Amplify’d from www.guardian.co.uk

Look to the gospels, not the pope

Celibate men have had too great a say in sexual ethics, yet there are things in the gospels that can help Christians get it right

Roz Kaveney

Some people, many of whom comment regularly here, would say that I don't have a right to an opinion. My own personal life is too strange, alien – and in the eyes of many of them – deeply sinful for anything I might say about sexual ethics or Christianity to be relevant to other people's concerns. My quite conclusive disillusion with the Christian beliefs I once held – my refusal to regard the New Testament as anything more than a book – should oblige me to butt out of the arguments inside Christianity about what a Christian sexual ethic might be.

For such people, anything I might say is going to be self-serving, perverse and just plain wrong. All I can do is point out to them that we are all supposed, according to those texts, to worry about the beam in our own eye, and not the dust in someone else's. And I have found as much loving kindness and as little selfish cruelty among trans people, lesbians and the kink community as among even the better sort of believer – "to live outside the law you must be honest". And one of the best ways for a kink trans dyke atheist – who may for all I know be going straight to hell – to pay attention to my own behaviour is to read the gospels

You don't have to be a believer to know how many phrases, and the clever thoughts behind them, come straight out of the gospels. Fewer and fewer of us are Christians, and yet we still quote the man Jesus. Many good things in our society come historically from that tradition, even if they could equally well have come from elsewhere: individual conscience, compassion for outsiders and so on. That is why it is shocking and shameful that Christians have been responsible for so much that is cruel and degrading in our culture's sexual ethics.

Part of the problem is that celibate male intellectuals – from Paul and Augustine to the current pope – have had far too great a say in it. A sexual ethic that is concerned to be, at the same time, a useful metaphor for the relationship between God and the institution of the church, or for God and the soul, is not going to make a terribly good fist of talking about actual shagging. Especially if the person talking has little or no experience. A sexual ethics that talks of "the theology of the body" is not going to talk very effectively about blow jobs and safe words.

Yet there are things in the gospels that might help Christians get it – if not right – at least less catastrophically wrong than a lot of churchmen seem to. Some of these things involve very simple and uninterpreted applications of Jesus's words – loving your neighbour as yourself probably does not mean trying to get people executed for gay sex, and yet so many professed Christians in Africa think it does, and far too many Christians in the US and UK either cheer them on, or engage in quiet diplomacy. Did Jesus hand rocks to the mob about to stone a woman caught in adultery? No. Was it quiet diplomacy when Jesus drove moneylenders out of the Temple forecourt? Probably not.

Loving your neighbour as yourself – if you really do it – doesn't really go with rape or sexism, for one thing. A sexual ethic that was about a positive empathic and egalitarian habit of mind, rather than a set of acts you are supposed to avoid, might occasionally be muddle-headed, but it would not be cruel or exploitative.

Saying that there are sorts of love that are sinful in themselves – "an intrinsic moral disorder" – is a good way of chivvying people towards despair. People who despair of themselves are more likely to do terrible, selfish things – and leading people towards that despair is making yourself responsible, in part, for what they do.

Jesus thought some sins important – failure to feed the hungry and heal the sick, of course, but also hypocrisy and its mirror image spiritual pride. Setting an intellectualised standard of morality rather than working with the actual likely behaviour of people, condemning sins to which you are not personally tempted – these have been what my catechism teacher taught me to avoid as occasions of sin. Pastors who set their flocks and themselves a standard that even they cannot keep up with are not only making grubby idiots of themselves, they are leading other people towards hatred and violence. Jesus's angry mockery of the Pharisees was not just a rebuke to a sect – he was talking about the self-serving prig in all of us. Read more at www.guardian.co.uk

 

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Lakin's attorney: Conviction 'certain' He's very disappointed in military justice system'

Amplify’d from www.wnd.com

Lakin's attorney: Conviction 'certain'

'He's very disappointed in military justice system'

By Brian Fitzpatrick © 2010 WorldNetDaily

Lieutenant Colonel Terrence Lakin

WASHINGTON – Lieutenant Colonel Terrence Lakin, a distinguished Army flight surgeon, is "certain" to be convicted of disobeying orders, according to his lawyer, Neil Puckett.

