steepened.

A barrel of light crude was quoted at $59.42, up $1.33, on the New York Mercantile Exchange after peaking at $60.06.

"We always wondered what $60 a barrel oil would cost us, and now we know," said Jeff Kleintop, chief investment strategist for PNC Financial Services Group in Philadelphia. "On top of that, you've got news from FedEx, a transportation company, saying, 'Yeah, oil is hurting us.' That's got the market shaken up a bit."

Broader stock indicators also lost ground. The Nasdaq composite index dropped 11.56, or 0.6 percent, to 2,080.47. The Standard & Poor's 500 index was down 8.47, or 0.7 percent, at 1,205.41.

Bonds finally retreated after this week's strong rally, but gained back some early losses as FedEx's concerns about oil spread through the market. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note rose to 3.96 from 3.94 percent late Wednesday. The dollar rose against most major currencies, while gold prices also gained ground.

Good unemployment news appeared to mitigate the losses in early trading. The Labor Department reported the number of first-time jobless claims fell to 314,000 last week, less than the 330,000 economists expected and down from 334,000 the previous week.

But in addition to oil, Wall Street was disappointed with comments by Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, speaking before the Senate Finance Committee. Greenspan said there's "no credible evidence" U.S. manufacturing or jobs would be helped by China revamping its currency system - a disappointment to many hoping that such a move would aid the U.S. economy.

In other economic news, the annual rate of existing home sales fell slightly in May, to 7.13 million homes, slightly off the 7.18 million pace recorded in April, according to the National Association of Realtors.

The surge in oil prices have kept the market from building on last week's gains and deepened investors' concerns over whether the May-June rally stocks have enjoyed would ultimately be curtailed. Some investors also kept to the sidelines ahead of the Fed's decision on interest rates next Thursday and the usual end-of-quarter volatility expected next week.

http://www.ap.org

Related Story:
6-22-05--Senate allows U.S. to sue OPEC for oil price-fixing ...WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate voted on Tuesday to allow the U.S. government to sue the OPEC oil cartel on antitrust grounds in an outcry against crude oil prices that are fast approaching the $60 a barrel mark.

Gold shoots to 7-week high of $440/oz -Reuters
Attracting buying in other currencies
Jun 17, 2005

NEW YORK, June 17 (Reuters) - U.S. gold futures stretched up to new seven-week highs on Friday morning, with the market challenging a key area of resistance, fueled by further fund and dealer buying, traders and analysts said.

Bullion's de-linking from the U.S. dollar also supported prices as investors moved into gold, helping it appreciate broadly against other currencies such as the euro.

In platinum, futures hit their highest since January on a spot continuation basis, and palladium firmed as prior fund selling evaporated.

Gold for August delivery was up $2.70 to $440.60 an ounce by 9:44 a.m. EDT on the New York Mercantile Exchange's COMEX division, trading between $437 and $441.40 -- a high last seen in futures back on April 27.

Futures were right up against key resistance here, while in spot gold, prices ate up ground above an important resistance mark around $437, where a trendline and a high from April sit.

"There's a lot of fund buying and gold is strong as can be right now," said Scott Meyers, analyst at Pioneer Futures in New York, who added some players felt there could be supply issues for the market down the road.

"If it takes out $441.70, the high from April 26, I don't see why we can't go to $450."

Prices then would still have a way to go, however, before taking out the high set in December 2004 near $460 an ounce.

http://www.reuters.com

Related Stories:
6-24-05-- Gold rush may mean inflation bust -CNN/Money -- Gold rising against nearly every currency when oil is at $60 a barrel may signal serious inflation woes ahead. New York Institutional Gold Conference: "the price of spot gold will hit $850 an ounce in the next few years..." When inflation grips a market, the value of dollar-denominated assets is eroded.

Rare old coins more than pocket change: Since new quarters, market for collectibles booms -Cin. EnquirerBy Annie-Laurie Blair -- Holding a 1794 Liberty dollar in your hand is seductive. The weight of the silver feels substantial - so unlike today's coins, much less a debit or credit card. The Liberty dollar transports you to the era of George Washington's presidency, the founding of the first U.S. bank and the Whiskey Rebellion.

Malasia To Convince More OIC Countries To Use Gold Dinar ... KUALA LUMPUR, June 16 (Bernama) -- Second finance minister Tan Sri Nor Mohamed Yakcop says Malaysia is working hard to convince member countries of the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC) to use the gold dinar for bilateral trade and reduce their dependence on the US dollar.

