Finally, Good News of Hope

$1.5 Million Donation Pays For New Texas Church
Reporter: Associated Press, Dec. 9, 2008

Longview minister Rev. Thomas McDaniels wished for a $1 million gift to pay for a new church, and the wish came true. (prayer was answered)

McDaniels of LifeBridge Christian Center says a businessman, who chose to remain anonymous, wrote him a $1.5 million check.

Members of LifeBridge, which formed in 2005, have been meeting at a Longview hotel, but their new church opens in a few weeks.

McDaniels said in January 2007 he took a bank deposit slip and wrote $1 million, "meaning that one day someone would give us a million dollar gift."

The minister, who prayed over the deposit slip, says a business owner asked him last week how much was needed to pay for the church.

McDaniels said $1.4 million.

The benefactor's check included an extra $100,000.

McDaniels says, in these economic times, that "the Lord wanted to show his power."

IF YOU HAVE ACCOUNTS OF OUR LORD'S ANSWERING PRAYERS, PLEASE POST IN THE COMMENTS FOLLOWING THIS ARTICLE. SHARE SOME GOOD NEWS!

Where do we go from here?

Obviously, nothing but continued woe surrounds us. I've been feelin' it, how 'bout you? America is longing for a Savior to rescue our lives, our economy, our nation - but let me assure you, Barack Obama ain't Him. Even Obama states it's going to get worse, before (IF) it gets better. We're forever touting optimism, but sadly, we're looking for it in the wrong place. Back when America was predominantly a Christian nation, with church attendance the norm, our prayers were heard & answered. Such is no longer the case for us as a nation.
"Do not pray for this people; and do not lift up a cry or prayer for them. For I will not hear in the time they cry to Me for their trouble. " Jer 11:14
"When you spread out your hands, I will hide My eyes from you. Yes, when you multiply prayer, I will not hear. Your hands are full of blood. Wash yourselves, purify yourselves. Put away the evil of your doings from My sight; stop doing evil. Learn to do good, seek justice, reprove the oppressor, judge the orphan, strive for the widow. Come now and let us reason together, says YHWH: Though your sins are as scarlet, they shall be white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool. If you are willing and hear, you shall eat the good of the land. But if you refuse and rebel, you shall be devoured with the sword; for the mouth of YHWH has spoken." Is 1:15-20
"I spoke to you in your prosperity; but you said, I will not hear. This has been your manner from your youth, that you obeyed not my voice. " Jer 22:21
"He that covers his sins shall not prosper: but whoever confesses and forsakes them shall have mercy. " Pr 28:13
Many have asked how I knew all this was going to happen, how I predicted America's malaise. I DIDN'T predict it, I just believed YHWH's Word. I read the script. My heart cries out for America, my family, friends and others. I don't wish this for myself or anyone. No one would relish such difficult times & suffering. But, we brought this upon ourselves. I cannot say how terrible things may get, I really don't want to dwell on it. America has never been so distant from God, or abhorrent to the Gospel of Christ.
There is only one Savior, only one recourse; Yeshua the Messiah, the Word of God made flesh. Repent & Believe Him.

_____________________NEWS______________

Recession worst since 1940's

By MICHAEL M. GRYNBAUM

Despite months of rescue efforts, hundreds of billions of dollars in government spending and an avant-garde apparatus of financial tools, the American economy has only worsened, and at a faster rate than nearly anyone predicted.

This recession, which officially began in December 2007, now appears virtually certain to be the longest downturn — and possibly most severe — since the end of World War II, as evidenced last week by a demoralizing rat-a-tat of grim reports on jobs, sales and public confidence.

The reports signaled that even after 11 months, more than the entire length of the last two downturns, this recession has only now entered its fiercest phase, and economists say the pain will not end soon.

“For the average American it’s going to be devastating for the next 6 to 12 months,” said Bernard Baumohl, chief global economist at the Economic Outlook Group, a research and forecasting firm. He added, “I have not seen anything particularly hopeful right now, which tells me we have a ways to go.”

In an appearance Sunday on “Meet the Press,” President-elect Barack Obama promised a stimulus plan “large enough to get the economy moving,” but conceded that “things are going to get worse before they get better.”

Some analysts had hoped the worst was over after October’s market shocks, which spooked consumers and choked off credit.

Instead, Americans retrenched even further in November, sending sales at the nation’s retailers tumbling to the weakest level in more than 35 years and leading the Detroit automakers to record their worst sales in a quarter-century. Manufacturers have not seen conditions this bad since 1982.

The decline in spending is likely to continue, depriving the economy of its primary growth engine, as layoffs continue to mount. Half a million Americans, from financial analysts to factory workers, were dismissed in November alone. Rarely has a labor downturn affected such a broad swath of income levels.

Most frightening of all is that the worst job losses may be yet to come. If history is any guide, millions more Americans could lose their jobs before businesses start to expand again.

The worst jolts to the labor market tend to be only the precursor of six months or more of additional layoffs. Employment suffered a major contraction in December 1981 and January 1982, and workers did not see a stable market for about 10 months, including another big round of layoffs in July 1982.

A similar pattern occurred in the other great postwar recession, in 1974, when several months of a stagnant labor market were followed by a violent contraction over the new year. After the worst month, December 1974, the job market took about six more months to stabilize.

So in the best case — where November’s 533,000 lost jobs signals the bottom of the labor market contraction — workers could face six more months or so of hard times.

“We’ll be lucky if the unemployment rate is below double digits by the end of next year,” said Jared Bernstein, who will be the chief economic adviser to Vice President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. “Even if the economy improves, the growth won’t be enough to rehire laid-off workers, much less absorb those coming into the labor force.”

There is no guarantee, of course, that November’s numbers will be the worst of the current round of layoffs. Even before Lehman Brothers collapsed, employers were on the defensive, cutting more than 400,000 jobs after Labor Day.

