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To: bentway who wrote (637834)	12/1/2011 2:27:11 PM
From: tejek	Respond to of 1578422

Progress. Clinton offers Myanmar first rewards for reform Hillary Clinton meets Suu Kyi in Myanmar (01:19) (Reuters) - The United States will support more aid for Myanmar and consider installing an ambassador after an absence of some two decades, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Thursday, offering the first rewards for reform. Clinton said she had "candid, productive" conversations with President Thein Sein and other Myanmar ministers and told them Washington stood ready to support further reforms and possibly lift sanctions. But she also urged Myanmar, which is seeking to emerge from decades of authoritarian military rule, to take further steps to release political prisoners and end ethnic conflicts. Better ties would be impossible unless Myanmar halted its dealings with North Korea, which has set alarm bells ringing across Asia with its renegade nuclear program. "The president told me he hopes to build on these steps, and I assured him that these reforms have our support," Clinton told a news conference after talks in the remote capital, Naypyitaw. "I also made clear that, while the measures already taken may be unprecedented and welcomed, they are just the beginning." Clinton's landmark visit to the country also known as Burma marks a tentative rapprochement after more than 50 years of estrangement from the West. She later travelled to the commercial capital of Yangon where she went barefoot as part of Buddhist tradition at a revered shrine, the Shwedagon Pagoda. She then held the first of two meetings with pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi. Clinton and Suu Kyi, a Nobel peace laureate, met at a U.S. diplomatic residence and posed for pictures before retiring to have a private dinner on a veranda overlooking a lake, dining on curry and Burmese delicacies. Suu Kyi, who has indicated she intends to return to the political arena, quizzed Clinton on her experiences as a candidate, as senator and in the U.S. presidential race. "She was asking the secretary for pointers about entering the public fray," one senior U.S. official said. "BEGINNING STEPS" After the talks with Thein Sein and other officials, Clinton unveiled incremental steps to improve ties and said Washington would consider returning an ambassador to the country. The United States downgraded its representation to a charge d'affaires after the military's 1988 crackdown on pro-democracy protests and voiding of 1990 elections swept by Suu Kyi's party. "This could become an important channel to air concerns, monitor and support progress, and build trust," Clinton said. "These are beginning steps, and we are prepared to go further if reforms maintain momentum." The United States would consider easing sanctions if it saw concrete reforms, she said. "I told the leadership we will certainly consider the easing and elimination of sanctions as we go forward in this process together ... It has to be not theoretical or rhetorical, it has to be very real, on the ground, that can be evaluated." Clinton also said the United States would support World Bank and International Monetary Fund assessment missions to help Myanmar jumpstart its economy, and new U.N. counter-narcotics and health cooperation programs. Seeking to pull Myanmar more closely into a region increasingly united by wariness over China, Clinton invited Myanmar to become an observer to the Lower Mekong Initiative, a U.S.-backed grouping discussing Southeast Asia's major waterway. But she dismissed any suggestion that engagement with Myanmar was driven by competition with China. "We are not about opposing any other country. We're about supporting this country," she said, adding that the United States regularly consulted China on its engagement in Asia. Clinton also said the United States and Myanmar would discuss a joint effort to recover the remains of Americans killed during the building of the "Burma Road" during World War Two -- mirroring steps taken with Vietnam as Washington and Hanoi sought to put their differences behind them. Rights groups and some lawmakers in Congress are concerned that Washington may be moving too swiftly to endorse the new leadership. Clinton made clear the United States needed to see more progress. "It is encouraging that political prisoners have been released, but over 1,000 are still not free," Clinton said. "Let me say publicly what I said privately earlier today: no person in any country should be detained for exercising universal freedoms of expression, assembly and conscience." A U.S. official who sat in on the talks cited Thein Sein as saying the government considered the release of such prisoners "part of the effort of having an inclusive political process" and it was looking at the possibility of more releases. Clinton also said it would "be difficult to begin a new chapter" until Myanmar began making peace with ethnic rebels. Clinton pressed Myanmar to halt what U.S. officials say are illicit contacts with North Korea, including trade in missile technology, and to honor U.N. sanctions imposed on Pyongyang because of its nuclear program. "Better relations with the United States will only be possible if the entire government respects the international consensus against the spread of nuclear weapons," she said. "We look to Naypyitaw to honor U.N. Security Council Resolutions 1718 and 1874 and sever illicit ties with North Korea." Clinton said she received "strong assurances" regarding Myanmar's commitments to U.N. Security Council resolutions on North Korea. U.S. officials have played down fear Myanmar's ties with North Korea had broadened to include a nuclear program. SUU KYI BACKS U.S. ENGAGEMENT Suu Kyi says she backs Washington's effort to gauge Myanmar's reforms since the military nominally gave up power to civilian leaders following elections last year. "Many people are asking whether what is happing in Burma is for real ... or whether this is just another piece of window-dressing," Suu Kyi said in a video message to Britain's Chatham House think-tank, which has awarded her a prize. "I believe that there are elements within the government who are genuine in their desire to bring about reforms ... and it is worthwhile to take the risk; to accept that there is a possible opening." But Suu Kyi said on Wednesday the United States must remain watchful that the army-backed government did not halt or roll back reforms, and "speak out loud and clear" if people engaging in politics were arrested. Suu Kyi has confirmed she will run in upcoming by-elections, ending a boycott of Myanmar's political system. Clinton's trip follows a decision by President Barack Obama last month to open the door to expanded ties, saying he saw "flickers of progress". Clinton said it was up to Myanmar's leaders to decide what came next. "We know from history that flickers can die out. They can be stamped out," she said. (Editing by Jason Szep, Robert Birsel, Ron Popeski and Robert Woodward) reuters.com