European crisis adds to market rush for gold -FT
By Kevin Morrison, London Financial Times
June 19, 2005

The European Union's political crisis, which has hit the single currency, has helped gold rise for four weeks in a row. The precious metal has also benefited from its appeal as a hedge against inflation while other commodity prices rise sharply.

Oil and copper prices in Europe hit record highs last week--a sharp turnround in the past month. And the Goldman Sachs Commodity index rose on Friday to within four points of its record high of 397.1 points, reached in April.

This was on the back of improved economic data from the US and China, which raised the prospect of firmer demand for oil and raw materials such as copper, used in the construction, power and automobile sectors. “Investors have renewed their interest in commodities on the back of a better economic outlook,” said Jeffrey Currie, a managing director in global investment research at Goldman.

Data released last week showed China's industrial production rose by 17 per cent to a record $69bn in May and the country's fixed-asset investment increased by 28 per cent last month.

Most of this investment has been in infrastructure projects, a large-scale user of metals.

The reports underlined the view that China's economy is far from slowing down, as had been predicted earlier this year. This in turn helped copper prices rise to a record $3,407 a tonne in London on Friday as demand continues to outpace supply, leaving inventories of the metal falling to their lowest level on record.

The US economy is also showing stronger growth with industrial production rising better than expected and business confidence on the rise.

The December crude oil futures struck a record $60 a barrel on Friday, a sign that oil traders are worried about oil demand over the winter. Kevin Norrish, head of commodities research at Barclays Capital, said his bank was forecasting oil to average $60 a barrel in the third quarter.

http://www.ft.com

First silver ETF filed
Barclays trust would be based on gold ETF model
By John Spence, MarketWatch
June 20, 2005

BOSTON (MarketWatch) -- Barclays Global Investors filed an initial prospectus for the first exchange-traded fund to reflect the price of silver bullion.

If approved by the Securities and Exchange Commission, the ETF's shares would trade on the American Stock Exchange under the symbol "SLV."

Each share of the ETF would be equivalent to 10 ounces of silver, according to the filing made late Friday by Barclays.

The ETF is structured as a trust and not an investment company registered under the Investment Company Act of 1940.

The silver held by the ETF would be valued on the basis of that day's announced London Fix, the price per ounce set by three market-making members of the London Bullion Market Association at approximately noon, London time, each day.

On Friday, the London Fix for silver was $7.37 an ounce.

Bank of New York is named as the trustee for the silver ETF and the London branch of J.P. Morgan Chase Bank is the custodian, according to the Barclays filing.

The sponsor's fee is 0.5% of the adjusted net asset value of the trust, according to the filing. The trust may sell of some of its silver to cover expenses, meaning the amount of silver per share may vary over time.

The silver ETF appears structured similarly to two existing gold ETFs -- StreetTracks Gold Trust and iShares Comex Gold Trust. Shares of the gold ETFs represent ownership in fractions of ounces of gold bullion held in a vault.

In recent weeks, market observers have said anticipation of the first silver ETF filing may have been pushing price of the metal higher.

http://www.marketwatch.com

More sell homes to lock in big gains -USAT
By Adam Shell, USA TODAY
Jun 17, 2005

Looking to cash in on a red-hot housing market that has lifted prices an estimated $5 trillion in the past decade, some homeowners are selling and pocketing the profit.

Home values have more than doubled in the past five years in some states, and the median price of existing homes nationwide topped $200,000 for the first time.

Real estate agents in hot markets say more of their clients have sold their homes to lock in gains or are considering the move.

Although it's impossible to quantify such activity, and the National Association of Realtors estimates the numbers are small, anecdotal evidence suggests house-rich folks are cashing out. Unlike a typical situation where sellers take profits and plow them into bigger homes, some people worried about an upcoming price drop are getting out of real estate altogether.

"How do you know where the top or bottom is?" Murphy says. One of her clients, figuring prices had peaked, sold a home 18 months ago in the high $500,000s. "The same homes are now in the high $700,000s," she says.

There are circumstances where selling in a hot market makes financial sense, Murphy and others say. People with second homes or rental properties might consider reducing their exposure to real estate and reinvest the proceeds elsewhere. Older people with big houses who want to scale down also have an incentive to sell, as do those in or nearing retirement looking to hatch an instant nest egg.

