Magic Statistics

A Texas jury convicted con man Gregory Setser of bilking millions from mostly Christian investors, including televangelist Benny Hinn.  Sentencing was scheduled for last week, but the hearing was prolonged by a fantastic new revelation arising from surreptitiously recorded jailhouse telephone conversations.

Mr Setser was trying to arrange for armed soldiers to break him out of the Big House.

FBI Special Agent Matt Segedy said they [the recordings] chronicled conversations from July 2006 to Jan. 9 between Mr. Setser, his wife, and a man who purports to be a U.N. diplomat. The "diplomat" claimed that he could get 19 "commandos" to help break Mr. Setser out of prison.
. . .
The recordings, which were at times inaudible over the courtroom audio system, contained titillating pieces of information – "paperwork on the ammo on the plane"; "we're going to call British Airways"; "everything's on schedule"; and "they're sending 19 commandos in to get you."

The “diplomat’s” name was not revealed, but the FBI agent confirmed that he is not associated with the UN.  That’s a relief.  When it comes to UN activities, nothing would surprise me anymore.

The agent also testified that Setser, while inside the joint, was trying to rip off his former patsies for another $300 each as a “fee” to launch a class-action against the government to recover all their millions.  The convicted felon was also heard working on a plan to fleece other inmates’ families.

That Gregory Setser—He’s just incorrigible.

If and when the sentencing hearing ever winds up, the guy could get as much as 385 years.

h/t: Religion News Blog

UPDATE (1 Feb.): He got 40 years. 

The Brick, alumni newsletter of Keble College, Oxford, is always on the lookout for news about the college’s namesake John Keble.  The Rev David Gatcliffe reports that St Margaret’s Lee, the church of which he is rector, has a window dedicated to Keble as well as a panel showing the college.

The newsletter photos are in black and white, unfortunately, but I’ve scanned the Keble window photo and posted it here anyway.  (The Brick credits the photo to Ian Mills.)

This is the accompanying text, from The Brick #38 (pdf).

The Revd David Gatcliffe (1964) is rector of a beautifully restored Victorian church, St Margaret’s Lee, near Blackheath.  On the north side of the nave, is a stained glass panel dedicated to John Keble.  It is one of a series depicting leaders and episodes in the history of the Church of England.  They were deliberately designed, by Lowndes & Dury, to include large areas of plain glass to allow more daylight into the nave and were commissioned as part of the post-war scheme in the 1950s.

The Keble College panel can be seen on page 8 of The Brick.

Previous related post: Keble College Chapel, Oxford

Hrant Dink, a Turkish journalist of Armenian descent, was shot and killed as he left his newspaper office in central Istanbul.  Witnesses said the shooter was a teenager who shouted, “I shot the infidel”, as he ran off.

The killing shocked people across the country. Turks assembled at the scene in protest against their own government.

Thousands of Turks gathered outside the newspaper offices chanting anti-government slogans — "killer state, killer state" and "we are all Armenians, we are all Hrant Dink".

Others carried red carnations and lit candles around a makeshift shrine. Newspaper workers hung out of the windows of the building holding up enormous photographs of Mr Dink.

One of the protesters, Betiuditil Sonmez, a Turkish architect, said: "Anyone who pretends this is a democracy is a liar. A government that makes laws that target brave people like Mr Dink should be ashamed to talk about freedom of speech — they are all liars."

A suspect has now been apprehended and has reportedly confessed to the crime.

Ogün Samast, suspected of murdering Hrant Dink, Editor-in-chief of Agos newspaper, said in the statement to Samsun police following his arrest, “I shot him after I said my Friday Prayer”.

A spokesman for the ultra-nationalist (and apparently moonbat) Saadet Party maintains that the CIA and Mossad masterminded the assassination, however.

The Turkish government had recently prosecuted Mr Dink on charges of “insulting Turkish identity” because he spoke about the Armenian Genocide, in which forces of the Ottoman Empire engineered the deaths of about one million Armenians around the end of World War I.  He had been found guilty of the charge and given a six-month suspended sentence.  He was also facing additional charges arising from an article he wrote about his trial.

The judicial proceedings brought Mr Dink much unfavourable attention from extreme Turkish nationalists.

In recent years Dink, 52, had become a figure of hate for Turkey’s ultra-nationalist right, particularly over the fate of the Armenians in the first world war, when between 1m and 1.5m were driven from their homes. Many were killed straight away with others abandoned in the Syrian desert. Some estimates put the total at 600,000, although it was almost certainly higher.

Most foreign historians recognise the deportations and massacres as the first genocide of the 20th century. This has always been denied by Turkey, which says it was simply a tragedy of war.
. . .
The cases brought Dink to the attention of the right. He was well aware of the risks. “He had been receiving death threats for the past 2½ years,” said Erdal Dogan, his lawyer.

The most recent threat arrived only days before he was killed.

Turkey’s prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan shed crocodile tears over the murder.

“A bullet has been fired at Turkish democracy and free speech,” he said.

Free speech in Turkey was well and truly dead before any bullet was fired.  Some opinions—and historical events—are simply verboten to discuss.  Those foolish enough to raise certain issues are subject to official condemnation and legal sanction.  It’s no wonder someone thought Hrant Dink was fair game.

Despite Mr Erdogan’s pledge to track down the killers, scores of Turkish writers and academics face prosecution under laws introduced by Mr Erdogan’s government that make it an offence to insult Turkey by making references to the massacre of Armenians during the First World War.

They include Turkey’s best know author and first Nobel prize laureate, Orhan Pamuk, who was prosecuted on charges of “insulting Turkishness” for telling a Swiss newspaper that “one million Armenians and 30,000 Kurds were killed in these lands but no one but I dares talk about it.”