Now that the full magnitude of the financial crisis is apparent, companies are tightening their belts further. Just last week, AT&T, Credit Suisse, DuPont and Viacom announced deep cuts. Layoffs are expected in the financial and automotive industries after the new year.

“This current environment requires action, and that’s what we’re doing,” said Mohammed Nakhooda, a spokesman for Nortel Networks, the maker of telecommunications equipment, which has lost business this fall from large corporate clients cutting costs.

Nortel, based in Toronto, said it would cut about 1,300 jobs, or 5 percent of its work force, including some at its United States operations. It will also begin a hiring freeze and cut back on employee travel.

“It’s tough but it’s necessary,” Mr. Nakhooda said. “The business environment has obviously changed pretty drastically over a short period of time.”

Some economists predict that the economy could lose as many jobs in the first six months of 2009 as the entirety of 2008. Nearly two million jobs have been lost since the start of the recession last year, two-thirds of them since September. Still, some forecasters say the pessimistic talk may be overblown, and possibly a problem in itself.

“The numbers are giving us a darker view than is actually the case,” said Chris Varvares, president of Macroeconomic Advisors, a research firm, adding that some of the economic indicators that have been flashing red are based on subjective surveys of businesses and households.

“There is such a thing as self-fulfilling prophecy,” he said.

Americans who are lucky enough to still collect a paycheck are likely to save more, cut back on luxury items and restaurants, and channel more of their income into savings accounts for college and retirement.

“Even Americans who still have a job are looking around and saying, ‘Well, you know, how much longer?’ ” said Joshua Shapiro, chief domestic economist at MFR, a research firm.

All of this is likely to make many people hesitant to invest any money they do have. Many Americans chose to save over the last two decades by investing in stocks and real estate. Now, the jar-in-the-kitchen approach may return, analysts said.

“It is quite conceivable — many would say probable — that the severe asset price collapses that have occurred in both equity and real estate will prompt a lasting increase in the desired saving rate, at least on the part of many consumers,” Ed McKelvey, an economist at Goldman Sachs, wrote in a note last week.

Those who benefit from the downturn could be those still willing to take a trip to the mall, where they will find deep discounts on a range of products. First-time home buyers may also find deals, as long as they can obtain a mortgage — no easy task in a time of tight credit.

Many economists pointed to government stimulus as the way out of the economic mess, and they applauded the federal government’s announcement that it might try to drive down interest rates on mortgages to 4.5 percent, about one percentage point lower than current rates.

A major stimulus package is also expected to be announced in January or February, soon after Mr. Obama takes office. Economists hope the package will create jobs and stimulate spending, and many predict that economic growth will improve slightly after this quarter with the federal help.

In an address taped for broadcast Saturday morning on radio and YouTube, Mr. Obama committed to the largest public works program since the creation of the interstate highway system a half century ago. “We need action — and action now,” he said.

Still, analysts said that government assistance would probably not result in a full recovery by May, which would signify the 16-month point of the recession. That would match the record for the longest postwar recession, set in 1975 and reached again in 1982.

“Up until mid-September, a plausible scenario was that it would be a short and shallow recession,” said Edward Yardeni, the investment strategist. “After mid-September, it became quite obvious that that was wishful thinking.”

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Unemployment reached 6.7% in November

By Aaron Siegel
December 5, 2008

The U.S. economy shed 533,000 jobs in November, marking the largest single monthly contraction in the job market in 34 years, according to data from the Department of Labor.

Those losses brought the national unemployment rate to 6.7%, marking the highest reading since October 1993.

The reading was 6.5% in October.

Economists surveyed by Briefing.com Inc. of Chicago had estimated that 335,000 job would be lost, while they expected the unemployment rate to be 6.8%.

The November job losses were the largest since December 1974, when the economy let go of 602,000 jobs.

Additionally, October's job losses were revised upward to 320,000, compared to the loss of 240,000 jobs originally reported.

September's job losses were revised upward to 403,000 from the 284,000 originally reported.

The economy has lost 1.9 million jobs since the recession began in December 2007, including 1.26 million jobs during the past three months.

The number of unemployed people now stands at 10.3 million.

“The loss of jobs is sobering and if you add it to the significant revisions for September and October unemployment rates, it is evidence of a severe economic contraction,” said Robert Dye, a senior economist at PNC Financial Services Group Inc. in Pittsburgh.

“We are still in for many months of significant job losses.”

Looking ahead, he expects the unemployment rate to be 7.5% by the end of the first quarter of 2009.

Nearly two-thirds of the losses came in the service-providing sector, which shed 370,000 jobs in November.

Goods-producing industries let go of 163,000 jobs, which included 85,000 job losses in the manufacturing sector.

Construction employment was down 82,000.

On a bright note, the health care and education sectors added 52,000 jobs and the government added 7,000 positions.

The length of the workweek fell to 33.5 hours, marking the shortest workweek since 1964.

Hourly earnings increased 7 cents, or 0.4%, to $18.30 per hour.

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US, Europe, Japan economic gloom deepens

By Tony Munroe and Kevin Liffey Tony Munroe And Kevin Liffey Tue Dec 9, 6:24 am ET

HONG KONG/LONDON (Reuters) – Japan sank further into recession in the third quarter and Europe produced horrific economic indicators that showed a global downturn is deepening.

A newspaper said Japan was considering $216 billion in new stimulus spending, around 3.6 percent of Gross Domestic Product, to boost its economy.

EU countries have announced stimulus measures totaling 200 billion euros ($260 billion), but the data suggested more action might be needed, at least in the form of interest rate cuts.

British industrial output fell at its sharpest pace in nearly six years in October, and revisions to previous months' data suggested the economy might have contracted even faster in the third quarter than initially thought.

