Kenyan Bishop's Conservative Message
Richard Dujardin, The Providence Journal

ATTLEBORO — The leader of the 4-million member Anglican Church of Kenya, who is seeking to evict the U.S. Episcopal Church from the Anglican Communion because of its acceptance of homosexual clergy, visited one of his fledgling churches yesterday.

At the St. James African Anglican Church, which meets at the Good News Bible Chapel and has about 80 members, Archbishop Benjamin M. Nzimbi, the primate of Kenya, said that the Bible makes clear that marriage is between a man and a woman.

He recently met with churches in Tennessee and Florida that want to leave or have left the Episcopal Church and join the church of Kenya over the Episcopal Church’s decision three years ago to ordain a gay man as bishop.

Also attending yesterday Communion service were members of All Saints Church in Attleboro which is negotiating with Episcopal Bishop Thomas Shaw of Massachusetts over the ownership of its building after voting to leave the diocese and join an organization tied to an Anglican bishop in Rwanda. Three other area churches, all Kenyan-affiliated churches, also attended the service yesterday.

Nzimbi, who has taken 25 parishes in the United States under his wing, characterized his visit as pastoral.

“We are here to be with you. We are here to support you. We are here to encourage you. And we are here to stand with you and tell you that Jesus has not changed. He is the same yesterday, today and forever.”

Nzimbi and other prelates have been calling on leaders of the worldwide Anglican Communion to discipline the U.S. Episcopal Church for embracing positions that they say are contrary to the Bible. Africans inherited a faith that was handed to them by missionaries, often at great personal risk and death, he said.

“But now you hear the children of the missionaries trying to offer a different version of the work of God, different from the one they received, a word that has been doctored and modified.”

The issue comes down to “obeying the Lord,” including passages of Scripture that touch on sexuality.

“When God formed man, He said it is not good for man to be alone, is that not so? He put man to sleep and out of his rib he made the woman, and the man gave a testimony, ‘This is bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh. She shall be called woman.’ And the Lord blessed them and told them to go forth and to increase.”

Nzimbi has clearly sparked controversy. Last week, Bishop James L. Jelineck of Minnesota announced that he will not allow the Kenyan archbishop to speak in his diocese when he visits the state today, saying he does “harm to the Episcopal Church.”

Nzimbi said he will probably speak at another church, perhaps at another Protestant church. Asked what he would tell people in Episcopal parishes, he said the Bible is “very clear” on such issues as homosexuality and “my advice is that we need to take the faith the way we have received it. Having faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and taking the Scriptures seriously will guide us.”

Church officials from around the world will meet next month in Tanzania, where the U.S. Episcopal Church’s status in the Anglican Communion is expected to be a major issue.

“The problem is that with the structures that we have and the kind of leadership we have, maintaining the Anglican Communion as one is a big question. But if people today repent of their sins, repent of their pride and follow the Scriptures the way they are, then we can have a very sweet Anglican Communion.”

Nzimbi was joined at yesterday’s service of the year-old St. James African Anglican Church by Bishop Timothy Ranji of the Diocese of Mt. Kenya South and later by the Right Rev. Gideon G. Githiga of the diocese of Thika.

[Editor: His comment about the children of the missionaries is striking. He assumes the missionaries were right but their children are wrong. The reverse could be true, or both groups could be wrong. Or right. Note what he assumes.

Archbishop Nzimbi: from one Global South Christian to another, you never learned to read the Bible for yourself. You blindly accepted what human missionaries told you as the Word of God. Now the whole Anglican Communion is paying the price.]

Hezbollah on strike in Beirut, Lebanon
Nada Bakri and Hassan Fatah, NY Times

[Editor: I invite your prayers for Lebanon, and that the situation may be resolved peacefully. Preferably without Hezbollah acquiring power.]

BEIRUT, Lebanon, Jan. 23 — Thousands of Hezbollah supporters blocked streets and highways leading into Beirut today, bringing the Lebanese capital to a virtual standstill and raising already heightened fears that the nearly two-month long opposition protest could burst into open sectarian conflict.


Fadi Ghalioum/Reuters
Smoke from burning tires rising over the Al-Amin Mosque in Beirut during the strike.
At least a dozen people were wounded in clashes between Hezbollah supporters and the predominantly Sunni supporters of the government, as well as between Christian factions on either side of the divide, in the most dramatic escalation of the protests since demonstrations began on Dec. 1.