LTC Lakin will go on trial December 14 for refusing to deploy with his unit to Afghanistan. The senior officer questioned the legal validity of his orders because they originate ultimately with President Barack Obama, whose eligibility to serve as commander in chief under article II of the U.S. Constitution remains unproven.

"Based on the evidence available, his conviction is certain," Puckett told WND. "He has no affirmative defense for the offenses he committed."

"There is not much left to do" in defense of his client, Puckett said. Lakin's previous defense counsel, Paul Jensen, already "sought discovery of documents, and to introduce evidence and expert witnesses, but the judge shut down all those efforts."

During a September hearing, Colonel Denise Lind, the judge in the case, censored the last remaining arguments Lakin planned to make in his defense: motive and duty. Lakin had intended to explain his motive for disobeying the order and contend that it was his duty as a good soldier to disobey orders that he believed to be illegal.

Lind also rejected defense requests to call as witnesses Ambassador Alan Keyes and retired Air Force Lt. Gen. Thomas McInerney. Keyes was to explain the constitutional issues involved in the case, and McInerney was to talk about the training soldiers receive regarding when they should question and even disobey orders.

Stripped by the court of all possible defenses that might have justified his actions, Lakin has no chance of prevailing at trial.

Lakin had intended, through a court martial, to resolve the nationwide dispute about Obama's eligibility to occupy the Oval Office.

Knowing he was risking imprisonment and dismissal from the service, Lakin deliberately disobeyed his superiors in order to force Obama to produce his birth certificate and documents related to his citizenship status.

Note: A legal-defense fund has been set up for LTC Terry Lakin. Click for information.

His plan was frustrated when Col. Lind declared that Lakin's orders were legitimate, without addressing the underlying eligibility issue, and ruled to limit the scope of the trial to the narrow question of whether Lakin had knowingly disobeyed orders.

"This leaves us with a client who stands accused of missing the movement of an airplane, two failures to obey orders to meet his brigate commander, failure to report to Ft. Campbell, and failure to report to his unit," said Puckett.

"LTC Lakin asked many people to answer his questions about his misgivings about the legitimacy of the president, even the White House. He had a question that a lot of Americans have, a question that hasn't been answered by the legislative branch or by the judicial branch. When he received his orders he had a conscience issue, whether he'd be obeying lawful orders," Puckett explained.

"LTC Lakin is a doctor, not a lawyer," said Puckett. "He thought if he were to ask that question of the military courts, after being rebuffed in all other avenues, he'd get his answer. What he has discovered is that the military justice system cannot produce the answers to those questions. He could not have known, he was given inadequate legal advice. The military justice system is set up to help commanding officers maintain good order and discipline. It can't make victims whole, it can only punish wrongdoers. He's very disappointed in the system."

"We have to proceed without the documents, evidence and witnesses that have been denied to the defense. LTC Lakin is left to speak for himself and defend himself. It's up to him whether he wants to testify in his own defense," said Puckett.

Puckett would not reveal Lakin's decision, or any other details of his defense plans. He predicted that Lakin would end up, at worst, convicted of two violations of orders, be dismissed from the service, and spend a year in confinement.

Once guilt or innocence has been determined by his jurors, the trial will move to a presentencing hearing, when Lakin will have an unfettered opportunity to introduce mitigating evidence that might justify his disobedience in spite of Judge Lind's limitations on the scope of the trial.

"If he were to be convicted, he would have an open microphone to talk to the panel of jurors," said Puckett.

Puckett could not predict whether LTC Lakin plans to deliver an impassioned speech addressing the charges and the Obama eligibility issues.

Supporters are mobilizing in Lakin's defense. The officer has become a cause célèbre on the Internet, and rallies are planned next week in Arizona and at the court martial in Ft. Meade, Maryland.

