Cholera Epidemic Threatens All Of Nigeria

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ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — All of Nigeria is at risk in a cholera epidemic that has killed 352 people in only three-months time, health officials warned Wednesday, as the country's rainy season continues to spread the water-born infection.

The nation's Health Ministry issued a statement saying Nigeria has had more than 6,400 cases of the disease since June. Doctors now have detected it in 12 of Nigeria's 36 states.

"Epidemiological evidence indicates that the entire country is at risk," the statement read.

Cholera is a fast-moving infection that causes diarrhea in victims, leading to severe dehydration and possible death. The infection is highly contagious yet easily preventable with clean water and sanitation.

The health ministry blamed the recent outbreak on heavy seasonal rains spreading the infection across rural communities without access to proper toilet facilities. In many areas, wells remain uncovered, allowing tainted water to flow into the communities' drinking water supplies.

Teacher Assigns Students To Create A Terrorist Attack For Homework

Click to read full story from My Fox NY
Students at an Australian school were asked to plan a terrorist attack "to kill the MOST innocent civilians in order to get your message across" as part of a class assignment, Australian Associated Press (AAP) reported Wednesday.

The society and environment teacher at Kalgoorlie-Boulder Community High School in Western Australia asked Year 10 students -- aged about 16 -- to pretend they were a terrorist planning a chemical or biological attack in Australia.

One parent, who lost a family member among the 202 killed in the 2002 Bali bombings, complained to the local newspaper in the township of 30,000 people that the assignment was "offensive."

Grades were to be allocated based on students' ability to analyze information they had learned on terrorism and chemical and biological warfare and apply it to a real-life scenario.

Terry Marino, the principal of the school -- which is about 370 miles east of Perth -- said the assignment was inappropriate, and that the remorseful teacher was inexperienced and had no intention of offending, Australian public broadcaster ABC reported.

"The teacher, who is relatively inexperienced, made a well-intentioned but misguided attempt to engage the students in an assignment on contemporary conflict and how beliefs and values influence the behaviors and motives of individuals," Martino told the local newspaper.

Martino said he withdrew the assignment as soon as he heard of it.
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JMC Ministries Response

To just say this teacher is "inexperienced" is really a lame excuse! Clearly this teacher had his/her own agenda and they were pushing it onto the students in the class.

What if someone had not come forward and brought this to the attention of the principal and the students went forward with this assignment. It said their grades would be based on how well they planned the attack. That is just frightening having children planning out how to kill innocent lives. It is home growing future terrorists, murderers, and serial killers in our opinion. Exposing young children to this kind of horror is only going to de-sensitize the children and they stop showing empathy, compassion and love to their fellow classmate and fellow man.

We are so thankful that parents came forward and made their voices heard and did not keep silent. This kind of behavior from teachers is not just in Australia but all over the world. Those who are suppose to teaching our children the basics of education like reading, writing, and arithmetic are clearly Not always teaching that. They are bringing their own agenda's into the classroom and in turn trying to brainwash and indoctrinate the minds of the worlds future generations.

If parents don't continue to fight for the minds of their children we will soon see a generation of zombies who walk around doing whatever they were brainwashed to do.

Chile': 33 Miners Trapped For Over 17 Days In Collapsed Mine

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(CNN) -- The 33 miners trapped inside a mine in Chile survived for more than 17 days by sharing small amounts of tuna and mackerel that were in a shelter, along with water, President Sebastian Pinera told CNN en Español on Monday.

"They had very little food," the president said, revealing new details about the conditions affecting the trapped miners. "They told us they ate tuna and mackerel every other day, and that they shared ... a jar of peaches among the 33."

A second probe reached the miners Monday, making a total of two devices that are capable of relaying communications, food and water between the trapped miners and those on the ground.

Using a video camera on one of the probes, Pinera said he saw the miners.

"I saw them jumping like children, with an infinite joy. They moved their arms, they turned on their flashlights," Pinera said.

The area where the miners find themselves is about 50 square meters (538 square feet), Pinera said.

He described the shelter as a type of cavern where they had access to an area called the "workshop," where they found batteries for light and water for consumption.

Pinera estimated the temperatures where the miners are hover between 32-35 degrees Celsius (90-95 degrees Fahrenheit).

Earlier Monday, national Mining Minister Laurence Golborne said that tubes packed with flashlights, water and oxygen would be sent to the trapped miners. It was unclear whether the supplies had been delivered yet.

Officials learned Sunday that the copper and gold miners had survived after an August 5 cave-in trapped them more than 2,300 feet underground.

