_Word of God_
(http://www.bertha- dudde.info/ english/wordofgo d/07_html/ en_8000.html)
UNITY OF ECCLESIASTICAL DENOMINATIONS? .…
There is no chance that the ecclesiastical denominations will agree with each other because they hold on to their spoiled teachings and do not try to distance themselves from them….
They all concentrate on external practices, they represent a Christianity which does not correspond to what Jesus describes as the church founded by Him…
. Because this church is a spiritual union, its members exemplify a living Christianity which transforms a person from within, it cannot be compared with the Christianity advocated by the churches…. which mainly follows external customs, has adopted countless practices and ceremonies and thus attaches more
importance to those while neglecting the inner change of the human being’s nature into love….
As a result it can never achieve the right relationship with God, the spiritual rebirth, which, however, is the essence of the church founded on earth by Jesus Himself. None of the denominations will relinquish their traditions, not one of them will, for the sake of another, renounce anything even though it is a mere human product and has no value before God.
The denominations’ argument concerns those differences which were created by them in the course of time, but no thought is given to the actual misguided spiritual knowledge which had caused the confusion in the first place and which is eagerly defended as the original religion. This, however, can only be found in the truth taught by Jesus Himself on earth which has also been
distorted by now and is no longer supported by any of the existing denominations, nor can it be supported because it needs the working of the spirit, which can only be attained by fulfilling the divine commandments of love. And particularly this commandment is in fact taught but observed least of all, because all later added man-made commandments are paid more attention, although they are
of no value since they did not originate from God but are mere human work…. thus they cannot last and have no influence on the further development of the human soul which has to mature here on earth.
The divine Word of Jesus on earth which gave mankind the full truth has been interpreted so incorrectly that these interpretations have resulted in many wrong customs.
Here God's adversary has played his part by confusing the spirit of men, which became noticeable in the demands of these various denominations, which always separated when people argued over the spiritual meaning of Jesus’ Words.
And each denomination supported such controversial issues according to the degree of their understanding or the spiritual state of those who believed themselves to have a calling but who did not belong to the church of Christ themselves, or their spirit would have been enlightened and they would have dissociated themselves from the existing creeds or schools of thought. Some eager
representatives whose maturity of soul was already further advanced certainly did fight for the knowledge they had gained. But they could never prevail because their opponents were not willing to relinquish a structure which only consisted of misguided human practices, which never correspond to divine will
because they did not concur with the pure truth…. And even if the denominations intend to unify, they will still not give up
these human institutions and endeavour to build the true church of Christ which expects of people an inner life in accordance with divine will not reliant upon any external practices, but solely upon a life of love. This will establish a connection with God and result in living faith as well as a full understanding of the pure truth which is gained through the working of the spirit
within the human being and which is the sole characteristic of the church which Jesus Christ established on earth.
And as long as people do not abandon the formalities through which they deter many people’s faith altogether, as long as they do not want to experience the inner awakening themselves, which results in the working of the spirit and enlightenment of thought, it will be a pointless beginning to achieve an agreement, for then they do not agree in truth but hold on to the misguided spiritual knowledge which, however, will be of no benefit for their souls…. Amen
BD 8212
Yes, you do have permission to send this message to family, friends and other spiritual needy. "... freely ye have received, freely give."
There is no copyright but make sure not to cut off or add or change any word!
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Monday, February 2, 2009
Pat Tillman had been urged to Seek Discharge
Pat Tillman had Been Urged to Seek Discharge
Four months before he was killed in Afghanistan, Pat Tillman was told that he could opt out of extending his military service because NFL clubs were interested in him.
PHOENIX (AP) - Four months before he was killed in Afghanistan, Pat Tillman was told that he could opt out of extending his military service because NFL clubs were interested in him. Tillman chose to stay in the Army Rangers, and on April 22, 2004, he was shot by a fellow U.S. soldier who mistakenly fired on a friendly Afghan soldier in Tillman's unit. Other U.S. soldiers then fired in the same direction. Tillman had an exceptional college football career and was a starter for the Arizona Cardinals. But he was largely unkown outside Arizona until he walked away from a $1.2 million-a-year contract to join the Army after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. In December 2003, when Tillman was back home from his initial tour overseas, in Iraq, his agent had begun fielding calls from teams suddenly interested in acquiring his client for the 2004 season. 'And they all said the same thing: 'Frank, this kid can get out of it. He's already served in a war. Just file his discharge papers,'' the agent, Frank Bauer, told The Arizona Republic. He urged Tillman to consider seeking a discharge. 'He said 'No, I'm going to stay. I owe them three years. I'll do one more tour,'' Bauer said. 'And that's the last I ever heard from Pat.' Tillman's decision 'may be remarkable to everybody else,' said brother-in-law Alex Garwood, director of the Pat Tillman Foundation. 'But not if you knew Pat.' The Defense Department has completed an investigation into Tillman's death that was aimed at concerns raised about whether the Army held back information, but its findings won't be made public, Lt. Col. Pamela Hart, an Army spokeswoman at the Pentagon, said this past week. Tillman's family got a briefing on the inquiry recently, said Lt. Col. Hans Bush, chief of public affairs for the Army Special Operations Command at Fort Bragg, N.C. Associated Press
Four months before he was killed in Afghanistan, Pat Tillman was told that he could opt out of extending his military service because NFL clubs were interested in him.