"Every American should support Lakin," said Arizona organizer Jeff Lichter, a retired high school physical education teacher. "Don't we all have a simple right to ask who our president is? Is he legitimate, is he qualified? That's all Terry is asking. He has every right to ask the question, he asked it for a long time before he went public.

"They're not even going to allow him to put up any evidence, We feel the trial is already rigged, and they're denying him his due process rights, He's been denied access to records in Hawaii. He's been told by Judge Lind that the orders he's refusing to obey came from the Pentagon, not the commander in chief, so his question whether the commander in chief is eligible is irrelevant. It's ridiculous. It's all fixed.

Lichter's rallies will take place at the state offices of Arizona Republican senators John McCain, and Richard Kyl, and U.S. Rep. Trent Franks, R-Ariz.

"We have 535 congressmen and none are ready to ask for an investigation of this issue? We just want these officials who have not kept their oaths to defend the constitution. They're not doing it.

"Nobody has been able to break what's apparently a cover-up of this issue. We want people to know about this in spite of the media blackout."

Previous stories: Lt. Col. Lakin backers clash over eligibility strategy Battle-scarred judge says Lakin decision ignores Constitution Judge to Lakin: Find another defense General: Obama records 'critical' to 'our republic' Officer's case over Obama's eligibility already tainted? CNN retracts blast against officer challenging Obama CNN places eligibility in primetime spotlight Officer's defense team demanding Obama docs Army accused of threatening to 'Taser' officer Army gags officer challenging Obama eligibility Arraignment set for officer challenging eligibility Eligibility challenger: Bring on the evidence Judges evade Obama birth-certificate query Did Obama even write letter to 'birth hospital'? Eligibility challenger: Army convicted me without trial Army disses officer challenging Obama Call for Obama's resignation cites 'deceit, fraud, dishonesty' Officer to Army: See you in court Call for Obama's resignation cites 'deceit, fraud, dishonesty' Army slams door on Obama details Hearing set for officer challenging eligibility CNN places eligibility in primetime spotlight Army to 'inquire' into charges against Lakin Army charges Lt. Col. Lakin Retired Army general: Lt. Col. Lakin has 'valid point' Approaching apocalypse: Will Obama docs surface? 'Important question about Constitution' Officer challenging Obama 'reassigned' Officer to Obama: Burden of proof must rest with you Officer questioning eligibility faces new threats from Army Army suggests brain scan for eligibility challenger Army 'showdown' at eligibility corral THE FULL STORY: See listing of more than 200 exclusive WND reports on the eligibility issue Read more at www.wnd.com

 

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Christians involved in fierce bickering over claim biblical boat finally found

Amplify’d from www.wnd.com

Noah's Ark hunters go to war with each other

Christians involved in fierce bickering over claim biblical boat finally found

By Joe Kovacs © 2010 WorldNetDaily

More than a year and a half since Christian explorers trumpeted their alleged discovery of Noah's Ark atop Mount Ararat in Turkey, a war of words is escalating among fellow believers who call the claim an intentional deception that will disparage an actual find of the biblical vessel.

In this photo from Noah's Ark Ministries International, an explorer is purported to be investigating a wooden structure on Mount Ararat in eastern Turkey that it says may be the remnant of Noah's Ark mentioned in the Bible.

"Every false report undermines the potential of a true discovery by bolstering the critical view that Noah's Ark is a myth and therefore cannot be found," says a new report issued by the Virginia-based World of the Bible Ministries.

"Every false report further diminishes the potential of a true discovery by constantly exciting the public consciousness with a sensational claim that fails to deliver. The 'cry-wolf syndrome' then takes effect in society so that no one really cares even when the real thing is finally found."

In April 2009, WND reported that Chinese and Turkish explorers with Noah's Ark Ministries International, or NAMI, said they were "99.9 percent sure" they found the remnants of the legendary biblical vessel high up on Mount Ararat in eastern Turkey.