France reported a record trade deficit that reflected a Europe-wide slowdown, and in Germany, the continent's economic engine, a sentiment index suggested the economy was sliding deeper into recession.

Technology firms worldwide were among those feeling the pain -- Japanese electronics maker Sony Corp said it would cut 8,000 jobs, or 5 percent of its workforce, as part of restructuring efforts to save $1.1 billion in costs.

Despite the bad news, stock markets mostly hung onto Monday's hefty gains of up to seven percent.

GLOOMY DATA

Japan's economy shrank 0.5 percent in the third quarter, worse than a preliminary reading of 0.1 percent, according to latest data. This put the world's second-largest economy on track for its longest contraction ever.

The Yomiuri newspaper reported, without citing sources, that the government was considering an economic package including spending of up to 20 trillion yen ($216 billion).

"We need to make every effort to expand domestic demand," Economics Minister Kaoru Yosano told a news conference.

In China, a central bank adviser said November exports might be down from a year earlier, and growth in industrial output could have slowed markedly.

British industrial output fell 1.7 percent on the month, the biggest fall since January 2003, and 5.2 percent year-on-year, the steepest drop since April 1991.

"Industrial production data, particularly manufacturing output, is a horror story," said Philip Shaw at Investec. "... If anything, the pace of contraction appears to be worsening."

He and others expected the key Bank of England interest rate, now at 2 percent, to be cut to near zero next year.

German analyst and investor views on prospects for Europe's biggest economy unexpectedly improved, albeit at a low level.

The ZEW think tank's widely watched monthly poll of economic sentiment rose to -45.2 from -53.5 in November.

A ZEW economist said the rise should not be overinterpreted, and most respondents foresaw rate cuts from the European Central Bank as the German economy only began to recover in mid-2009.

France reported a record trade deficit.

"We're seeing a huge loss of momentum there and that's true across the region," said Jacques Cailloux, economist at Royal Bank of Scotland.

Despite the depth of Europe's problems, divisions have emerged over how to tackle the crisis.

Germany has taken a less aggressive approach to fiscal spending than others, and Chancellor Angela Merkel was not invited to a discussion of stimulus measures on Monday between French President Nicolas Sarkozy and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet appeared to argue for a more conservative line, telling Britain's BBC on Tuesday: "If you augment too much your own borrowing, you might be punished by markets."

His ECB Council colleague Erkki Liikanen told reporters: "The outlook for the global economy has deteriorated exceptionally quickly. Economic policy can soften the downturn, but it cannot prevent it."

TECHNOLOGY SECTOR SUFFERS

Sony said that, apart from cutting 8,000 jobs, it would quit unprofitable businesses and cut or delay investments.

"The number sounds big, but this staff reduction won't be enough. Sony doesn't have any core businesses that generate stable profits," said Katsuhiko Mori, fund manager at Daiwa SB.

Technology firms are suffering elsewhere too.

U.S. chip makers Texas Instruments Inc and National Semiconductor Corp slashed current-quarter revenue forecasts on Monday as demand for cell phone and analog chips came to a virtual standstill.

South Korea's Samsung Electronics Co Ltd, the biggest maker of memory chips and liquid crystal displays, cut targets for sales, capital expenditure and profit.

In the auto sector, Japan's Mitsubishi Motors Corp said it would halt production at a plant in Illinois for seven weeks next year, while Nissan Motor Co delayed plans for full production at a new plant in India with its partner Renault SA.

In Washington, the White House and the Democratic majority in Congress were to continue talks on a loan package estimated to be worth up to $15 billion to the big U.S. carmakers, General Motors Corp, Chrysler LLC and Ford Motor Co.

The industry employs 350,000 people directly and supports millions more, but the administration says any plan must include efforts to ensure that taxpayer dollars are paid back and that the automakers are able to reorganize and compete.

"Viability means that all aspects of the companies need to be re-examined to make sure that they can survive in the long term," President George W. Bush told ABC News' 'Nightline'.

Democratic President-elect Barack Obama is seen as keener to support the sector, and Congressional Democrats said they were confident a deal could be reached.

Banks, too, are still struggling to bolster their balance sheets to combat the effects of a year-long credit crunch.

Australia's number two lender, Westpac, said it was raising $1.7 billion through a share sale.

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Census: For many, economy was sour before current crisis

WASHINGTON (AP) — Things really are bad all over — and they had gone bad even before the housing and finance industries crashed and sent the economy into a tailspin.

Census data show that throughout the first half of the decade, the slumping economy touched nearly every community in the country. Incomes dropped while poverty and unemployment rose in the vast majority of the nation's cities and towns.

Small and medium-size cities in the Midwest, already suffering from an ailing auto industry, were hit the hardest, with unemployment rates doubling or tripling in communities throughout Michigan, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois.

The numbers weren't as bad in other parts of country, but no region was spared, with incomes dropping as home prices escalated. The result: an unsustainable housing market that ultimately fueled the current economic crisis.

"For a while we were on a binge of living beyond our means," said David Wyss, chief economist at Standard and Poor's, the credit rating service. "We were financing our spending habits by treating houses like giant ATMs."

The data, which is being released Tuesday, are the first detailed economic, social and demographic information for small- and medium-size cities since the 2000 census. It was collected over three years, from 2005 through 2007, providing a mid-decade snapshot of every community with at least 20,000 residents.

The data come from the American Community Survey. Census takers interview 3 million households a year for the survey, which produces annual data for geographical areas with populations of 65,000 or more. For areas with at least 20,000 people, the survey produces three-year averages.

The numbers explain why the housing bubble burst and why the economy was such a big issue in this year's presidential campaign. They also explain why voters soured so much on President Bush's handling of the economy, even before the current financial crisis.