PHOENIX (AP) - Four months before he was killed in Afghanistan, Pat Tillman was told that he could opt out of extending his military service because NFL clubs were interested in him. Tillman chose to stay in the Army Rangers, and on April 22, 2004, he was shot by a fellow U.S. soldier who mistakenly fired on a friendly Afghan soldier in Tillman's unit. Other U.S. soldiers then fired in the same direction. Tillman had an exceptional college football career and was a starter for the Arizona Cardinals. But he was largely unkown outside Arizona until he walked away from a $1.2 million-a-year contract to join the Army after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. In December 2003, when Tillman was back home from his initial tour overseas, in Iraq, his agent had begun fielding calls from teams suddenly interested in acquiring his client for the 2004 season. 'And they all said the same thing: 'Frank, this kid can get out of it. He's already served in a war. Just file his discharge papers,'' the agent, Frank Bauer, told The Arizona Republic. He urged Tillman to consider seeking a discharge. 'He said 'No, I'm going to stay. I owe them three years. I'll do one more tour,'' Bauer said. 'And that's the last I ever heard from Pat.' Tillman's decision 'may be remarkable to everybody else,' said brother-in-law Alex Garwood, director of the Pat Tillman Foundation. 'But not if you knew Pat.' The Defense Department has completed an investigation into Tillman's death that was aimed at concerns raised about whether the Army held back information, but its findings won't be made public, Lt. Col. Pamela Hart, an Army spokeswoman at the Pentagon, said this past week. Tillman's family got a briefing on the inquiry recently, said Lt. Col. Hans Bush, chief of public affairs for the Army Special Operations Command at Fort Bragg, N.C. Associated Press
Rosie Speaks to Donald Trump/Elitest
ROSIE O'DONNELL Elisabeth Hasselbeck Cat Fight
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eYPjpvbcxFU&NR=1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eYPjpvbcxFU&NR=1
Rogers Communications owns Toronto Blue Jays
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rogers_Communications
2000s
Rogers Communications Inc. acquired the Toronto Blue Jays Baseball Club in 2000 and several years later, in 2004, acquired Skydome which is the Blue Jays home venue and largest covered indoor entertainment complex in Canada. The complex was renamed Rogers Centre in February 2005.
http://www.reuters.com/article/pressRelease/idUS19050+08-Feb-2008+PRN20080208
Prime Minister Stephen Harper fails to take action on CRTC cable scandal - Canadian...
Thu Feb 7, 2008 8:21pm EST
Email | Print |
Share
| Reprints | Single Page
[-] Text [+] Prime Minister Stephen Harper fails to take action on CRTC cable scandal -
Canadian consumers may be owed more than 1.2 billion dollars
OTTAWA, Feb. 7 /PRNewswire/ - Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper was
notified more than two years ago of questionable activities amongst industry
and government officials and has not taken action on this issue. At stake is
more than $C 1.2 billion in fees collected from millions of Canadian consumers
under a misleading pretence. A submission made by Canadian citizen Keith
Mahar's legal counsel has not been addressed by the prime minister. At issue
are actions taken by officials at the Canadian Radio-television and
Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) that have unjustly enriched cable
corporations for more than a decade. An extensive breakdown of these actions
is found on www.mediascam.com.
The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Ontario
Securities Commission (OSC) have been requested to investigate potential
violations of New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX)
listing standards on corporate governance by Rogers Communications and Shaw
Communications. The request has been made by legal counsel for Mr. Mahar, a
Rogers and Shaw shareholder who is a social worker, precedent-setting public
interest litigant (Mahar v. Rogers Cablesystems Ltd. 1995), and former
corporate insider in the Canadian broadcasting industry.
"Prime Minister Harper introduced the Federal Accountability Act but
apparently media companies and the CRTC are exempt from accountability and
above the law," stated Mr. Mahar.