It could take three months or more to rescue the workers, Pinera said.But the miners' health will take priority over rescue-and-removal efforts, Golborne said at a news conference at the disaster site in northern Chile.

Medical officials were sending water down to the miners and then will determine whether they are healthy enough to tolerate liquid nutrients, said Jorge Diaz, the doctor in charge of the medical aspects of the rescue.

"First, we are going to assure the workers' state of health," Diaz said at the news conference.

Psychological help also will be given to the trapped miners, he said.

Golborne reiterated Monday that those responsible for the cave-in will be prosecuted, a point also made a few minutes later at a separate event by Pinera.

"We will investigate and punish those who are responsible," he said.

Family members had cheered Sunday when Pinera held up a handwritten note pulled from the mine.

Written in Spanish in red ink, it said simply: "We are fine in the shelter, the 33 of us."

The note was tied to a probe authorities had lowered earlier Sunday.

Colorado School Offers Contraception To Students

DENVER - Bruce Randolph School will be the first in Denver Public Schools to offer birth control to students.

Condoms, birth control pills, and emergency contraceptives are now available to any student whose parents signed them up for services at the school based clinic run by Denver Health Medical Center.

Jennifer Gonzalez is part of the parent group that pushed for the contraceptives. She has a son in the high school.

"If the only thing keeping my son from protecting himself is the embarrassment of asking me, or the ability to get to the clinic where its offered for free, then I'd much rather him be able to walk into the school based clinic and ask for it," she said.

Thirteen girls at Bruce Randolph have had babies in the past two years.

The principal hopes access to birth control will bring that number down, and help break the cycle of poverty in the area.

But not everyone agrees. Some people say school is not the place for this, and others believe abstinence should be taught instead.

Bob Enyart with Colorado Right to life expects the number of pregnancies to increase.

"This is a tragedy of parenting and schooling," Enyart said.

There are 14 school based clinics that offer some form of contraception in Colorado, but Bruce Randolph is the first in DPS. The school serves students in 6th-12th grades.
Click to read full story from KDVR.com
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JMC Ministries Response

What Ever Happened to Teaching Children Self Control, Abstinence and the dangers of having sex outside of marriage? Now parents and schools just throw pills, condoms and the day after pill at kids when they want to have sex. Instead of educating them and parents taking responsibility for their children and actually raising them with morals, now we just basically say, "go do whatever you want as long you take a pill (which is not even 100% protecting their children from getting pregnant) and condoms (which is not even protecting them 100% from STDS, HIV/AIDS and pregnancy) This is like throwing a Band Aid On a Opened Wound that without the right kind of care and nurturing will never heal and we will continue to have children younger and younger becoming sexually active and getting pregnant.

Church Reopens On 5th Anniversary Of Hurricane Katrina

Click to read full story from WWLTV.com
NEW ORLEANS-- Inside the Historic Second Baptist Church on Marengo Street came the sound of a service five years in the making. On Sunday, worshippers celebrated their return to the church -- five years after Hurricane Katrina.

"The last sermon before Katrina was 'Stormy Weather.' We sustained about 6 to 8 feet of water, easily," said Pastor Robert Jackson. "We've come this far by faith."

It is a faith that church members carried with them across the region and the city, as they searched for temporary places where they could worship. In the past five years, the 160-year-old church held services everywhere but here: from Houston to Baton Rouge; from funeral homes to parking lots.

On Sunday morning, though, a repaired building, with new floors and shiny pews, welcomed those coming in for services.

"Some days you felt like, 'Oh my goodness, will this ever come?' And then now that we're here, it's just a wonderful, wonderful feeling," said longtime church member Charmaine Robertson.

"You know, your church is like your second home. You know how people have vacation homes? In New Orleans, a church is like a second home to you," said Linda Landry. "There's no place like home. I'm like Dorothy, clicking my heels. I'm home! We're so happy."

The happiness is tempered with thoughts of fellow church members, nearly 40 in all, who didn't make it back to see their church reopen.

"We definitely feel their sense of presence," Robertson said. "Today, you can't help but think about them and what it would have meant to them to be a part of this celebration."

Yet, the celebration goes on, as a sign of life-- and a sign that, perhaps, things can get better.

Barack Obama Elementary School Opens In Maryland

Click to read full story from NBC Washington
The first school in the D.C. area named after the current president opens Monday morning as the school year begins in Prince George's County.

Barack Obama Elementary School opens its doors in Upper Marlboro, Md., for the first time Monday. The school is being touted as being an environmentally friendly "green" school. There have been other schools named after President Obama in the country, but this will be a first in his own backyard in the D.C. region.