Protestors burned tires and set up roadblocks along major thoroughfares leading into Beirut while stores and businesses in many parts of the country remained closed in observance of a general strike. In some areas, groups of young men wielding sticks squared off and threw stones at each other, forcing the Lebanese army to intervene.

The Lebanese army used tear gas to disperse one of the clashes and fired in the air to disperse another scuffle, but otherwise sought to keep out of the confrontations. Prime Minister Fouad Siniora, who remained holed up in Lebanon’s Grand Serail, the seat of government, had pledged Monday night that the army would keep Beirut’s main arteries open.

Traffic in much of the city came to a halt, and many neighborhoods were blanketed in thick black smoke from the burning tires. The access road to Rafiq Hariri International Airport, the country’s only civilian airport, was blocked along with access to the port of Beirut.

The protest marks a significant escalation of the Hezbollah-led demonstrations that broke out in December. The Iranian-backed militia, together with Christian opposition parties, took to the streets last month calling for Mr. Siniora’s resignation and for early parliamentary elections to form a so-called unity government in which Hezbollah and its allies would have much greater say. Until now, the protests have largely been noisy but peaceful.

On Friday, Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollah’s leader, called for the nationwide strike and announced plans to escalate the protests. Perhaps reflecting the growing sectarian nature of the crisis, stores and businesses in predominantly-Shiite and some Christian areas remained shuttered today, while stores in Sunni neighborhoods and mixed neighborhoods stayed open in defiance.

In some cases, store owners said, Hezbollah men forced them to close their shops and even locked some inside their shops.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/23/world/middleeast/23cnd-lebanon.html?hp&ex=1169614800&en=2e9d96ebf4feb75c&ei=5094&partner=homepage

Abbe Pierre of France, campaigner for the homeless, dies
Posted on BBC, found courtesy of the Mad Priest

France's leading champion of the destitute and homeless, Roman Catholic priest Abbe Pierre, has died aged 94.
The priest had been in hospital since 14 January and had succumbed to a lung infection, a spokesman said.

Born Henri Groues, Abbe Pierre devoted his life to supporting the homeless, founding the Emmaus hostel movement just after World War II.

He has long been one of France's most revered figures, and the Emmaus hostels can be found in dozens of countries.

Year after year, he came top in a French vote on the country's favourite personalities.

"We have lost an immense figure, a conscience, an incarnation of goodness," said French president Jacques Chirac.

"Abbe Pierre represented the spirit of rebellion against misery, suffering, injustice and the strength of solidarity."

He became known as Abbe Pierre during his work with the French Resistance, smuggling Jews out of occupied France.

He founded the Emmaus movement in 1949, and in the 1950s fought for a law to stop parliament expelling tenants during the winter months after a freezing spell hit the country.

He demanded the nation act when he went on the radio in the winter of 1954, highlighting the case of a three-month-old baby who had frozen to death in inadequate housing and a woman who had died on the streets clutching an eviction order.

In the subsequent decades, he continued his tireless campaign for the destitute - and his hostels started to appear around the world in the 1970s.

Homelessness has in recent months again become a pressing issue in France - championed by a new generation of campaigners but with more than a nod to Abbe Pierre.

Last week, the French government announced plans to make housing a legally enforceable right following a "tent city" campaign along a canal in the capital, and the issue looks set to feature in forthcoming presidential elections.

The priest also pushed the boundaries of conservative Catholicism.

He supported the ordination of women priests and said that male priests should be allowed to marry, implying in a book that he had had sex as a younger man.

There were also some career lows.

In the 1990s, he incurred the wrath of the American Jewish organisation, the Anti-Defamation League, for allegedly comparing the acts of the ancient Israelites to the Holocaust and downplaying the Nazis' crimes against the Jews.

The League decried Abbe Pierre's remarks as "insulting to both Jews and Catholics," and urged the Catholic Church to take action against him.

His defenders said he was seeking justice for the Palestinians and was not anti-Semitic.

A particularly beautiful prayer, from the New Zealand Prayer Book (Anglican)

God of all mercy,
your Son brought good news to the despairing,
freedom to the oppressed
and joy to the sad;
fill us with your Spirit,
that the people of our day may see in us his likeness
and glorify your name.