In such cases as those, the prudent move can be to take the money and run. "We have been in a long housing bull market, and taking some chips off the table is perfectly fine," says Kurt Brouwer of financial advisory firm Brouwer & Janachowski.

FULL STORY

COMMENTARY

What's rising faster than stocks? Coins -CSM
Since the dot-com bubble burst, rare coins have trumped stocks as investments.
By The Christian Science Monitor
Jun 20, 2005

A significant portion of Gene Sherman's wealth comes from old money, some that even dates back to the Roman era.

That's the advantage of coin collecting. You can pursue a hobby and get a start on building a fortune.

These days, that fortune is sparkling brightly.

With general shakiness in the economy, some investors are bullish on coins because they are tangible assets that are not as susceptible to the same market pressures as stocks and bonds. The value of precious metals is up, an indication that the value of coins is on the rise. The CU3000 Rare Coin Index, meanwhile, has handily outperformed the stock market since the peak of the dot-com bubble five years ago.

The index, which measures the value of the 3,000 most actively traded coins, has increased about 20% over the past five years, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average has dropped more than 5% and the Standard & Poor's 500 index has declined at least 20% during the same period. (Over a decade, though, stocks come out on top.)

So is it time to dust off that old penny collection and get serious?

Opinions are divided

"My wife feels this isn't the wisest investment," says Sherman, who lives in Palos Verdes, Calif., an exclusive seaside community south of Los Angeles. "But every coin in my collection is increasing in value, and I think coins are a hedge against inflation."

Even though more than 15% of his assets are tied up in coins, Sherman invests in coins for love of their beauty and history, not as a way to make money. Since there is no scientific method when it comes to determining the value of a coin, experts note, would-be collectors need to know what they're doing.

FULL STORY

Related Story:
Investors Flock to Coins Amid Rising Metal Prices -WSJ ... Rare coins are starting to attract investors more at home with stock brokers than coin dealers. The interest in coins comes as sophisticated investors are increasingly looking for assets outside of the U.S. stock market, which many market observers expect to post only modest gains during the coming year. In buying rare coins, individuals not only acquire a collectible asset, but they are also getting exposure to precious metals. The prices of gold and silver, from which many popular U.S. coins are made, are both rising smartly.

Black gold rising: The hidden tax -Craig Smith
June 18, 2005
WorldNetDaily.com

Yesterday, oil hit an all-time high at $58.47 per barrel, up over 50 percent from one year ago and up 600 percent from eight years ago. Yet, the U.S. government still claims we have no inflation!

The homebuilders' stock were up big yesterday. KB Homes was up $4.63 to $76.88. Homes are selling at record highs in many areas of the country, but "there is no inflation."

Health-care cost for employers were up a minimum of 11.2 percent and as high as 20 percent in 2004, but "there is no inflation."

College tuitions are up 10-20 percent across the board throughout state and local colleges with four major state colleges reporting 30 percent increases in tuitions, but "there is no inflation."

If I wanted to use bad language, I would say that what the government and talking heads are saying about inflation is total BS, but I won't. Suffice it to say lies are permeating the market.

Gold is signaling very clearly THERE IS INFLATION. Gold is at a seven-week high. Copper is at a new high up $3.47. Palladium up huge at $202 and Platinum at $906. Yet, the government is still trying to keep us believing that there is no inflation. Someone has got to tell the king his financial prognosticators are wearing imaginary clothes they bought with imaginary non-inflationary money.

We are in the midst of a "black gold stranglehold" by terrorist-supporting Mideast countries represented by OPEC. Rising oil and gas prices represent a hidden tax on every American by sucking away buying power out of our consumer-based economy, which hurts middle and lower income citizens the most.

"Inflation is a method of taxation which the government uses to secure the command over real resources; resources just as real as those obtained by ordinary taxation ...," wrote John Maynard Keynes, in "The Economic Consequences of Peace." That explains why the government habitually understates inflation.

The insidious Hidden Black Tax

Every time gas goes up by one penny, it drags $14 billion a year from consumer spending. So we're getting double whammied with higher federal, state and municipal taxes – on top of rising gas prices. It's all part of what I call the "Hidden Black Tax."

"Hawaii consumers pay more than $210 million in gasoline taxes each year: $70 million in federal gas taxes, $60 million in state gas taxes, $20 million in general excise taxes and $63 million in county gas taxes." Source: State Department of Business and Economic Development.