The years covered by the report include the housing market at its peak. Incomes had started to rise while poverty and unemployment rates had begun to fall, following the recession earlier in the decade.

But in the vast majority of America's cities and towns, economic conditions never fully reached the prosperity that marked the beginning of the decade.

The Associated Press analyzed economic data from the 2,000 or so cities and towns across the nation with populations of 20,000 or more, comparing the 2005-2007 data to figures from the 2000 census.

Among the findings:

• Median household income dropped in 77% of the cities and towns. Incomes dropped in the wealthiest communities as well as the poorest. Charleston, Ill., home to Eastern Illinois University, saw the biggest drop — 31% — to a median household income of just under $21,000.

Nationally, incomes dropped 4.3% during the period, to $50,007.

• The poverty rate increased in 70% of the cities and towns. Athens, Ohio, home to Ohio University, had the highest poverty rate, at 52.3%, in the 2005-2007 period.

Nationally, the poverty rate increased from 12.4% to 13.3% since the start of the decade.

• The unemployment rate increased in 71% of the cities and towns. Muskegon, Mich., a city of about 40,000 near Lake Michigan, had the highest unemployment rate, at 22.1%.

Nationally, the unemployment rate increased from about 4% in 2000 to 6.6% in the 2005-2007 period.

• Median home values increased in 92% of the cities and towns studied — doubling and tripling in many cities, mainly in California. Nationally, the median home value increased 26%, to $181,800.

It's not surprising that many communities were doing better in 2000 than they were mid-decade, said Scott Hoyt, senior director of consumer economics at Moody's Economy.com.

"The year 2000 was at the end of an incredible boom that lasted a decade," Hoyt said.

Incomes were up, unemployment was down and the dot-com bubble had not yet burst on Wall Street.

"We just didn't have enough years of expansion" this decade, he said.

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Washington Takes Risks With Its Auto Bailout Plans

By DAVID E. SANGER

WASHINGTON — When President-elect Barack Obama talked on Sunday about realigning the American automobile industry he was quick to offer a caution, lest he sound more like the incoming leader of France, or perhaps Japan.

“We don’t want government to run companies,” Mr. Obama told Tom Brokaw on “Meet the Press.” “Generally, government historically hasn’t done that very well.”

But what Mr. Obama went on to describe was a long-term bailout that would be conditioned on federal oversight. It could mean that the government would mandate, or at least heavily influence, what kind of cars companies make, what mileage and environmental standards they must meet and what large investments they are permitted to make — to recreate an industry that Mr. Obama said “actually works, that actually functions.”

It all sounds perilously close to a word that no one in Mr. Obama’s camp wants to be caught uttering: nationalization.

Not since Harry Truman seized America’s steel mills in 1952 rather than allow a strike to imperil the conduct of the Korean War has Washington toyed with nationalization, or its functional equivalent, on this kind of scale. Mr. Obama may be thinking what Mr. Truman told his staff: “The president has the power to keep the country from going to hell.” (The Supreme Court thought differently and forced Mr. Truman to relinquish control.)

The fact that there is so little protest in the air now — certainly less than Mr. Truman heard — reflects the desperation of the moment. But it is a strategy fraught with risks.

The first, of course, is the one the president-elect himself highlighted. Government’s record as a corporate manager is miserable, which is why the world has been on a three-decade-long privatization kick, turning national railroads, national airlines and national defense industries into private companies.

The second risk is that if the effort fails, and the American car companies collapse or are auctioned off in pieces to foreign competitors, taxpayers may lose the billions about to be spent.

And the third risk — one barely discussed so far — is that in trying to save the nation’s carmakers, the United States is violating at least the spirit of what it has preached around the world for two decades. The United States has demanded that nations treat American companies on their soil the same way they treat their home-grown industries, a concept called “national treatment.”

Yet so far, there is no talk of offering aid to Toyota, Honda, BMW or the other foreign automakers that have built factories on American soil, employed American workers and managed to make a profit doing so.

“If Japan was doing this, we’d be threatening billions of dollars in retaliation,” said Jeffrey Garten, a professor at the Yale School of Management, who as under secretary of commerce in the 1990s was one of many government officials who tried in vain to get Detroit prepared for a world of international competition. “In fact, when they did something a lot more subtle, we threatened exactly that,” referring to calls for import restrictions.

Mr. Garten said he was stunned by the scope of the intervention that Washington was now considering. “I don’t know that we’ve seen anything like this since the government told the automakers what kind of tanks to make during World War II,” he said. “And that was just for the duration of the war — this could be for much, much longer.”

It is hard to measure just what kind of chances Mr. Obama may be taking with this plan, in part because so many parts of it are still in motion.

In the short term, Democrats are floating the idea of linking $15 billion in immediate loans to the designation of a “car czar” who, in doling out the money, could require or veto big transactions or investments — essentially a one-man board of directors. The White House indicates that President Bush, who has spent his entire presidency proclaiming that the government’s role is to create an environment that spurs free enterprise and minimizes government regulation, would very likely sign the rescue plan.

The first $15 billion and the car czar who oversees it, however, are only the beginning. “After that, we’re in uncharted water,” said Malcolm S. Salter, a professor emeritus at Harvard Business School who has studied the auto industry for two decades and, until a few years ago, was an adviser to General Motors and Ford. “Think about this: Who in the federal government would have the tremendous insight needed to fix this industry?”

Depending on how the longer-term revamping of the industry proceeds, Washington could become a major shareholder in the Big Three, it could provide loans, or, in one course that Mr. Obama seemed to hint at on Sunday, it could organize what amounts to a “structured bankruptcy.” In that case, the government would convene the creditors, the unions, the shareholders and the company’s management, and apportion a share of the hit to each of them. If that “consensus building” sounds a lot like the role of the Japanese Ministry of International Trade and Industry in the 1970s and the 1980s, well, it is.

