Ireland to close embassies to Vatican
Ireland to close embassies to Vatican, Iran and E Timor
The Irish Republic has decided to close its embassies to the Vatican and two other nations on cost-saving grounds.
It said the closure of the missions in Vatican City and also in Iran and East Timor would save about 1.25m euros (£1.1m; $1.7m) a year.
But Dublin stressed that the move was not related to a clerical child abuse row between Ireland and the Holy See.
In July, a report accused the Vatican of aiding child-abuse cover-ups in Cork - a claim denied by the Holy See.
The Vatican later recalled its special envoy in Dublin to discuss the impact of the damning Cloyne Report.
"It is with the greatest regret and reluctance that the government has decided to close Ireland's (embassy) to the Holy See," said a statement from the Irish foreign ministry on Thursday.
It added that Dublin "believes that Ireland's interests with the Holy See can be sufficiently represented by a non-resident ambassador".
Irish Foreign Minister Eamon Gilmore said diplomats at Ireland's Italian embassy would move into the villa currently used by its Vatican staff.
Mr Gilmore pointed out that the government had to implement cuts to meet targets set out in Ireland's economic rescue deal backed by the European Union and the International Monetary Fund.
Ireland - like many other nations - has maintained two diplomatic posts in Rome: one for the Holy See, the other for Italy.
Predominantly Catholic Ireland has traditionally had close relations with the Vatican, where the embassy was opened in 1929.
Responding to the closure announcement, Cardinal Sean Brady, the ecclesiastical head of the Roman Catholic Church in Ireland, expressed his "profound disappointment".
"I hope that today's decision will be revisited as soon as possible," he said in a statement.
From other news sites
NewsMax.com* Ireland to Close Embassies to Vatican, 2 Others 2 hrs ago
Washington Post* Amid tense relations, Ireland closes embassy to the Vatican 2 hrs ago
Yahoo! UK and Ireland Ireland to close Vatican embassy following child abuse 4 hrs ago
Reuters UK Ireland to shut Vatican embassy in cost overhaul 5 hrs ago
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Warning: All schools – even parents at home – may be forced to teach gov't agenda
Warning: Obama Ed aims at U.S. takeover
All schools – even parents at home – may be forced to teach gov't agenda
An organization that monitors the U.S. government's influence on education, and specifically on parents who choose to school their own children, is warning of a pending move in Washington that would result in "de facto national education standards."
The measure could not only require parents who homeschool their children to teach certain government agenda issues but also effectively remove much of the decision-making authority of local school boards and districts, warns the Home School Legal Defense Association.
The organization focuses on issues affecting homeschool students and their parents in the United States and overseas but also keeps an eye on the larger picture of education policy.
The concern is about Democrat-driven plans in the U.S. Senate to reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, a massive federal program last reauthorized in 2001 as the No Child Left Behind Act.
"HSLDA's federal relations staff have read this 868-page bill, and we believe that while it does not directly impact homeschool freedom, the bill will 1) increase the federal role in education at the expense of state, local and parental control, and 2) will greatly increase the pressure on states to align their curriculum and standards, resulting in de facto national education standards," said the report compiled by Melanie P. Palazzo, the organization's congressional action program director, and William A. Estrada of the organization's federal relations office.
HSLDA said the Senate Education Commission already has voted to approve the plan, but at the request of Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., there will be a hearing Nov. 8. The homeschooling group is urging its constituents to contact committee members and express concern.
The group fears the bill "will greatly increase the federal government's control over education."
HSLDA said that as an organization it remained neutral on the 2001 NCLB update, "because it included strongly written protections for homeschoolers, and prohibitions on federal funding for national teacher certification, national standards, national testing, and national databases."
"A decade later, nearly all education policy makers agree that NCLB is too inflexible. HSLDA believes this illustrates that the federal government should not be in the business of establishing education policy for the nation's schoolchildren," the report said.
Now the reauthorization plan raises concerns over "the failed 'Washington-knows-best, one-size-fits-all' approach."
One provision of the bill specifically mandates that any state taking federal funds "must put in place 'college and career ready aligned standards.'"
"Mandating that each state have aligned standards with aligned coursework will guarantee the creation of national academic standards, national curriculum, and national testing," this week's report on the controversy said.
"We believe this will result in the eventual requirement that homeschoolers use these national standards, curriculum, and testing," the report said.
While some specifics that could be included in a final bill remain unclear, "the trend of national standards could lead to homeschoolers losing the freedom to choose the curriculum for their children."
An earlier HSLDA report by Estrada pointed out that national standards would remove control from local boards and districts and allow "unelected bureaucrats, not parents" to decide what subjects should be taught.