The national average is 42 cents per gallon! Nevada and California rank second and third behind Hawaii in padding gas prices with the highest state gasoline taxes. See how your state tax ranks.

Could U.S. gas prices rival Asia and Europe of $4 to $5 per gallon? Yes! It's a simple supply-demand issue: China and India are sucking up the world supply, which drives prices up, fueling runaway inflation, which threatens to crush your investment strategy – unless action is taken now!

Here's what to do:
1) Let your legislators know that you do not support higher gas taxes.
2) CPI Reality Check: Take the government CPI figures and double them.
3) Review your financial holdings and add gold and silver if needed.
4) Read my "$5 Gas Coming Soon" Special Report for the full story.

WND Archives... Read all Craig Smith columns

The day the buying stopped -Dan Denning, DR
Jun 20, 2005

The cover story in the money pages of USA Today suggested a "recipe" for a serious correction in real estate prices:
* Economic relapse
* Job losses
* Rising interest rates
* Excess supply (of new homes).

Citing these as potential reasons for concern, the article suggested owners of high priced real estate might want to take one of the following four strategies and "cash out":

- Sell high, buy low. Selling the pricey digs in high-cost markets, such as New York and Los Angeles, and buying into a low-cost market.

- Sell the "empty nest." Just shipped your kids off to college and don't need five bedrooms anymore? Consider downsizing.

- Sell to fund retirement. Planning to sell anyway over the next year or two when you're done working? You might want to do it now and feather your nest egg.

- Sell to avoid disaster. If you truly think it is a bubble and prices are on the verge of collapse, get out now to avoid future regret.

Of course, we here at the Daily Reckoning have yammered and pounded on about this for some time.

You know how we feel about the credit-goosed housing bubble in many areas of the real estate market.

What you may not fully realize is what the knock-on affect even a small decline in housing prices could have.

A Chicago realtor says homes that would have sold in two days a short time ago are now on the market for months.

In the nation's hottest real estate market, Las Vegas, the number of unsold homes went up 1,000% in just a few months. Prices went flat almost overnight.

It takes twice as long to sell a house in California as it did a year ago. In one of the hottest markets, Orange County, prices are actually down. The number of unsold houses on the market is five times what it was a year ago.

If you pay attention, you know that mortgage rates haven't gone up much. So what's it going to be like when rates REALLY go up? And why have so many real estate markets slowed down already?

My friend, they just plain ran out of buyers, even at these low rates. To keep the party going the last two years, banks have loaned money to people who have no business buying a house.

These subprime borrowers have been the secret prop beneath the housing boom.

And it's easy to spot who they are: They finance their purchase with an adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM). The interest rate and the monthly payment are lower than those on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage. So a lot of people can qualify for an ARM who wouldn't qualify for the fixed rate.

In 2001, only about one buyer in 10 needed an ARM to qualify for a loan. Last year, more than one mortgage out of three was an ARM. The subprime market - i.e. the deadbeat, bad-credit-risk market - has exploded!

In hot markets today, up to half of all buyers use ARMs.

Translation: Half of all buyers in those 'hot markets' are buying houses they can't afford - even at these low interest rates! They are making a very dumb bet that interest rates are going to go down even more.

When interest rates spike up, their monthly payments are going to soar. A 2% rise could hit them with a 40% increase in their monthly payment.

But wait. It gets even worse. Their monthly payment will jump like crazy at the very same time their house goes down in value.

Do you think they're going to tough it out and still make those payments? Don't count on it. Most of them won't be able to. Look for a huge, huge wave of defaults. They'll load up the furniture, give the lender the keys, and drive away. What's more, they'll do it by the millions, bringing down the world's biggest financial institutions and crashing the stock market while they're at it.

In this Special Report, I'm going to tell you about the giant mortgage lenders behind $4 trillion worth of housing loans. These institutions are guilty of manipulations that make the folks at Enron look like a bunch of Boy Scouts. They've cooked their books, concealed huge losses, paid off politicians, and lied to investors every which way from Sunday.

These giant lenders are in no position to weather even a small downturn. But the downturn has already started, and it's NOT going to be small.

They owe more money than the U.S. government. That's right: Their liabilities are bigger than the national debt. When they fail, it will rock financial markets. Mortgage money will dry up. Interest rates will soar - and a lot higher than Chairman Greenspan thinks.