To promote the Japanese car industry on the way up, the trade ministry nudged companies toward consolidation, and even tried to mandate which parts of the market each could go into. (Soichiro Honda, the founder of the company, rebelled when bureaucrats told him he was supposed to limit himself to making motorcycles.) By the 1980s, Congress was denouncing this as “industrial policy,” and arguing that it put American makers at a competitive disadvantage — and polluted free enterprise.

Now, it is Congress doing exactly that, but this time as emergency surgery. Other nations will doubtless complain, or begin doing the same for their own companies. “We’re at this moment in history, in which the Chinese are touting that their system is better than ours” with their mix of capitalism and state control, said Mr. Garten, who has long experience in Asia. “And our response, it looks like, is to begin replicating what they’ve been doing.”
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Yeshua is LORD, and He is a Gator Fan!!!!

Florida 31, Alabama 20

ATLANTA (AP)—Tim Tebow took it upon himself to give Florida a shot at another national championship. If the Gators needed a big run, he tucked it under his arm and ran. If they needed to complete a pass, he threw it right where it needed to be.

With one of his best weapons on the sidelines, Tebow threw three touchdown passes to lead the No. 2 Gators to a 31-20 victory over No. 1 Alabama in the Southeastern Conference championship game Saturday.

Tebow’s clinching TD came with less than 3 minutes to play and the win should be enough to give Florida (12-1) a spot in the BCS title game for the second time in three years. His performance will surely bolster his chances of becoming just the second player to win the Heisman Trophy two years in a row.

“We don’t want to be denied in anything we do,” said Tebow, who carried his team with Percy Harvin watching from the sidelines.

Showing it could win a close game in a season of routs, Florida (12-1) went into the fourth quarter trailing 20-17. But Jeff Demps, among those filling in for the injured Harvin, scored the go-ahead touchdown on a 2-yard run with 9:21 remaining. Tebow finished the scoring with a pass that couldn’t have been thrown any better, hitting Riley Cooper for a 5-yard TD with 2:50 left.

“I’ve had some great players, and I’ve got some great players on this team,” Florida coach Urban Meyer said. “But I’ve never had one like this. Tim’s got something special inside him. I’m not talking about throwing. I’m not talking about running. I’m talking about making everyone around him better. That fourth quarter was vintage Tim Tebow.”

Alabama (12-1) couldn’t have picked a worse time to lose. The Crimson Tide will likely settle for a spot in the Sugar Bowl, ruining any chance of adding another national championship to its glorious history.

Instead, mark down a spot in the title game for Florida, which won it just two years ago with a rout of Ohio State. The Gators came into the game ranked fourth in the BCS standings, but the impressive win over unbeaten and top-ranked Alabama will surely be enough to move them into one of the top spots.

Their opponent? Oklahoma had the inside track heading into Saturday night’s Big 12 championship game against Missouri. Texas was waiting in the wings if the Sooners were upset.

Whoever it is will have to stop Tebow, who was 14-of-22 passing 216 yards and led the team in rushing with 57 yards. He tossed a 3-yard touchdown pass to Carl Moore to finish off Florida’s opening possession, went 5 yards to David Nelson to give the Gators a 17-10 halftime lead, and came through one more time to clinch the victory.

Alabama coach Nick Saban, who needed only two years to restore the Tide to Bear Bryant-like prominence, knew who was mainly responsible for his team’s first loss.

Tebow.

“He’s a great competitor. He takes his teammates on his shoulders a lot,” Saban said. “They have a lot of confidence he’s going to make plays, and they play that way. They scored two touchdowns where we had them covered about as well as we could cover them.”

With Florida facing third-and-goal at the 5 after a rare sideline interference penalty, Tebow found Cooper breaking toward the middle in front of Marquis Johnson. The perfectly thrown pass—low enough to give no chance of an interception but high enough to catch—was cradled by a diving Cooper to make it a two-score game.

Joe Haden’s interception ended any hope of a comeback. Tebow was named the game’s MVP.

“One more year! One more year!” the Florida fans chanted afterward, hoping their junior quarterback will return for his senior season.

Alabama trailed at halftime for first time this year, but just the fact that it was close put the Gators in an unusual position.

Florida came in as the nation’s third-highest scoring team (46.3 points a game) and its average margin of victory was a staggering 37 points. Then again, the Gators did lose their only close game, a shocking 31-30 defeat to Mississippi at the Swamp on the final weekend in September.

The Tide was feeling good about itself after Mark Ingram scored on a 2-yard run and Leigh Tiffin booted his second field goal, a 27-yarder that pushed Alabama ahead going to the final period.

But Florida caught a huge break when Demps was dragged down short of the marker on third down, but Dont’a Hightower got a handful of facemask. The 15-yard penalty gave the Gators first down at the Bama 27.

Tebow took it from there. A 13-yard pass to Nelson. Then a 6-yarder to Nelson again to convert another third down by a yard. And finally, a quick pitch to Demps, who streaked around the left side and hurdled over two fallen players at the goal line for a 24-20 lead.

“Going 12-0 is a hard thing to do,” Saban said. “Every time they needed to make a play, Tim Tebow made the plays that made the difference in the game.”

This was the 41st meeting between the top two teams in The Associated Press poll. No. 1 still holds a 23-16-2 edge.

The Gators had to play without Harvin, who didn’t even suit up after spraining his right ankle the previous week in a win over Florida State. He walked on the field stiff-legged—clearly, it wasn’t even a close call whether or not he would play—and watched the game from the sideline wearing his No. 1 jersey.

During the regular season, Harvin was the team’s top receiver with 35 catches for 595 yards and seven touchdowns. He also was second on the team in rushing with 543 yards, scoring nine TDs on the ground.