That's just one of several new initiatives for Prince George's Public Schools this year. The District also will open an all-male charter school in Upper Marlboro. Called Possibility Prep, the new school will emphasize math, science and engineering. Officials hope that the all-male environment will do away with many distractions and allow students to focus on their studies.

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JMC Ministries Response

We know that in the past there have been many schools that have opened that were named after a present or former U.S President. Some of these parents who were interviewed expect this to be the greatest school ever opened to improve their childrens' education. When if we look at President Obama's record he really has not improved much since coming into office. But you won't hear him admit that, all you will hear is that "It's Bushes Fault" majority of the time as to why America is so messed up today. Yes Bush did make mistakes when he was in office and caused problems. But That was 2 Years Ago now and Mr. Obama is now in office Bush is no where running anything It's you Mr. Obama. You are the one making the decisions and it is you who need to step up stop blaming others. You said, "the buck stops with me" So stop making excuses for the reason why things aren't going the way you planned

Our question is, that if the children in this school start failing and not getting the good grades while attending this school, Is Obama gonna blame Bush for that as well? I pray and hope that this school will help these children and that they have opportunities to excel academically because without a good education, we set children up for failure when we send them out into the real world unprepared.

One Man Transforming Kenya One Bridge At A Time

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West Pokot, Kenya (CNN) -- More than 13 years after his parents drowned in a flash flood, David Kakuko is at the Moruny River, building a bridge that might have prevented their deaths.

The hanging footbridge will provide safe passage over the Moruny, a frequently flooded waterway in West Pokot, Kenya.

"Before the bridge, there [were] so many people, so many who lost their lives," said Kakuko, 32. "I know, because I have no parents. I have no parents, because this river took them."

Kakuko is working alongside other local residents and Harmon Parker, a master mason who has been building bridges through Kenya's mountainous terrain since 1997.

Parker, a Lexington, Kentucky, native who came to Kenya in 1989, has seen firsthand how flash floods -- and the threat of predators such as crocodiles and hippos -- can make rivers impassable in isolated communities.

"I've worked all over Kenya," said Parker, 54. "And every community [has] a story of ... loved ones lost."

When Parker arrived in Kenya as a young missionary, he befriended Jay Hindson, a fellow development worker who introduced him to a bridge build in 1996. The experience changed the course of his life.

"It was a plea from the community," Parker recalled. "I saw that building a bridge could change lives and transform communities."

Parker has been building bridges ever since, and in 2003 he founded the nonprofit organization Bridging the Gap. The organization oversees the building of bridges that not only save lives but connect isolated villagers to resources that can improve their way of life.

"When it floods, people really suffer not being able to get to the clinic or the market or to their school," Parker said. "Like every people, they have dreams. They want to prosper."

Since 1997, Parker has helped build 45 bridges in Kenya. He estimates they've affected tens of thousands of lives, but he insists his work is not about the numbers.

"I have built many bridges in very remote areas for the 'few and the needy' that a larger organization may not consider," he said. "Knowing this bridge will probably save at least one life is what makes me tick. ... I build bridges because I want to save lives, lives that I will never know about."

Parker's hanging footbridges are simple in design, with an average length of 120 feet and an average cost of about $6,000. They are built using basic materials and local tools so villagers can maintain them and make repairs when needed.

Controversy Over 10 Commandments Starts Heated Argument In one Illinois City

Click to read full story from KFVS12

MARION, IL (KFVS) - Atheist Rob Sherman says he now has someone in the Marion community whose rights would be violated over the placement of a religious monument in Marion's Tower Square.

On Monday night Sherman warned Marion city leaders during their council meeting that if he found someone in town who wanted to challenge the city over a Ten Commandments monument, he'd take up the fight against the city.

On Wednesday Sherman introduced Robert Donelson, a proclaimed Wiccan, who now wants his religious symbol on Tower Square too.

"If the Ten Commandments go up, then the Wiccan read goes up too," Donelson said.

Sherman backed up Donelson's request with a multiple faceted statement.

"If Mayor Bob Butler wants to allow a Ten Commandments monument here that's fine," said Sherman. "He can do that as long as he allows Mr. Donelson to put up his pentagram or whatever expression of his perspective about the Wiccan religion."

The Marion Mayor says he sees the proposed religious monument from a different perspective.

"We consider the Ten Commandments monument, if it were there, as a recognition of the fundamental premise for the law of the land," said Mayor Bob Butler.

Spike In Unemployment Claims Highest In 9 Months

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WASHINGTON – Layoffs are back, and that's bad news for the fragile economic recovery.