The main difference between these scandals and Enron is SIZE. The wealth that will go down the tubes this time is thousands of times greater. Every single investor, homeowner, and government in the world will feel the shock.

Home buying will dry up because borrowers can't get the financing. And anyway, who wants to buy a house that's going down? Wait six months, and you can get it cheaper, people will figure.

The downward spiral can't stop once people stop believing in rising prices.

http://www.dailyreckoning.com

Terrorism: An economic endgame -WND
What will you be holding when it happens?
By Craig R. Smith, WorldNetDaily
Jun 20, 2005

"The world will know the war on terror is over when terrorism goes the way of piracy and slavery -- it will become so socially unacceptable terrorists will find no safe havens in the world. The terrorists' failure will not be a single big event, but it will be seen as they become weaker and weaker, as they have fewer and fewer recruits, as they have less and less money."
-DONALD RUMSFELD, U.S. Defense Secretary, Sept. 8, 2004.

I'm not a politician so I have the luxury of taking a more direct path toward the goal of stamping out terrorism. But I'll save my most radical suggestion for the end of today's column.

First, what's up with all of the recent U.S. dollar strength? Did our massive debt and deficits drop while I was on vacation? Did oil prices fall back by double-digits?

No, No, and No! Despite what the "official" government inflation numbers say, all signs indicate there's a growing concern that inflation is either here now, or coming back very soon, here's why…
* The U.S. dollar is strengthening against the Euro.
* Gold has started rising in relation to the Euro, Yen and other currencies -- a sure sign of the next stage of gold and silver's bull market.

The world is well aware that Americans have accumulated over $100 trillion dollars of debt. Walter Williams (economist) filling in for Rush Limbaugh recently said one day we will just "repudiate" the debt. HE'S RIGHT! The question is: What will you be holding when it happens?

If a portion of your money is in gold - odds are very good you'll survive, perhaps even prosper. But if your money is 100% in paper related assets, you may not only be very unhappy, but perhaps, broke also.

In a recent interview with Bill Murphy, founder of The Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee, Murphy explains why gold should be $750 and silver $15 an ounce -- nearly twice current prices -- IF major bullion banks would finally stop their market manipulation!

In my mind, the handwriting is on the wall. Government and corporate America can't keep the lid on this "frothy" consumerism-based-on-debt-bubble forever.

Last year, the Euro's strength took some of the pressure off the dollar, but with the E.U. having a hard time agreeing to a constitution, so that won't be the case in 2005. Now it appears the Saudis are buying gold, instead of Euros, with both fists.

Middle Eastern investors who fled U.S. dollars for Euros are now leaving Euros… for what? According to economist Doug Casey, he suspects gold. "Saudi Arabian gold consumption grew by 10% to 37.3 tons in the first three months of 2005 compared with the same period a year ago."

Casey sees gold at $500 by year's end as people look for "real" places to put their money. Record high auction prices for U.S. rare coins support such theories.

The Saudis are pumping oil they sold for $10 just seven years ago, today for $58 plus. They're getting richer and putting the money -- not in Euros, not in U.S. dollars, but instead into gold. They may be slimy, but they ain't stupid!

Remember, the world of Islam HATES the United States and would love to see our currency fail. That explains why we no longer have the cooperation of the Saudis in supporting the U.S. dollar. They will continue to keep upward pressure on oil.

Let's face facts, what have the Saudis done to lower the price of oil? ZERO! And why would they, when we're stupid enough to cuddle their buddies at Gitmo with three squares (orange glazed chicken tonight with rice pilaf, pita bread, tea and fruit desserts -seriously-). And it's called a "Gulag" by Amnesty Int. for doing so?

Two plans to end terrorism quickly!

America could end the war on terror quickly -- and do it successfully if we took a page from the book of the "Greatest Generation" that fought and won WWII. Terrorists must pay a price or they will never stop. If they won't stop they should be eliminated, just like we eliminated the Japanese and German leadership.

Plan A: Give the terrorists one week to stop the violent attacks on innocent Iraqis and the men, women and children around the world who have been targets of Islamic terrorism. This would allow innocent people the ability to get out of harms way. If the terrorism persists, we destroy their "holiest city," Mecca. If the violence continues, next is Medina, then Damascus, Tehran, etc., until the terrorism stops.