The 15-member team said it recovered wooden specimens from a structure at an altitude of 13,000 feet and that carbon dating suggested it was 4,800 years old. Several compartments, some with wooden beams, were said to be inside and could have been used to house animals.

Some video has been posted on YouTube and can be seen here:

Within a day, some seasoned archaeologists who made numerous expeditions to Mount Ararat threw cold water on the claim.

Now, after further investigation on Mount Ararat, Randall Price, a Judaic studies expert at Liberty University, and geologist Don Patton have issued an in-depth critique on the matter, standing firm in their contention the evidence shown to international news media was actually material transported from the northeastern Turkish town of Trabzon near the Black Sea, and transplanted atop Ararat as part of a movie production about Noah's Ark.

The report places much of the blame for the scheme on Kurdish guide and former Price colleague Ahmet Ertugrul, nicknamed "Parasut" (pronounced parachute), for his large, parachute-like mustache:

Kurdish guide Ahmet Ertugral, also known as Parasut (Parachute) for his trademark mustache.

According to one source some of the wood came from an old barn, however, other sources said the large wood came from an old ferryboat ... The wood was carried by large trucks to 2,500 meters (8,200 feet) and then by horses to 3,700 meters (12,100 feet). Then each worker carried two pieces of wood until all of it was at the site. They started by putting the wood on the ground to make floors. Then they made sides and finally a roof. There is a ladder in one cave that leads down to the wood. The workers took ash and rubbed it on the wood to make it look old. They piled up snow against the wood frame they built and let the rain, ice, and snow cover everything inside and out. Rocks and other things fell on the roof and one caved in.

Wood seen in this crevasse was transported to Mount Ararat from another region of Turkey, alleges archaeologist Randall Price and Don Patton.

The government may or may not have known about the transportation of the wood and the construction of the structures, but, as our source said, the government is only interested in furthering tourism since the economy is so poor, so they probably wouldn't care or say even if they knew. The workers said they worked on the inside for one month from around November 1 to December.

Parasut took many old things to put into places in the structure like stone bowls, seeds, and a rock. The piece of old wood that the Chinese gave to be tested was just a single piece that came from Alamut, a 3,500-year-old castle located 20 kilometers (12 miles) from the city of Esfahan, Iran. Parasut also put straw and other things on the floors. When the people heard on the news that Parasut claimed to have found the ark many of them laughed, but others said they would keep quiet because it would be good to bring in the tourists. ...

They were told they were building a "movie set" and that the movie people would arrive to film what they made. According to them, Parasut himself never actually went to the site, but continually asked them for details to be sure everything was looking good.

They only came forth to tell their story once they learned that the movie makers were claiming their "movie set" was the real thing! They did not want to be considered "a liar like Parasut." They did not want to be thought of as "bad people." However, because they live in close proximity to Parasut and continue to work on Mt. Ararat, they have asked that their identities not be revealed. This is a dangerous part of the world and there is a lot of money at stake and Parasut is not someone to be trifled with.

Noah's Ark Ministries International is firing back at the report, stating, "We are very disappointed and enraged by some Christian scholars, who used partially factual, and plausible-yet-false materials, piled into an article looking like a scholarly report, with bold titles accusing NAMI of making a fraud. It severely maligned and hurt this organization and the exploration-team members. ...

"Most of the materials in it are based on creating or speculating a story line, by connecting the fragments of facts publicized by this organization at different situations, and put into a made-up beginning and end, and compiled into a document that misleads readers."

Is this a beam from Noah's Ark? Explorers with Noah's Ark Ministries International have released this photo of a wooden structure it says it has documented at an altitude of 13,000 feet on Mount Ararat in eastern Turkey.

This photo of what is alleged to be wood inside a possible site of Noah's Ark on Mount Ararat reveals apparent cobwebs, which archaeologists and geologists are questioning.

Among the items in dispute is a photo of a "fossilized wood sample." NAMI says Price's suggestion it was a fraud is "absurd," explaining, "Anyone with some knowledge of photography knows that the color of the objects in the picture can be influenced by the light setting and photographic techniques. If we were trying to commit a fraud, as they say, why would we display the actual object?"