Jesus our Redeemer,
give us your power to reveal and proclaim the good news,
so that wherever we may go
the sick may be healed, lepers embraced,
and the dead and dying given new life.

Almighty God,
your Son revealed in signs and wonders
the greatness of your saving love;
renew your people with your heavenly grace,
and in all our weakness
sustain us by your mighty power;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Venezuela moves to seize US-owned telecom
Dow Jones Marketwatch, http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/venezuela-moves-seize-us-owned-telecom/story.aspx?guid=%7B622436F5%2D1A6C%2D4FAF%2D9F77%2DB755FF793437%7D

Chavez's move may hint at growing economic problems in Venezuela caused by declining global crude-oil prices, The Wall Street Journal reported in its online edition.

On Friday, the price of the Venezuelan mix of crudes was down to about $46.87, about $15 below highs of around $60 last yea, according to the Journal.

Venezuela, an OPEC member, is a major world oil producer and its government is heavily dependent on revenue from oil sales and production royalties. It is the fourth-largest supplier of crude to the U.S., according to the most recent figures from the U.S. Department of Energy's Energy Information Administration.

Chavez's announcement Sunday threw further doubt on whether Verizon (VZ) would receive fair compensation for its stake in CANTV (VNT) , The Journal said.

Earlier in January, Chavez announced that Venezuela would nationalize CANTV as well as the country's private power companies by the end of the years, and government officials said the companies would receive fair compensation, according to The Journal. The companies are worth an estimated $4 billion, and Venezuela has sufficient money in its reserves to buy them, The Journal said.

But delaying the payment to CANTV shareholders would produce a cash gain for the Chavez government from the start, and probably drive down the ultimate price it would pay, according to the report.
Chavez was quoted in media reports Sunday as saying, CANTV "was given away" in 1991, when state-owned company was privatized.

"So I don't want to hear stories about how I have to pay at such and such price, at the international price, no, no, no, CANTV was given away," Chavez was quoted as saying.

Chavez said after his government decides what it's willing to pay for CANTV, it will subtract the value of pensions owed to about 4,000 former employees, according to media reports

CANTV's stock has fallen more than 30 percent in the U.S. and 19% in Venezuela since the nationalization plan was revealed on Jan.8.

CANTV's U.S.-traded shares closed Friday at $123.49, up 0.07%. Verizon shares closed at $37.25, down 0.85%

[Editor: As long as property was acquired legally and ethically by an individual or a corporation, I'm not in favor of seizing it. Chavez' actions are unilateral, autocratic, and smack of blind hatred of the US.

However, we have to admit that our past actions in Latin America invite such hatred. Additionally, we should ask ourselves under what conditions Verizon acquired its stake in CANTV. I call your attention to the previous article posted about Grameen Phone, Telnor's stake in the company, and the manner in which it was acquired.

Muhammad Yunus accuses Telnor's current CEO of reneging on a promise made by the previous CEO. The previous CEO was said to have started Grameen Phone with Yunus as a nonprofit venture, to later be turned over in its entirety to Grameen Bank. Now, Telnor's CEO claims that such a promise was never made.

Let's assume, though, that Telnor's stake was acquired ethically. The operation is profitable, and Telnor will not relinquish it without compensation. It has a responsibility to its shareholders, after all. Grameen Bank isn't in a position to buy Telnor out; they organized for social good, not profit. As the majority partner, Telnor may be able to take actions that will short-change Grameen Bank, the minority partner, and by extension the citizens of Bangladesh.

We have an imbalance of power between corporations and developing nations. Even if the contracts that these parties negotiate are legally sound, they may be ethically problematic. I am not excusing Chavez' actions. He is a danger, and he is becoming the evil that he sees in us. And it is not ethical to appropriate a corporation's property without compensation. But we should seek to know the complete circumstances surrounding Verizon's investment in CANTV. If they caused major social or environmental damage in Venezuela and were trying to escape responsibility, then they deserve what they get - although I think this is unlikely.

Chavez is better off nationalizing the Venezuelan assets of Exxon Mobil.]

What American accent do you have?

I apparently speak like I'm from the Northeast:


http://www.gotoquiz.com/what_american_accent_do_you_have

Muhammad Yunus, Nobel Peace Prize winner, at odds with Norway partner
CNN Money

[Editor: The gist is that Grameen bank contends that Telnor, their partner, had agreed to sell their stake in a cellphone operatio in Bangladesh to Grameen before Telnor reorganized; now that they have reorganized, Telnor is refusing to sell, because the operation is too profitable. Yunus wants the profits reinvested in Bangladesh. Telnor contends there was no such agreement, and in fact, the operation is only a small part of revenue.]