Sound crazy? Ask the Japanese. Critics say such a plan would only serve to galvanize the Islamic world against us. Great! Then we could identify the enemy and declare an official war against them, forcing them to either surrender or be eliminated! Keep in mind, this option worked for Harry Truman during WWII!

Plan B: Cut off the financial support of terrorism by U.S. and foreign corporations -- by divesting of all companies doing business with the enemy. No one can argue with this strategy!

Plan A will likely never happen, so I suggest Plan B in the meantime. Let's fight terrorism with an economic endgame strategy that has the potential to decisively win this war - as Rumsfeld said: "as they [terrorists] have less and less money."

http://www.worldnetdaily.com

FUNDING EVIL - By Rachel Ehrenfeld
Book Reviews

Conservative analyst and pundit Ehrenfeld contends that our image of terrorism is all wrong. Rather than shadowy cells of young, religious martyrs, the true face of terror, she says, is an international network of corrupt state leaders, superwealthy contributors, and drug and crime kingpins. Without money, especially laundered U.S. dollars, there would be no terror, and this lively, well-documented primer reveals the sources, the amounts and the armed terror organizations they support.

Not surprisingly, the author of Narco-Terrorism is at her best on the ironies of the West's appetite for drugs, which terror groups exploit for funding, arms and recruiting those who would undermine a degenerate Western society. Some readers might be alienated or distracted by the author's exhaustive yet fascinating description of the activities and funding of the PLO, Hezbollah, Hamas and Islamic Jihad, which takes up nearly half the book.

Reigniting the drug war and supporting Israel are Ehrenfeld's clear national security priorities, as are other policy initiatives like regime removal and economic sanctions for states sponsoring terrorism. But the Bush administration and a succession of U.S. and Western leaders are taken to task for "a willful blindness" to the role of the international oil and drug trades in funding terror and for "lacking the political will" to confront Saudi Arabia, Iran, Pakistan and other states for their "anti-Western agenda."

Ehrenfeld's prescription for ending terrorism might depend on an unrealistic hope for immediate international cooperation, but this timely expos‚ should heat up public demand for real progress in the war on terrorism.
-Publishers Weekly

Where do terrorists get their money?
-Reviewer: Jill Malter

As the author explains, an individual act of terror does not have to be very expensive. That's easy to believe. After all, many people could wreak havoc just with items they already possess, such as cars and rifles. And, as Ehrenfeld says, even a very sophisticated and deadly attack such as that of September 11, 2001, has been estimated to have cost only 500,000 dollars.

But we're not dealing with a few isolated attacks. We're dealing with a terror network that needs plenty of money for recruitment, training camps, housing, equipment, bribes, weapons, and various day-to-day expenses. And the author says that the total cost of maintaining the entire Islamist terror network is in the billions of dollars. Where does this money come from? And what can be done to stop it?

We learn that the money comes from governments, such as those of Saudi Arabia and Iran, from charitable organizations, from legitimate businesses operating as fronts, from investments ... and from criminal activities. Ehrenfeld identifies some of the organizations and banks that terrorists have used, and she pays particular attention to terrorrist use of drug money.

The author explains the PLO, an infamous terrorist group, had received 5.5 billion dollars in outright aid from the international community, including over 2.5 billion dollars from Europe. I was shocked that the European community couldn't find something much more productive to do with two and a half billion dollars than fund terror.

Ehrenfeld recommends adoption of an international integrity standard. Corrupt nations could be given economic penalties. Audits could show where money is actually going. And if we are honest about who our enemies are, we could cut off funds to them. She reminds us that if we do nothing, on the grounds that the problems are too small to be worth fighting, one day these problems may be too large to fight. If we fight against evil, we may save not only ourselves, but large numbers of people who are at present oppressed by their own corrupt governments.

This book is certainly worth reading.

Related: Frontpagemag.com Author Interview

Former Senator and U.N. Ambassador John Danforth has performed a valuable service between elections by writing about a Christian's role in contemporary American society. In an op-ed for The New York Times last Friday, Danforth, an ordained minister, observed: "Many conservative Christians approach politics with a certainty that they know God's truth, and that they can advance the kingdom of God through governmental action."

He writes that the "only absolute standard of behavior is the commandment to love our neighbors as ourselves." One can quibble over where Danforth's "absolutist" position may lead politically (and I do, given the position of religious moderates and liberals when it comes to a host of other issues in which they are engaged - from anti-war activism and the environment, to civil rights and same-sex "marriage"), but his central thesis is correct: Christians are limited in what government can do for them and for an earthly agenda.