"National standards are a first step to a national curriculum and national testing," Estrada wrote. "Certain federal education funds to the states would be contingent on the states adopting the standards, which would place incredible pressure on the states to accept these national standards. And if some states resisted efforts to adopt the standards, this could easily lead to calls to make the standards mandatory in the name of being fair to all students. Furthermore, unelected bureaucrats would be able to choose what they believe every school child should be taught."
Just last year, Estrada said that such was the situation with the Washington "Race to the Top" funding for schools.
"If the federal government funds something, the federal government is going to control it. What we have is a de facto set of nationalized education standards being created."
Staggering Number Join Credit Unions Since BofA's Debit Fee Controversy
More People Joined Credit Unions Since BofA's Debit Fee Controversy Than In All Of 2010: Survey
An Occupy protestor holds signs calling for citizens to close their bank accounts at big banks and move their money to credit unions in Hollywood, California November 2, 2011. More customers opened new credit union accounts in October than in all of 2010, a new survey finds.
More consumers flocked to credit unions last month than in all of 2010 combined, likely in part due to the controversy surrounding debit card fees.
At least 650,000 customers opened new accounts at credit unions since September 29, the day Bank of America announced it would charge customers a $5 per month fee to use their debit card for purchases starting in 2012, the Credit Union National Association estimates. If that number holds true, it would be more than the 600,000 consumers that joined credit unions in all of 2010.
More than 80 percent of the credit unions that experienced a boost last month attributed the growth to fees like Bank of America's or a mix of reactions to fees and "Bank Transfer Day" -- a social media-centered movement encouraging consumers to transfer their money from banks to credit unions or other non-traditional lenders, according to CUNA.
The banks are likely feeling the customer anger. A Bank of America official said the bank decided to scrap the debit card fee earlier this week as other banks also dropped their fees in response to the outcry, according to Reuters.
SunTrust Banks and Regions Financial said they were canceling their debit card fees hours before Bank of America made its announcement, according to the Wall Street Journal. Wells Fargo and JPMorgan Chase also halted their fee pilot programs. One-third of consumers said they would leave their bank if it put debit card fees in place, according to a survey released last month from Research Intelligence Group.
Credit unions across the country are benefiting from customers' decisions to make the switch. The 20 biggest credit unions in Massachusetts reported a 50 percent boost in account openings in the past six weeks, compared to the same period last year, according to the Worcester Telegram. Some Minneapolis, Minnesota-area credit unions have seen their new account volumes more than double during the first three weeks of October, the Minneapolis Star-Tribune reports.
Some credit unions are encouraging consumers to make the switch by extending hours and staffing for Saturday's Bank Transfer Day as well as providing current customers with "switch kits" that they can give to friends and family, according to CUNA.
"They are doing whatever their resources will allow them to do to help serve this consumer surge in interest in credit unions," Bill Cheney, CUNA president and CEO said in a statement.
Emergency Alert System Test Nov. 9 2011 + EAS for the Internet?
Emergency Alert System Test Nov. 9 2011 + EAS for the Internet?
And it's not just for people in our area; it's for everyone in the country.
At 1 p.m. Central on Wednesday, November 9, you'll see and hear something akin to the tones you hear when there's a weather warning.
So will everyone else in the country, assuming the system works as it's supposed to.
It's the first-ever test of the Nationwide Emergency Alert System, and FEMA and Homeland Security want you to know it's nothing to panic over.
Up until then, you may see public service announcements reminding you that it's just an effort to see if the digital system works.
The signal will originate in the Washington, D.C. area then, assuming all goes as planned, will be transmitted via all digital broadcast systems in the United States.
Radio, satellite radio, TV, cable and satellite systems will be affected. It will last about three minutes, so it's longer than most alerts.
This is just the start of how FEMA and Homeland Security hope to reach Americans in the event of a nationwide event.
"It's one step toward improving their nationwide system," says Ryan Nicholls with Greene County Emergency Management. "And they have other things coming up. They have other versions so they'll be able to put out alerts nationwide over technology that's now available like phones, text messaging and all that so other software versions are coming up so this is just kind of a step toward that direction."
The point of the exercise is a seamless movement of information; for example, a terror attack, an act of war, or something that would impact either the whole country or a good part of it."
http://ozarksfirst.com/fulltext?nxd_id=547347
Nationwide EAS Test PSA from FCC's YT channel:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oigAjokHyEc
CREEPY COUNTDOWN CLOCK @FCC.gov!! LOOK: http://www.fcc.gov/encyclopedia/emergency-alert-system-nationwide-test
http://www.ready.gov/
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imo? CREEPY. I've got more of these on the way from other news stations. meow
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