Grameen Phone was created in 1996 as a joint venture between Telenor, microcredit lender Grameen Bank, and two minor partners that were later bought out. Telenor now holds a 62% share, with Grameen Telecom, a division of Grameen Bank, owning the remaining 38%.

That means Telenor takes 62% of Grameen Phone's net earnings, which amounted to $93.6 million last year. That's a lot of money in a poor country like Bangladesh, and Yunus doesn't want it going to Norway.

Yunus insists that Telenor "agreed to give us majority ownership within six years. Our intent was to convert to a social business enterprise [where profits are reinvested in the company rather than taken out], but Telenor does not accept." In 1996, when the venture was established, Telenor was a state-run company. Although the Norwegian government still holds the majority of shares, Telenor partially privatized in 2000, in the largest IPO in Norwegian history, and issued shares on Nasdaq. After that, Yunus says, Telenor reneged. "It's a very simple reason," Yunus says. "It's a cash cow."

Telenor denies that the company is a cash cow or that it ever agreed to relinquish majority control. Grameen Phone's revenues are less than 5% of Telenor's revenues from mobile activities, says Jon Fredrik Baksaas, who became Telenor's president and CEO in 2002. (Baksaas was CFO in 1996, when the joint venture was created under his predecessor, Tormod Hermansen.) Telenor's revenues from its operations in 12 countries were close to $11 billion in 2005.

"Different opinions are part of daily business life," says Baksaas. "We have never committed to reducing our share in the company." Telenor also says it has not recouped its investment and that without its ability to negotiate volume discounts with suppliers, Grameen Phone would not be as profitable as it is today.

Yunus says he asked for a meeting with Telenor's board while in Norway in order to appeal to it directly to honor the previous CEO's promise. But as of presstime no meeting had been scheduled, according to Baksaas, who says that Yunus would visit Telenor's offices as part of the Nobel ceremonies to celebrate his achievement as the founder of microcredit, not to discuss management control.

"The corporate governance of a group like Telenor does not entertain the mechanics that a board meeting can be established in such a way," Baksaas says. "We believe that on the questions of the future ownership of Grameen Phone, there should be other occasions for those topics to be discussed." Yunus was invited to address the topic at an unspecified future date, he says, noting, "We are at all times willing to discuss future ownership structures."

Baksaas denies that ceding majority control has ever been on the table. The last time a change was discussed, Baksaas says, was in 2004, when Telenor bought out a third partner and most of a fourth, increasing its stake from 51% to 62%; cash-strapped Grameen Bank, which netted only $5 million the year before, was able to buy 3% of available shares.

But according to Muhammad Khalid Shams, managing director of Grameen Telecom and for many years chairman of Grameen Phone, Grameen has been insisting for years that Telenor renegotiate and honor the pledge made by the previous CEO, who Grameen officials say was asked from the beginning to create a nonprofit venture with Grameen. (Hermansen, the former CEO, could not be reached.)

"We have been talking with them, negotiating with them, reminding them that we intend to make our members the owners of the largest telecom company in Bangladesh, and that they would not have had the license without professor Yunus's support," Shams says. "They have gone back on that. They say it's only an intention, not legally binding. They seem to have defied the will and intention of their own people. They think they owe it to their shareholders to hang on to Grameen Phone."

Grameen even hired an arbitration lawyer in a third country, Sweden, to seek redress. "He charged us an enormous amount of money and told us there's no guarantee," Shams says, "so we don't want to risk it."

[Editor:
Ideologically, I'm motivated to trust Yunus and not Telnor, but this would need to go before a court. Unfortunately, Grameen is a social venture, not a for-profit venture. They aren't losing money, but they aren't rich, and lawyers, particularly in Europe, are very expensive. They may not get to go before a court or an arbitration panel.

Grameen phone accounts for $93.6m of revenues, out of $11b from revenues in all its operations. Telnor denies that the company is a cash cow, but it's clear they want the money.

I pray they'll work something out. Yunus contends that the previous CEO and Grameen organized Grameen phone as a non-profit venture.