That does not mean government can't do some things. It simply means it cannot advance a moral and spiritual agenda, because it is the church, not the state, that is commissioned to preach and observe God's message.

That much of the country is preoccupied with materialism and pleasure further limits the state's capabilities in this area. Conservative Christians, while seeking to enact legislation that reflects their moral views, increasingly have found it difficult to impose their morality on themselves.

The pollster George Barna, who regularly checks the spiritual temperature of the Christian church, has chronicled important facts conservative Christians should consider before demanding government act to repair the "moral slide."

Barna has noted that as many conservative Christians are divorcing as those who are of different religious persuasions, or of no religion, and as many of the children of conservative Christians are having sex as non-Christian children.

But the ordained and self-appointed conservative Christian leaders do not seem to preach as much to their own about these shortcomings (or, if they do, they are not heeded) as they do to the rest of the country about theirs.

Wouldn't these conservative Christians have greater moral power if they put their own houses in order before trying to cure the disorder in other houses? Isn't that the principle behind Jesus' story about noticing a speck in the other fellow's eye, while ignoring the beam in one's own eye?

In a week when evangelist Billy Graham is visiting New York for what may be the last mass meeting of a long and noble ministry, Richard Ostling of the Associated Press asked him about social issues. Graham replied, "I don't give advice. I'm going to stay off these hot-button issues."

Graham hasn't always shied away from those topics, but he learned where the greater power comes from and it isn't government. The 86-year-old Graham "now seeks to shun all public controversies - preferring a simple message of love and unity through Jesus," writes Ostling.

John Danforth seems to flirt with universalism when he says that he and his fellow religious moderates believe "religion should be inclusive." Not exactly. Different religions make competing claims and the Christian faith separates "sheep from goats," the saved from the lost, and heaven from hell.

Jesus said he came to bring a sword. A sword divides. The primary objective for the Christian should be to seek and to point others toward Jesus, not to political parties and agendas.

The social ills confronting us have not produced our collective indifference to a moral code. They reflect that indifference. Fixing social ills does not begin in the halls of Congress or Supreme Court, but in individual human hearts.

Government can't go there. God can. But if God's servants prefer government to God...FULL STORY

http://www.townhall.com

Related Story:
City transformation on a scale not seen before -James Rutz, WND ...The long tides of history have produced many slow shifts toward the good. For instance, the four waves of the Great Awakening, starting with the Moravians and the Wesleys, awoke the West from its 1,500-year Big Sleep, stopped the hate-driven surge of the French Revolution, and launched the modern missionary movement. But now God is sending changes like lightning bolts. Since the late 1980s, total changes have begun to rapidly reverse the decline of towns, cities and even whole regions.A prime example is the once-hopeless village of Almolonga, Guatemala.

Welcome to the 21st century paradigm shift
-- from a "stock-driven era" to a new "commodity-driven era."
In "Economic Solutions for the 21st Century" you'll discover ...
* SOCIAL SECURITY REFORM ... A plan to unify America
* WHY YOU MUST OWN assets that offset a DECLINING DOLLAR
* WSJ SAYS: "You don't have to be rich to invest in COINS."
* WHY SILVER could rise to $50, $75 or even $100 per ounce.
* "ATOMIC IRAN" spells the beginning of a new U.S. "Dirty War"

David M. Bradshaw is Editor of REAL MONEY PERSPECTIVES, a new, syndicated daily financial/cultural news digest. In 2001, he published REDISCOVERING GOLD IN THE 21ST CENTURY: The Complete Guide to the Next Gold Rush and has been an economic commentator since 1987, when he produced the World Economic Perspectives radio show. In 2004, he produced "A CITIZEN'S GUIDE TO COUNTER-TERRORISM" a free-to-the-public educational resource on DVD and CD. In 2005, he released a new CD, "WHAT'S YOUR WORLDVIEW?" a one-hour CD sample from his 24-hour series, "THE BIG PICTURE: The Shape of Things to Come" discussing geopolitical, economic and spiritual trends in the 21st Century. MORE ... PERSONAL NOTE: Youngest daughter Braida Zoe (age 16 mo.) is now feeding herself, running, climbing and soon swimming. Shown with her mom (and loving wife) Micki.