To: bentway who wrote (637834)	12/1/2011 4:34:46 PM
From: Brumar89	Respond to of 1578422

Obama nominee to Commission on Financial Responsibility calls for free-market capitalism to be thrown on trash heap of history. weaselzippers.us

To: bentway who wrote (637834)	12/2/2011 11:17:04 AM
From: GUSTAVE JAEGER	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1578422

Re: Why Many Evangelical Christians Are More "Un-American" Than US Muslims Kentucky churchgoer tells of deep hurt after interracial marriage ban *Stella Harville not welcome at Gulnare Freewill baptist church after ex-pastor votes to ban couples of different races* Ed Pilkington in New York guardian.co.uk, Thursday 1 December 2011 18.59 GMT Stella Harville and Ticha Chikuni. Harville said she knows the nine people who voted in favour of Thompson's motion. Photograph: AP A small baptist church in eastern Kentucky has voted to ban interracial couples from joining the congregation and from taking part in all church functions other than funerals. The vote to ostracise couples of different races was held at the Gulnare Freewill baptist church last Sunday. It has prompted a bitter dispute in the local Pike County and thrown up hatreds and antagonisms that had been hidden beneath the surface of the community for years. The vote was held on a motion brought by the former pastor of the church, Melvin Thompson. He proposed that people in interracial marriages should not be "received as members, nor will they be used in worship services and other church functions – with the exception being funerals". His motion added that it "was not intended to judge the salvation of anyone, but is intended to promote greater unity among the church body and the community we serve". Thompson's move originated from a church service in June attended by Stella Harville, aged 24, and her black fiance Ticha Chikuni, 29. Harville, a keen pianist, accompanied Chikuni as he sang the hymn I Surrender All at the service. On 7 August, Thompson, still pastor at that point, approached Stella's father, Dean Harville, who holds office as the secretary and treasurer of the church. "Thompson told me that Stella and her boyfriend were not allowed to sing in the church any more," Dean Harville said. Stella's mother, Cathy Harville, confronted Thompson and asked him who precisely had a problem with the couple. "I, for one, do," Thompson replied. "The best thing that Stella can do is take her boyfriend back to where he came from." Chikuni is originally from Zimbabwe. He has lived in the US for 11 years, having come to Kentucky to study, and now works as a student advisor at Georgetown College. Thompson stepped down as pastor in August, citing health problems, but continued to press his case against the couple. When his motion was put to the vote on Sunday, nine members registered in favour of it and six against, with about 25 parishioners abstaining by leaving the church before the ballot was called. Stella Harville, who is taking a master's degree in Indiana, said she was in shock. She has been attending the church since she was a baby and knows the nine people who voted for the motion personally. "They are my church family," she said. She added that she had also been deeply hurt by the 25 who had abstained as they had failed to take a stand against bigotry. "It's embedded in our culture, especially in certain areas, that interracial marriage is wrong. Some of them have tried to invoke the Bible to support their argument, but anyone who reads the Bible knows there is no scripture saying this," Harville said. Dean Harville said that the ban had given "a black eye to the church, a black eye to our community and a black eye to God. The way I look at it, it's a slap in God's face to say something like this." Thompson, who runs a hardware store, was not available for comment. He told a local radio station: "I do not believe in interracial marriages, and I do not believe this will give our church a black eye at all." Relationships between white and black people, particularly white women and black men, were a running sore in the days of segregation in the US. Interracial marriage was only made fully legal in 1967. Polls show that disapproval of the practice has faded with every generation, with up to 97% of younger Americans now having no issue with it. But pockets of resistance remain in places like Alabama, where 41% voted against removing a ban on mixed-race marriages from the state constitution as recently as 2000. Mark Potok of the Southern Poverty Law Center said he was astounded that the Kentucky church had openly moved to bar mixed-race couples. "It shows there are a large number of people who still absolutely oppose these relationships". Under federal law, discrimination on grounds of race is unlawful, but religious groups are exempt. A meeting of the regional conference of Free Will Baptists churches has been called for Saturday. It is expected to censure the Gulnare motion, though it has no authority to overturn the ban. Dean Harville intends to bring the matter to another vote this Sunday in the hope of removing the ban. Even if it is rescinded Stella Harville says the damage has been done. "Who knows, I might go back to the church, but it will take a while to get over the hurt," she said. guardian.co.uk