To this day, Turkey officially and adamantly denies that a centrally planned and systematic attempt to wipe out the Armenian people took place.

An Armenian blogger has noticed a silver lining to this very dark cloud: On internet social network sites, Turks and Armenians are engaging in honest and sympathetic discussions of their differences.

Source of photo: Armeniapedia

Previous related posts:

• The largest genocide in history against Christians
• Turkish academic suspended for criticising Ataturk
• Turkey pressures Canada to back away from recognition of Armenian Genocide
• Remember the Armenian Genocide

In remote villages of North Korea’s northern mountains, people are starving and freezing, while the government of lunatic dictator Kim Jong-il does nothing to help them.  A group journeyed to Koogang, 200 miles north-east of Pyongyang, and found 46 men, women, and children frozen to death.  They had burned furniture and wood from their houses in a vain attempt to stay alive.

More than 300 people are thought to have perished from cold so far this winter in North Korea's mountainous north, victims of temperatures as low as -30C and of an arrogant ruling clique.

"Nobody got out of the trap alive," said an official at the Chinese embassy in the capital, Pyongyang, who confirmed the events of Koogang. "After heavy snowfalls, there was a severe frost. The inhabitants were doomed."

In a country notorious for its secretiveness, the regime of President Kim Jong-il has made no mention of the deaths. As the rest of the population struggle to stay warm, 50,000 members of his ruling elite continue to live in splendid isolation in a compound in central Pyongyang – enjoying the benefits of hot water, central heating and satellite television.

Ordinary residents of Pyongyang struggle to keep warm and fed but, outside the city, the situation is desperate.  Firewood for fuel has been stripped from the land by a catastrophic deforestation programme started in the 1990s by Kim’s father and predecessor Kim il Sung.  The deforestation caused widespread soil erosion, contributing to the famine of the 1990s, in which as many as three million starved to death.

Temperatures routinely fall to -13C in the capital, overtaxing the power supply system.

The electricity supply is notoriously unreliable and as evening falls the city streets are plunged into darkness.

The only constant source of light is the giant illuminated copper statue of Kim il Sung on a hill top overlooking the city – cold comfort for those living through the bleak North Korean mid-winter.

Meanwhile, the UN is relieving the situation as only the UN can: Another scandal has erupted over North Korea.

The new head of the United Nations, Ban Ki Moon, has ordered an emergency external review of all UN expenditure after claims that up to $100 million meant for development aid was channelled into the hands of North Korean officials.

Some of the money may have ended up furthering Kim’s nuclear weapons programme.  More UN “dollars for dictators”.

It’s so comforting to know that the UN handles the contributions of member nations so carefully.  Your tax dollars at work.

Previous related posts:

• North Korean evangelist martyred for distributing Bibles
• Where’s the UN’s North Korea envoy?
• UN guilty of “unethical and corrupt behaviour”

Since late last month, at least nine churches in Anchorage, Alaska, and surrounding communities, have been hit by break-ins.  Six churches in Eagle River have been burglarised.  Damages from vandalism total tens of thousands of dollars.

The thieves are prying doors open with crowbars, breaking into safes and making off with Sunday collections, according to the police.

There have been at least 10 break-ins at nine churches in Anchorage since late December, with additional churches in Wasilla also being hit, police said. In most of the cases, the thieves have left thousands of dollars worth of mess in their wake, including setting off fire extinguishers and destroying office equipment.

"I think they were being destructive. Once they didn't get what they were looking for, they started beating things up," said Russ Bott, facilities manager for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Eagle River.

Police spokesman Lt. Paul Honeman said police are gathering information on the cases. "We suspect one person or group is responsible for them all."

Coffee shops near the churches have also been burglarised.

Although the break-ins are believed to be linked, the exact connection is not immediately clear because several denominations have been hit.  Theft of ready cash points to robbery as one apparent motive, but police are considering the possibility that anti-religious sentiment may also be a factor.

This morning’s gradual hymn on the Third Sunday After Epiphany at Christ Church Cathedral, Whitehorse.  (Hymn #480 in the Anglican Church of Canada's hymn book, Common Praise.)

Lord, be thy word my guide;
in it may I rejoice;
thy glory be my aim,
thy holy will my choice;

Thy promises my hope;
thy providence my guard;
thine arm my strong support;
thyself my great reward.

Words: Christopher Wordsworth, 1872
Music: Quam dilecta, Eden, Oswald Feilden, 1863

The author of the text, The Rev Dr Christopher Wordsworth (1807-1885), was the nephew and literary executor of poet William Wordsworth.  In addition to writing several hymns, he was an athlete and accomplished Greek scholar.  He also served as a vicar of a country parish, Archdeacon of Westminster, and Bishop of Lincoln.  He and his wife had seven children.  Their eldest son John became Bishop of Salisbury; their eldest daughter Elizabeth founded Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford and served as its first principal.

Bp Wordsworth had strong views about many theological subjects, including hymnody.

"Hymnology has been allowed to fall into the hands of persons who had little reverence for the Authority and Teaching of the ancient Christian Church, and little acquaintance with her Literature."

He believed that church hymns should not refer to personal feelings; rather, they should focus on God’s glory and praise and edify the people by teaching sound doctrine.

(Both the online version of Common Praise and The Cyber Hymnal give the final word of the title, and of the first line, as “rule”.  For some unknown reason, the edition of Common Praise in our pews has it as “guide”.)

The collect for today, the Third Sunday After Epiphany, from the 1662 Book of Common Prayer:

Almighty and everlasting God, mercifully look upon our infirmities, and in all our dangers and necessities stretch forth thy right hand to help and defend us; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The Epistle: Romans 12:16-21
The Gospel: St Matthew 8:1-13