But Florida still had Tebow. That was the difference.

Meyer, not surprisingly, gave his endorsement for another Heisman.

“I think he’s the best college football player in America,” the coach said.

The Alabama-Florida matchup was a mainstay of the SEC championship in its early years. The teams met in the first three title games and four of the first five, beginning with the historic 1992 game in which the Crimson Tide won on a late interception return by Antonio Langham.

Alabama went on to rout Miami in the Sugar Bowl, winning its sixth national title. They’ll have to wait another year for a shot at No. 7.

The first 1-2 matchup in the 17-year history of the SEC championship drew a record crowd of 75,892 to the Georgia Dome. The fans were essentially split down the middle—crimson and white on one side, blue and orange on the other.

The Gators marched right down the field on their first possession, looking as unstoppable as they did in most games this season. Tebow handled most of the load, completing three passes for 26 yards and running four times for 19 more.

But Alabama wasn’t going to go down as meekly as most of Florida’s opponents. Glen Coffee ran for 112 yards and a touchdown. Julio Jones hauled in five passes for 124 yards. The Tide defense delivered numerous crushing blows, hoping to rattle the Gators.

Tebow wouldn’t let them bite.

“We kind of ran out of gas a little bit in the fourth quarter,” Saban said. “We didn’t finish, and they did.”

Professing themselves wise...Bailout is busting.

"Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools." Rom 1:22
The myopic shortsightedness of Washington never disappoints my affirmation. All the idioms of lunacy are appropriate; "Throwing gasoline on the fire.", "Tossing good money after bad.", "Foxes in charge of the henhouse.", you name it...
It is sorely the monumental shame of our nation we elect such empty sepulchres to preside over us, especially when our need is so great. At this juncture, our outcome is inevitable. No amount of money can redeem our country from its backsliding and foolishness. While our peril seems so blatantly obvious to me, it's hard to fathom the blindness of the majority. WE DON'T NEED STABILIZATION, WE REQUIRE REGENERATION!
There needs to be a spiritual reawakening in this land unlike we have ever seen!
Past national revivals of the late 19th & mid-20th centuries are forgotten by present Americans, and certainly not expounded upon in our public schools today. Where are the H.A. Ironsides, the Billy Sundays, the Billy Grahams, and others, YHWH used to bring our nation unto repentance in adulterous times? Where is the conviction of sin, and the sorrow for our iniquities? There is none, nor is there any joy.
"My zeal has undone me, because my adversaries have forgotten Thy words." Ps 119:139, "He who is not with me is against me: and he who does not gather with me, scatters." Luke 11:23 , "A kingdom (nation) divided against itself cannot stand." Mk 3:23
Unless our nation, AND ITS LEADERS, AND ITS PULPITS, proclaim GOD's Word in its fullness, and humble ourselves before Him, we are destined for destruction.
"The wicked shall be turned to Sheol, all the nations forgetting God. Arise, O YHWH! Do not let man have strength; let the nations be judged before Your face. O YHWH, put fear in them; let the nations know they are but men." Ps 9:17-20
By the time this world "crisis" reaches its apex, America may be a footnote in history.
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Breaking News

U.S. job losses worst since 1974 as recession bites

By Alister Bull Alister Bull, 5 Dec 2008

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. employers axed payrolls by 533,000 jobs in November, the most in 34 years and far more than expected, government data on Friday showed, as the year-old recession hammered every corner of the U.S. economy.

Oil prices and the dollar weakened and U.S. Treasury bond prices rallied on the news that confirms the recession was now hitting activity across the board.

"You can't get much uglier than this. The economy has just collapsed, and has gone into a free fall," said Richard Yamarone, chief economist at Argus Research in New York.

The Labor Department said the unemployment rate rose to 6.7 percent last month to the highest reading since 1993, compared with 6.5 percent in October.

"This is a clear employment blowout. Firms are reacting as dramatically as they can to make sure they have cost structures they can survive the recession we are in," said Joel Naroff, president of Naroff Economic Advisors in Holland, PA.

November's job losses were the steepest since December 1974, when 602,000 jobs were shed, and were much worse than forecast by analysts polled by Reuters who had predicted a reduction of 340,000 jobs.

In addition, job losses in recent months turned out to be worse than previously reported. October's loss was revised to show a cut of 320,000, originally given as a 240,000 loss, while September's drop was revised to 403,000 from 284,000.

That meant 199,000 more jobs were lost in September and October than previously thought and the total reduction in U.S. nonfarm payrolls for the last three months was 1.256 million, with almost 2 million shed in the year so far.

"It's just a disaster," said Stephen Stanley, chief U.S. economist at RBS Greenwich in Greenwich, Conn.

Service-providing businesses alone shed 370,000 jobs in November, or two-thirds of the overall job declines, following a loss of 153,000 jobs the month before.

That meant labor market weakness has now shifted over from the goods-producing sectors of the economy to the far more important services sector, which delivers almost 80 percent of U.S. output.

The length of the workweek slipped to 33.5 hours, the shortest since records began in 1964, a Labor Department official said.

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Our Bailout holdings lose $9 billion

By FRANK BASS, Associated Press

Stock intended to eventually earn taxpayers a profit as part of the Bush administration's massive bank bailout has lost a third of its value — about $9 billion — in barely one month, according to an Associated Press analysis. Shares in virtually every bank that received federal money have remained below the prices the government negotiated.

Most of the Treasury Department's investments since late October have been in preferred bank stocks, more than $180 billion worth, with investments in giants like Citigroup and JPMorgan Chase, and many small community banks. But the government also negotiated options to buy up to 1.2 billion shares of common bank stock that was valued at $27 billion.