This sample is alleged to have been doctored to appear as if it were wood, according to U.S. archaeologist Randall Price.

Price responded, "It is not possible to produce in a photo such complete saturation in a brown color from an almost pure white original object. There is no question that the photo was presented in this manner so as to look like wood rather than rock in their publication, and therefore is an intentional deception."

Photographs from 2008 showing cobwebs, straw and clumps of vegetation. Archaeologist Randall Price and geologist Don Patton cast doubt on the claims of the Kurdish guide "Parasut" since the cave in which they were found is subject to annual flooding and refreezing in an active, moving glacier.

NAMI also complained about a photo showing Patton holding a piece of wood claimed to be from the NAMI site.

American geologist Don Patton holds a piece of wood he claims has been manipulated to deceive people into thinking Noah's Ark has been found.

"We have no way to verify the origin of the wood, but we have reason to suspect that the wood is an intentionally created false evidence for the purpose of maligning us," NAMI said.

In a dispute of biblical proportions such as this, money often becomes a factor, and Price and Patton are complaining the publicity over NAMI's alleged discovery is having a ripple effect on churches, Christian schools and Creation ministries in the U.S. and China: "We have letters from church pastors, seminary presidents, and missionaries in China who are opposed to NAMI raising large sums of money from Christians through their film and testimony without providing the evidence necessary to prove their claim."

Price actually thinks Noah's Ark might be at another location he's been personally investigating at an elevation of 16,800 feet on Mount Ararat.

"A ground-penetrating radar survey has successfully located a large man-made structure we believe to be wood at the 16,800 elevation," said the Price and Patton report. "We mention this in closing simply to remove the frequent accusation that we are jealous of the NAMI team for having made a discovery. Our motive has only been to set the record straight with respect to the private knowledge we possessed concerning Parasut and the NAMI research so that the Christian faith may not be tarnished as the result of a fraudulent scheme."

Hoaxes are nothing new when it comes to searches for Noah's Ark.

Among the best-known scams is one from 1993, when California actor George Jammal deliberately duped CBS Television and the filmmakers of "The Incredible Discovery of Noah's Ark" into believing he saw and touched the vessel on Mount Ararat.

The Press-Telegram of Long Beach, Calif., was among those documenting a Noah's Ark hoax perpetrated by Southern California actor George Jammal in 1993. Jammal admitted cooking wood from railroad tracks in sauce to create "sacred wood" he claimed he had retrieved from the biblical vessel on Mount Ararat.

According to the Internet Movie Database, Jammal "made the hoax as blatant as possible, making up persons with names such as 'the Armenian friend, Mr. Allis Buls Hitian' or 'my dear Polish companion Vladimir Sobitchsky,' and cooking a piece of pine in sauce to present it as 'a piece of the ark' – and yet his story was presented as the real thing and shown as the key testimony in the video; after some time, humiliating its makers, Jammal publicly revealed the details of his hoax."

Meanwhile, there are those who suspect Noah's Ark is not on Mount Ararat itself, but on another peak some 15 miles away, where a boat-shaped object sits on a mountain in Dogubayazit, Turkey.

Many believe this might be Noah's Ark, already found on a mountain near Mount Ararat (courtesy: wyattmuseum.com).

It was first photographed in 1959 by a Turkish air-force pilot on a NATO mapping mission, and gained worldwide attention after its image was published in a 1960 issue of Life Magazine. Ark-hunter Richard Rives of Tennessee-based Wyatt Archaeological Research summarized evidence for the possibility that site could be the resting place of the ship, indicating:

A boat-shaped object 300 cubits in length can plainly be seen in the mountains of Ararat or Urartu. Visible, equable, and symmetrical features can be examined. Subsurface interface radar scans reveal buried features which, once again, are equable and symmetrical.

Much of the material found at the site is fossilized and contains organic carbon, demonstrating that it was once associated with living matter. The presence of organic carbon has been verified by multiple scientific laboratories. Plant and animal fibers have also been found within the object and have been documented by way of forensic testing.