New applications for unemployment benefits hit a nine-month high last week — a spike that suggests private employers may shed jobs this month for the first time this year.

Workers are losing construction jobs in Georgia and manufacturing jobs in Indiana. Some of the layoffs are coming as stimulus money dries up and public works projects come to a halt. Government employees are being let go, too, as states and cities grapple with budget crises.

Without more jobs, consumers will not feel secure enough to spend much money, further slowing the economy. The grim outlook has economists lowering their estimates for growth in the second half of the year. And on Thursday it led to a sell-off on Wall Street led by investors worried that the United States could tumble back into recession.

"Today's news on the economy has been nothing but awful," Paul Ashworth, an economist at Capital Economics, wrote in a note to clients. "The recovery is clearly slowing."

The Labor Department announced Thursday that initial claims for jobless benefits rose by 12,000 last week to 500,000 — the highest level since November and the third straight increase.

As the economy recovered from the worst downturn since the 1930s, jobless claims declined steadily from a peak of 651,000 in March 2009 to a low of 427,000 in July before rising steadily over the past six weeks. In a healthy economy, jobless claims usually drop below 400,000.

"This is obviously a disappointing number that shows ongoing weakness in the job market," said Robert Dye, senior economist at the PNC Financial Services Group.

Dye said claims showed a similar pattern in the last two recoveries, but eventually began to fall again. The current elevated level of claims is a sign that employers are reluctant to hire until the rebound is well under way. That's what happened after the 1991 and 2001 recessions, which were dubbed "jobless recoveries."

Economists caution that more than 350,000 temporary census jobs ended in recent months, and those workers could be applying for benefits. Congress also recently restored an extended unemployment benefits program, which can sometimes spike claims.

The jobless report and a separate report showing that manufacturing activity in the mid-Atlantic declined in August sent stock markets tumbling. The Dow Jones industrial average closed down 144 points for the day. Interest rates dropped sharply as investors flocked to the safety of Treasury bonds.

A rush to move money into Treasurys in recent months has sent mortgage rates to the lowest level in decades. They dipped for the eighth time in nine weeks.

Also Thursday, the Congressional Budget Office said the deficit is on pace to exceed $1.3 trillion for the budget year that ends in September. That would be the second-largest ever, just below the record of more than $1.4 trillion in the last fiscal year.

Partially fueling the deficit was hundreds of billions of dollars in stimulus spending intended to help lift the country out of recession. But many of the programs are now ending, taking jobs with them.

Ken Simonson, chief economist at the Associated General Contractors of America, said highway contractors began working on stimulus projects as much as a year ago, "and now that pipeline is empty."

Work on commercial projects such as office buildings, malls and hotels is "dead, dead, dead," he added.

Construction firms are letting go of more workers as the housing sector slumps and federal stimulus spending on public works projects winds down. Construction-related layoffs have been particularly heavy in recent weeks in Georgia, Pennsylvania and North Carolina.

In Washington, Republicans have made Democrats' handling of the economy the No. 1 campaign issue heading into the midterm congressional elections. President Barack Obama cited the jump in jobless claims to call attention to Republicans who are opposing his proposal to help small businesses.

That bill would provide up to $30 billion in additional lending to small businesses and about $12 billion in tax breaks to encourage hiring. But Republicans and some Democrats are balking at more government spending because of the effect on the deficit.

Watch Your Money North Korea Sending Fake $100 Dollar Bills To U.S

Click to read full story from World Net Daily

A New Jersey man was shocked when police informed him that the $100 bill he withdrew from his bank to pay taxes earlier this month was a masterfully made counterfeit.

What the man may not have realized is that the State Department has confirmed a rash of these almost undetectable counterfeits, called "super-notes," have been flooding the U.S. from North Korea in a form of monetary sabotage one former FBI agent warns could constitute an act of war.

The existence of the supernotes was exposed in 2008, when several Chinese men were convicted of smuggling tens of millions of dollars worth of the counterfeit money into the U.S.

Originally, the supernotes fooled even state currency experts.

"It wasn't until they took [a] bill back to Washington, D.C., and they examined it in the labs of the Secret Service … that they determined that in fact it was a supernote," author and former FBI agent Bob Hamer explained to the Christian Broadcasting Network. "It's a near-perfect replica of our $100 bill."

But authorities also discovered that the Chinese men hadn't actually produced the counterfeits; they were only the vehicle for smuggling the currency into the U.S.

Last month, the International Business Times reports, State Department spokesman Philip Crowley confirmed U.S. officials now have "no doubt" that North Korea is behind the counterfeit currency ring.

And that, Hamer told CBN News, could be considered an act of war.