The Treasury Department said it did not expect these common stock options to be profitable immediately and negotiated them so taxpayers could share in the wealth if the bank stocks recover.

Now, however, the value of that common stock is worth less than $18 billion. If the government exercised all its warrants to purchase the stock today, it would lose money on 51 of its 53 agreements. Taxpayers would be out $9.1 billion.

The government can exercise its options to buy the common stock anytime over the next decade, but the options were "immediately exercisable," according to banks' securities filings.

"The markets are saying this plan isn't going to work for the banks," said Ross Levine, Tisch professor of economics at Brown University. "They're asking where this plan is going."

Potential losses among these common stocks include more than $3 billion for the administration's biggest deal, a $45 billion injection into Citigroup Inc. The government gave the New York-based giant $25 billion on Oct. 28. In addition to preferred stock worth $1,000 per share, the deal included warrants to pick up 210 million shares of common stock at $17.85. In late November, the White House put together a plan to give Citibank another $20 billion. The deal also included warrants to pick up 254 million shares, with the price set at $10.61.

Citigroup stock has since fallen below $8.

The government would only earn a profit if the share price eventually exceeds the negotiated warrant price. Under the bailout plan, the common stock warrants — effectively treated as stock options for non-employees — would allow taxpayers to share the wealth as banks recover.

"We're not exercising the warrants today," Treasury spokeswoman Brookly McLaughlin said. "We have 10 years to exercise the warrants, so it's more accurate to look at what the market believes are the 10-year prospects for these banks."

The Treasury Department projects that the $180 billion in preferred stock will generate roughly $9 billion per year during the first five years and $16.2 billion per year afterward, assuming the banks remain solvent.

The preferred stock has a fixed value of $1,000 per share, and a 5 percent annual dividend for the first five years of the investment.

Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr. describes the cash infusion as "an investment, not an expenditure."

So far, however, only two of the 53 banks can be considered a good investment.

The AP's analysis found that only HF Financial Corp. of Sioux Falls, S.D., and First Niagara Financial Group of Lockport, N.Y., would make money for taxpayers if the common stock options were exercised today. According to records filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, both are small banks, far removed from the wheeling and dealing of federally insured giants that ravaged the global economy by making bad bets on subprime mortgages.

The South Dakota bank, for example, has a market value of $54 million, a fraction of the size of JPMorgan Chase, the nation's largest. The Treasury Department gave $25 million to HF Financial on Nov. 21 in exchange for 25,000 shares of preferred stock and warrants that allow taxpayers to buy 302,000 shares at $12.40 within the next decade. For now, it's a good deal; the bank's stock is trading around $13. If the government exercised its option to buy HF stock today, taxpayers would collect $63,500.

More companies would be in the black, but the government used a 20-day stock price average to set the warrant price, meaning it willingly negotiated to pay roughly 25 percent more than the stock was worth on the day it signed the deals on behalf of taxpayers.

Nara Bancorp, created in 1989 to serve Southern California's growing Korean-American community, borrowed $67 million from taxpayers on Nov. 21, when its stock was trading at $7.50 per share. But the government negotiated the option to buy 1 million shares of Nara common stock at $9.64, higher than its stock is currently trading.

"It's a complete mistake to think this is a good investment for us," said Paola Sapienza, a finance associate professor at Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management, who spearheaded a September protest of the bailout by more than 200 of the nation's leading economists. "It's a gamble. It's like going to Las Vegas."

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Universe's dark matter mix is 'just right' for life

IT'S not just the nature of dark matter that's a mystery - even its abundance is inexplicable. But if our universe is just one of many possible universes, at least this conundrum can be explained.

The total amount of dark matter - the unseen stuff thought to make up most of the mass of the universe - is five to six times that of normal matter. This difference sounds pretty significant, but it could have been much greater, because the two types of matter probably formed via radically different processes shortly after the big bang. The fact that the ratio is so conducive to a life-bearing universe "looks like a tremendous coincidence", says Raphael Bousso at the University of California, Berkeley.

Ben Freivogel, also at UCB, wondered if the ratio can be explained using the anthropic principle which, loosely stated, says that the properties of the universe must be suitable for the emergence of life, otherwise we wouldn't be here asking questions about it. In order to avoid questions about how these properties became so finely tuned, the anthropic principle is combined with the idea that our universe is part of a multiverse, in which each universe has randomly determined properties.

Freivogel focused on one of the favoured candidate-particles for dark matter, the axion. Axions have the right characteristics to be dark matter, but for one problem: a certain property called its "misalignment angle", which would have affected the amount of dark matter produced in the early universe. If this property is randomly determined, in most cases it would result in a severe overabundance of dark matter, leading to a universe without the large-scale structure of clusters of galaxies. To result in our universe, it has to be just the right value.

In a multiverse, each universe will have a random value for the axion's misalignment angle, giving some universes the right amount of dark matter needed to give rise to galaxies, stars, planets and life as we know it.

Freivogel combined the cosmological models of large-scale structure formation with the physics of axions to predict the most likely value for the ratio of dark matter to normal matter that would allow observers like us to emerge. He assumed that the number of observers in a universe is proportional to the number of galaxies within it.

In Freivogel's model, changing the ratio of matter type impacts the formation of galaxies, and hence observers; for example, too little dark matter would prevent the formation of galaxies and stars. His calculations show that of all the observers that might exist across the many universes, most would live in a universe with the dark matter abundance found in ours. In other words, we would be less likely to be here if our abundance of dark matter were different (www.arxiv.org/abs/0810.0703).

Of all the observers across many universes, most would live in a universe with the dark matter abundance found in ours

Bousso is impressed by the analysis. "It is another piece that fits nicely into the puzzle, and it didn't have to fit nicely," he says. Leonard Susskind of Stanford University adds: "It is not the first anthropic explanation [for dark matter], but it is more compelling than the others" because it explains the axion's overabundance problem.