In addition, metal artifacts found at the site are composed of a combination of metals such as modern day sophisticated alloys – once again, verified by metallurgical laboratories.

His museum's website features on-location photographs and charts, making its case with physical evidence including radar scans of bulkheads on the alleged vessel, deck timber and iron rivets and large "drogue" stones, which may have acted as types of anchors.

However, there's been no shortage of critics from both scientific and Christian circles who think the Dogubayazit site is erroneous.

Lorence Collins, a retired geology professor from California State University, Northridge, joined the late David Fasold, a one-time proponent of that site, in writing a scientific summary claiming the location is "bogus."

"Evidence from microscopic studies and photo analyses demonstrates that the supposed Ark near Dogubayazit is a completely natural rock formation," said the 1996 paper published in the Journal of Geoscience Education. "It cannot have been Noah's Ark nor even a man-made model. It is understandable why early investigators falsely identified it."

In both the Old and New Testaments, the Bible speaks of Noah's Ark, and Jesus Christ and the apostles Paul and Peter all make reference to Noah's flood as an actual historical event.

According to Genesis, Noah was a righteous man who was instructed by God to construct a large vessel to hold his family and many species of animals, as a massive deluge was coming to purify the world, which had become corrupt.

Genesis 6:5 states: "And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually."

Noah was told by God to take aboard seven pairs of each of the "clean" animals – that is to say, those permissible to eat – and two each of the "unclean" variety (Genesis 7:2).

Though the Bible says it rained for 40 days and 40 nights, it also mentions "the waters prevailed upon the earth a hundred and fifty days."

Genesis 8:4 does not say the ark rested on "Mount Ararat," but rather the "mountains of Ararat," and it was still months before Noah and his family – his wife, his three sons and the sons' wives – were able to leave the ark and begin replenishing the world.

The Hebrew word translated as "Ararat" in Genesis is also rendered in the King James Bible as "Armenia" in 2 Kings 19:37 and Isaiah 37:38.

Note: Media wishing to interview Joe Kovacs, please contact him.

Previous stories: Latest Noah's Ark 'just wood planted on Ararat' Evangelists claim Noah's Ark found Is everyone looking for Noah's Ark in the wrong place? Flood of claims for 'Noah's Ark' Team believes it found Noah's Ark Summer tours offered to site of 'Noah's Ark' New photo resparks 'Noah's Ark mania' Satellite photos spark Noah's Ark trek CIA releases new 'Noah's Ark' documents Noah's Ark? Or elaborate fraud? Raiders of the lost Ark In search of Noah's Ark Pharaoh's chariots found in Red Sea? Real-life raiders hunt Ark of the Covenant Sunday, holy Sunday? Christmas in America becomes battleground

Joe Kovacs is an award-winning journalist, executive news editor for WorldNetDaily.com and author of the No. 1 best-selling book "Shocked by the Bible: The Most Astonishing Facts You've Never Been Told." Read more at www.wnd.com

 

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Amplify’d from articles.latimes.com

Putin says Russia may build stockpile if New START treaty founders

The Russian prime minister, on CNN, says the deal is in the U.S. interest. But if Congress fails to ratify the treaty, Moscow may build up its nuclear stockpile instead of reducing it.

By Sergei L. Loiko, Los Angeles Times

Reporting from Moscow — Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, his confident bluntness on full display, has declared Russia might build up its nuclear weapons instead of reducing them if the New START treaty arranged with the Obama administration is not ratified by Congress.

If the treaty is held up by U.S. legislators showing "a very dumb nature" then Russia will "have to react somehow," Putin said in an interview with CNN's Larry King scheduled for broadcast Wednesday.

Putin said the treaty, which calls for reducing the maximum nuclear warheads in each country from 2,200 to 1,550, is in the best interest of the United States.

He emphasized the importance of both the treaty and Russia's bid to become an equal partner in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's plan to build a European missile defense system.

