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Politics : Clinton -- doomed & wagging, Japan collapses, Y2K bug, etc -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: SOROS who wrote (494)	9/28/1998 9:12:00 AM
From: SOROS	Respond to of 1151

By GARY D. ROBERTSON Associated Press Writer CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (AP) — A controversial United Methodist minister took to the pulpit and reaffirmed his willingness to celebrate same-sex weddings in defiance of his denomination. The Rev. Jimmy Creech told an overflow United Church of Christ congregation on Sunday that Christians are not fully sharing the gospel until they embrace homosexuals into the kingdom of God. ''I think the church has been wounded by prejudice and bigotry toward lesbians, gay men and bisexual persons that compromise its ability to speak truthfully and clearly the gospel of Jesus Christ,'' said Creech, who was removed from his Nebraska congregation after officiating at a lesbian wedding last year. Last year, Creech officiated in a covenant ceremony for two lesbians at First United Methodist Church in Omaha, Neb. That prompted a theological showdown within the 9.5 million-member United Methodist Church, the second-largest Protestant denomination in the United States after the Southern Baptists. Creech was acquitted at a church trial on charges he disobeyed the church's moral guidelines by performing the ceremony. But last month, the denomination's highest court met in Dallas and strengthened its rules, saying pastors could be defrocked for performing the ceremonies. In a question-and-answer session with worshippers Sunday morning, Creech didn't seem concerned by the ruling, saying he would be willing to do covenant ceremonies in the future. ''What matters to me is the quality of relationship with people. If it is a loving, caring relationship, I don't really care what gender they are,'' he said. Creech had plenty of supporters and friends at United Church, whose ministers invited him to speak. The United Church of Christ is the largest denomination in the country that allows the ordination of practicing gays or lesbians to the ministry. Creech, 53, is on a voluntary leave of absence from the Methodist Church. The North Carolina native plans to write a book on his experiences of the past year. He and his wife have returned to their old home in Raleigh.

To: SOROS who wrote (494)	9/28/1998 9:15:00 AM
From: SOROS	Respond to of 1151

BONN — A huge cheer outside the headquarters of Germany's Social Democrats just seconds after six p.m. on Sunday marked the end of 16 years of frustration. The figures from the first exit poll — flashed up on a giant outdoor screen — gave thousands of long-suffering SPD supporters reason to celebrate after four successive general election defeats at the hands of Helmut Kohl. The estimate of big losses for Kohl's Christian Democrats was met with a huge whoop by the SPD supporters who had gathered for a post-election party outside the Bonn building. An even larger cheer and a spontaneous round of applause greeted the SPD's score as it was immediately clear the party had won a clear victory, winning more votes than the Christian Democrats for only the second tine in its postwar history. "I'm really happy the CDU has done so badly," declared Maren Weege, an 18-year-old first-time voter too young to remember when the party last held power in 1982. Other supporters expressed their feelings in their own way. One wore a papier-mache mask of Kohl in the shape of a pear, the outgoing chancellor's nickname. "Looking for work!" read a banner next to the mask. The appearances of Kohl and his team on the screen were greeted with scorn and sarcasm. "Loser! Loser!" chanted the crowd as Kohl gave his first reaction. The chancellor's campaign manager Peter Hintze was greeted with cries of "Auf Wiedersehen!" "After 16 years, I'm just completely happy," declared Dietmar Buse, a middle-aged SPD supporter supping a glass of beer. The party had laid on 5,000 litres of Germany's favourite drink to make sure the celebrations went with a swing. A giant tent filled with snacks and refreshments had been erected in the street outside the party building, just a short walk down the road from the chancellery where the SPD victor, Gerhard Schroeder, will take up residence. The only factor troubling some of the crowd was the performance of the ecologist Greens, whom many SPD supporters would prefer as coalition partners. Their combined score meant it was still uncertain whether the Red-Green alliance would have enough of a majority to form a stable coalition. But any reservations were forgotten when Schroeder stepped onto a small open-air stage next to the big screen. "Ger-hard! Ger-hard!" the crowd of around 2,000 yelled as Schroeder and party chairman Oskar Lafontaine appeared. Schroeder's first words said it all. "After 16 years, the era of Helmut Kohl has ended today," he told his supporters. For years, SPD activists have chanted the same slogan: "Kohl must go." Now they could amend the words. "Kohl has gone!" they yelled in delight.

To: SOROS who wrote (494)	9/29/1998 10:52:00 AM
From: Jane Hafker	Respond to of 1151

Soros, thank you for those URLS. I just don't have time to find them, period. So, you are also a skeptic? It's hard to get a fix on this. I know the ocean is in revolt against man (God is in revolt against man) and the El Nino thing of every 10 years is getting a little old since we have been in El Nino since the first blabbling about El Nino in the history of my memory in 1982 when the first true disasters starting hitting America. That was directly following another bizarre planetary lineup. I am fully a follow of Jesus Christ, Him Crucified for my most miserably sinful and mildly decadent, selfish life of the past. True. But there ARE planets and they do seem to have effects on us somehow and I do not find it any more satanic to consider this than to admit that the flow of the ocean currents does effect the climate in America and explains many of the rapid changes. One TLC show with a noted and top level PhD ended with this man almost pleading desperately for people to realize what effect all of this was going to have on the planet itself, from the electromagnetic standpoint, and especially the pull of the ocean now regulated by the tiny in comparison activities of our little moon. He was most concerned about things like the fragile shelf of hardened lava which really jjust sits on water for miles along the Hawaian coast as the volcano continues to build its own promontory sitting on nothing but water. Things like that. He wanted people to prepare. But for what? How? Maybe he just wanted them to pray. I don't know, I just saw the show. The I go the web urls on day and find as many people saying it is all without effect and forget it. Just wondering. It's not like I can ignore it, you know. Remember John Donne's "I do not seek to know for whom the bell tolls." More true than ever. Anyway, it's all getting more interesting and I personally believe the current failed, and miserable experiment of 6,000 years is almost over for this phase. But that's me.