It's so ironic that it's more convenient (and absurd) to believe our world, & the universe all happened by chance than to accept the Holy Creator God who spoke all things into existence.

How come Kentucky gets it right? We're not alone...

It's heartening to read at least someone in our nation's governments has a clue. Too bad Washington doesn't get it. As long as Kentucky keeps this mandate, they will be spared any future terrorist attacks while watching the rest of our adulterous 49 states get hammered. Now, if we'd only take the same approach on our economy...

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Homeland Security: Turn to God in time of terrorism
State law stresses 'dependence on Almighty' for protection from threats
Posted: December 01, 2008
11:40 pm Eastern

WorldNetDaily

To whom should Homeland Security officials turn when faced with terrorist threats?

They should turn to God, according to Kentucky state law.

When Kentucky formed its state Office of Homeland Security in 2006, it listed the department's initial duty as "stressing the dependence on Almighty God as being vital to the security of the Commonwealth."

According to the Lexington Herald-Leader, Homeland Security must proclaim God's protection in its reports. The office also features a plaque at its Emergency Operations Center declaring, "The safety and security of the Commonwealth cannot be achieved apart from reliance upon Almighty God."

State Rep. Tom Riner, D-Louisville, included the stipulation to acknowledge God in an amendment to the legislation. Lawmakers overwhelmingly approved it, according to the report.

The office is now required to put God above all else – including allocation of government grants and threat-risk analysis.

Riner, a Southern Baptist minister, told the Herald-Leader giving God glory for his protection is of utmost importance.

"This is recognition that government alone cannot guarantee the perfect safety of the people of Kentucky," Riner said. "Government itself, apart from God, cannot close the security gap. The job is too big for government."

Under Gov. Ernie Fletcher, Homeland Security mounted the plaque as directed and gave God credit in its annual reports – until last month.

Now the office of current Gov. Steve Beshear is saying it did not know about the plaque. Regardless, Homeland Security Chief Thomas Preston said he has no plans for its removal.

"I will not try to supplant almighty God," Preston said. "All I do is try to obey the dictates of the Kentucky General Assembly. I really don't know what their motivation was for this. They obviously felt strongly about it."

While God is not mentioned on Homeland Security's website or in its mission statement, Riner said he would like to see references to Him.

"We certainly expect it to be there, of course," he said.

But state Sen. Kathy Stein, D-Lexington disagreed. She said the office should concern itself with terrorist threats rather than evangelizing.

"It's very sad to me that we do this sort of thing," she told the Herald-Leader. "It takes away from the seriousness of the public discussion over security, and it clearly hurts the credibility of this office if it's supposed to be depending on God, first and foremost."

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Evangelist seeks national prayer day for economy
'The answer isn't dollars; it's turning back to God'

Posted: December 01, 2008
11:28 pm Eastern

By Drew Zahn, WorldNetDaily

Bill Keller

Internet evangelist and host of LivePrayer Bill Keller is petitioning President Bush and Congress to designate Dec. 18 as a national day of prayer and fasting for the economy.

Despite several government attempts to revive a slumping national economy, the financial crisis remains – a fact, Keller contends, that illustrates America's problems aren't economic but spiritual.

"They have tried everything to fix the economy," Keller told WND, "including throwing a few trillion at the problem, and we are no better than when the 'experts' started to try and fix (it)."

"The crisis is a spiritual problem," said Keller in a statement. "The answer to our economic downfall is not an infusion of trillions of dollars, but the humble prayers of forgiveness and repentance for our sin and rebellion against God."

In a YouTube video LivePrayer released in October, Keller declared, "People are looking for answers from their financial advisors, from their stock brokers, from their elected officials, from the men running for president, from the financial pundits on the TV, from the economists in the financial publications – from every place except where the answer is to be found."

"The answer isn't dollars," Keller said, "it's turning back to God."

Now Keller is hoping President Bush will hear his message by calling Americans to pray.

A long historical precedent exists for presidents calling the nation to prayer and fasting. On March 23, 1798, President John Adams issued a proclamation recommending May 9 of that year as a "day of solemn humiliation, fasting and prayer."

"As the safety and prosperity of nations ultimately and essentially depend on the protection and blessing of Almighty God," Adams wrote. He is proclamation called Americans to "acknowledge before GOD the manifold sins and transgressions with which we are justly chargeable as individuals and as a nation; beseeching him, at the same time, of his infinite Grace, through the Redeemer of the world, freely to remit all our offences, and to incline us, by his holy spirit, to that sincere repentance and reformation which may afford us reason to hope for his inestimable favor and heavenly benediction."

President Abraham Lincoln also called for a national day of "humiliation, fasting and prayer" in 1863. In 1952, a joint resolution by Congress, signed by President Truman, declared an annual prayer day, and in 1988, President Reagan declared the first Thursday of every May as the National Day of Prayer.

In his petition to President Bush and Congress, Keller writes, "Our nation is in the midst of an economic crisis that is not going to be solved by the wisdom of men or any amount of money, but only by the grace and mercy of Almighty God."

The petition continues, "We call upon you as the ones the people of the United States have elected to lead our nation, to follow the example of past Presidents and Congress, and call the people of our land to fast and pray for God's favor and blessings on our economy."

Keller's website invites people to sign the petition and states that he is hoping to hand-deliver at least 250,000 signatures to President Bush, House Majority Leader Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid Dec. 16.

A former businessman convicted of insider trading in 1989, Keller served two years in federal prison, was released and later earned a degree in biblical studies from Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia.

In 1999, Keller launched LivePrayer, which claims to have responded personally to more than 60 million online requests for prayer since its inception and claims its LivePrayer devotional is received daily by over 2.4 million e-mail subscribers.