"If our proposals are met with only negative response and additional ABM [anti-ballistic missile] threats emerge along our borders Russia will be simply obligated to ensure its security with different means, including the deployment of new [strategic] complexes, new nuclear missiles," Putin said. "That's not our choice. We don't want that to happen. But this is not a threat on our part. We simply want to say that this is all we expect if we don't come to an agreement."

President Obama has described the completion of the treaty, which he and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev signed in April, as imperative to national security. Obama and former Secretary of State Colin Powell held a news conference Wednesday encouraging the Senate to ratify the accord.

Senate Republicans led by Sen. Jon Kyl of Arizona have been reluctant to vote on the treaty as Congress approaches the end of the year, saying there are many unresolved issues. The Republicans have raised concerns about the modernization and safeguarding of the country's nuclear arsenal and said the treaty would limit U.S. missile defense options.

Sen. Bob Corker, a Republican member of the Foreign Relations Committee, said Obama administration officials this week responded to several concerns, raising the possibility that the treaty might be approved by year's end, the Associated Press reported.

Putin, who preceded Medvedev as president, said in the CNN interview that without the treaty Russia would have to arm itself against "new threats" posed by U.S. plans for the missile defense system in Europe. Read more at articles.latimes.com

 

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Are Aliens Among Us? Sort of, NASA Says

Amplify’d from www.foxnews.com

Are Aliens Among Us? Sort of, NASA Says

By John Brandon

A scanning-electron micrograph image of arsenic-eating bacteria, which NASA says has redefined the quest for life in the universe.

Alien life has been among us all along, according to new biological findings announced by NASA Thursday.

Research conducted by biochemist Dr. Felisa Wolfe-Simon from the U.S. Geological Survey has turned the quest for alien life on its ear, suggesting that phosphorous, carbon, and the other fundamental elements found in every living thing on Earth aren't the only signs of life. Wolfe-Simon explained the findings at a hotly anticipated NASA press conference on Thursday.

After a two-year study at California's Mono Lake, near Yosemite National Park, Wolfe-Simon found that a bug will grow in the presence of the toxic chemical arsenic when only slight traces of phosphorous are present. It's a radical finding, says molecular biologist Steven Benner, who is part of NASA's "Team Titan" and an expert on astrobiology -- forcing the space agency to redefine the quest for other life in the universe.

"When we're searching for alien life, if it's not a Ferengi from Star Trek, what would it be?" Benner asked FoxNews.com. In his estimation, we've always defined life as something that has the exact same chemistry as a life-form on Earth. The new discovery will likely change that equation, because it means the basic building blocks of DNA are not quite what we thought.

Benner, said the arsenic-loving organism at Mono Lake grew without high levels of the nutrient phosphate (although some phosphates were still present). Just as important, it could change how we look for alien life on other planets, especially on Saturn and the moons of Jupiter.

"It's a paradigm shift," says Dimitar Sasselov, an astrobiologist who leads the Origins of Life Initiative at Harvard University. "The possibility that Earth-life biochemistry is not universal is a transformational concept. It fills the search [for alien life] with optimism. NASA is moving in a good overall direction. What is needed is to take alternatives for life's chemistry to heart and fund research work better."

Arsenic is poisonous to nearly all forms of life on earth. Even small amounts of the poison become embedded in living tissue, causing liver failure and ultimately death -- in nearly everything BUT these bacteria.

However, as science fiction author Robert Sawyer told FoxNews.com, there could be even more profound implications. We have always looked for alien life that matches our biology, but now we have found a different life-form that uses arsenic in its basic DNA structure, he said.

Sawyer explained that NASA science probes have always looked in the most likely places we thought life could exist -- on Mars or Europa, a moon of Jupiter. There is an old joke, he says, about how someone lost a quarter in their garage, then looks out in the yard for it. A neighbor asks why they are looking there instead of in the garage; the light is better, he answers.

"We tend to use the tools we know and the places we know to look for alien life," Sawyer said, explaining that humans want to find a walking, crawling alien and not one that just has different DNA.

The change, he says, is that NASA will start looking for arsenic as well, and possibly other chemicals. This could mean new missions to Titan, which is known for having traces of arsenic. Another change could be the scientific equipment we send to space – probes might be retrofitted to search for arsenic.

Benner said the finding even impacts earlier research. Several years ago, when a Martian meteorite crash-landed on Earth, scientists examined it for the presence of phosphates. Now, it may be possible to re-visit some of the earlier findings. This hints at what experts call the "shadow biosphere" -- the existence of other life-forms, even on Earth, that have a radically different DNA structure.

"It's a huge breakthrough. It changes the probabilities for their being life on other planets," Sawyer told FoxNews.com. "If there is more than one recipe that makes life, then there are chances of rolling the dice in a chemical soup of all over the universe, and the chances of that chemical soup giving rise to life is much larger."

For NASA, the scientific discovery could help the agency acquire new funding, serving as a catalyst to convince Congress to green light for new missions to Mars or Titan.

In fact, the Internet buzz about finding alien life, as Sawyer noted, is partly due to how NASA has timed the announcement. A new Congress means new opportunities for scientific missions. He says the reality of the finding is somewhat of a joykill -- we have not found E.T. -- but there are still major implications for science and the search for extra-terrestrial life in our solar system and beyond.

Benner says the findings need further review -- there are questions about how much phosphorous is needed to sustain life.

"The next phase is to grow more of the stuff in a lab using a defined cultured, maybe cook up a broth that contains no phosphorous at all, look at this with a critical eye," he said.

However you view the announcement, the Lake Mono findings are profound, and the possibilities for finding life -- especially the primordial kind -- are now even greater. Read more at www.foxnews.com

 

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Bank of America Becomes Bank of Asia as Deals Resume

Amplify’d from www.washingtonpost.com

Fed data reveal wide scope of loan action during financial crisis

By Neil Irwin and Jia Lynn Yang

Key players shaping economic policy during the Obama administration

These leaders have been a driving force behind the nation's economic policies since the financial crisis of 2008.

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The Federal Reserve pumped trillions of dollars into all manner of banks, investment firms and major companies during the financial crisis, according to documents released Wednesday that reveal for the first time the full scope of the Fed's emergency lending.

The Fed was compelled by recent Wall Street reform legislation to release details of the special lending programs it undertook in 2008 and 2009, when it deployed a wide range of untested tools to try to fight the financial crisis. The programs included more than 21,000 individual transactions with a total loan value that Bloomberg News tabulates at $3.3 trillion. The programs involved have since been shut down, and most loans have been repaid.

The Fed said it does not anticipate incurring any losses; indeed, many of the programs have turned a profit for shareholders.

The data show that major banks were heavily dependent on the Fed programs for funding during the darkest days of the financial crisis but also that a wide range of America's businesses turned to the Fed for funding at times.

A program to support the market for corporate lending known as commercial paper benefited not only top U.S. financial institutions such as Bank of America and Citigroup, but also was used by iconic American companies such as General Electric and Harley-Davidson.

That and other programs were also used extensively by the U.S. affiliates of foreign firms-including one owned by the South Korean government. The Korean Development Bank used the Fed's commercial paper facility to the tune of billions of dollars, including a $407 million short-term loan on a single day. Many foreign banks, including the Swiss UBS and the German Deutsche Bank took extensive advantage of various programs.

The disclosures are already drawing a new round of criticism for the Fed.

"After years of stonewalling by the Fed, the American people are finally learning the incredible and jaw-dropping details of the Fed's multitrillion-dollar bailout of Wall Street and corporate America," said Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), a longtime Fed critic who pushed for the new disclosures, in a statement. "Perhaps most surprising is the huge sum that went to bail out foreign private banks and corporations. As a result of this disclosure, other members of Congress and I will be taking a very extensive look at all aspects of how the Federal Reserve functions."

irwinn@washpost.com yangl@washpost.coa Read more at www.washingtonpost.com

 

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