As posted on www.mediascam.com, documents were made available to the SEC
and OSC that demonstrate that the corporations may have breached Canadian law.
The OSC has also been asked by Mr. Mahar to review the activities of Cogeco
and Quebecor.
"Citizens and journalists are invited to review the documents on
Mediascam.com and judge for themselves whether or not Prime Minister Harper's
decision to ignore this matter has been in the public interest", Mr. Mahar
added.
This afternoon Mr. Mahar appeared at the CRTC public hearing on the
Canadian Television Fund (CTF), a program operated as a partnership between
industry and government which is central to the activities in question. He
noted that the federal agency had destroyed documents related to the issue and
urged Commissioners to formally review the outstanding issue.
SOURCE Mediascam.com
Keith Mahar, (613) 236-5000 (until Friday, 8 February 2008),
info@mediascam.com, www.mediascam.com; Mailing address: P.O. Box 108, Mawson
ACT 2607, Australia
2000s
Rogers Communications Inc. acquired the Toronto Blue Jays Baseball Club in 2000 and several years later, in 2004, acquired Skydome which is the Blue Jays home venue and largest covered indoor entertainment complex in Canada. The complex was renamed Rogers Centre in February 2005.
http://www.reuters.com/article/pressRelease/idUS19050+08-Feb-2008+PRN20080208
Prime Minister Stephen Harper fails to take action on CRTC cable scandal - Canadian...
Thu Feb 7, 2008 8:21pm EST
Email | Print |
Share
| Reprints | Single Page
[-] Text [+] Prime Minister Stephen Harper fails to take action on CRTC cable scandal -
Canadian consumers may be owed more than 1.2 billion dollars
OTTAWA, Feb. 7 /PRNewswire/ - Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper was
notified more than two years ago of questionable activities amongst industry
and government officials and has not taken action on this issue. At stake is
more than $C 1.2 billion in fees collected from millions of Canadian consumers
under a misleading pretence. A submission made by Canadian citizen Keith
Mahar's legal counsel has not been addressed by the prime minister. At issue
are actions taken by officials at the Canadian Radio-television and
Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) that have unjustly enriched cable
corporations for more than a decade. An extensive breakdown of these actions
is found on www.mediascam.com.
The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Ontario
Securities Commission (OSC) have been requested to investigate potential
violations of New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX)
listing standards on corporate governance by Rogers Communications and Shaw
Communications. The request has been made by legal counsel for Mr. Mahar, a
Rogers and Shaw shareholder who is a social worker, precedent-setting public
interest litigant (Mahar v. Rogers Cablesystems Ltd. 1995), and former
corporate insider in the Canadian broadcasting industry.
"Prime Minister Harper introduced the Federal Accountability Act but
apparently media companies and the CRTC are exempt from accountability and
above the law," stated Mr. Mahar.
As posted on www.mediascam.com, documents were made available to the SEC
and OSC that demonstrate that the corporations may have breached Canadian law.
The OSC has also been asked by Mr. Mahar to review the activities of Cogeco
and Quebecor.
"Citizens and journalists are invited to review the documents on
Mediascam.com and judge for themselves whether or not Prime Minister Harper's
decision to ignore this matter has been in the public interest", Mr. Mahar
added.
This afternoon Mr. Mahar appeared at the CRTC public hearing on the
Canadian Television Fund (CTF), a program operated as a partnership between
industry and government which is central to the activities in question. He
noted that the federal agency had destroyed documents related to the issue and
urged Commissioners to formally review the outstanding issue.
SOURCE Mediascam.com
Keith Mahar, (613) 236-5000 (until Friday, 8 February 2008),
info@mediascam.com, www.mediascam.com; Mailing address: P.O. Box 108, Mawson
ACT 2607, Australia
Rogers
http://www.reuters.com/article/pressRelease/idUS19050+08-Feb-2008+PRN20080208
Prime Minister Stephen Harper fails to take action on CRTC cable scandal - Canadian...
Thu Feb 7, 2008 8:21pm EST
Prime Minister Stephen Harper fails to take action on CRTC cable scandal -
Canadian consumers may be owed more than 1.2 billion dollars
OTTAWA, Feb. 7 /PRNewswire/ - Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper was
notified more than two years ago of questionable activities amongst industry
and government officials and has not taken action on this issue. At stake is
more than $C 1.2 billion in fees collected from millions of Canadian consumers
under a misleading pretence. A submission made by Canadian citizen Keith
Mahar's legal counsel has not been addressed by the prime minister. At issue
are actions taken by officials at the Canadian Radio-television and
Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) that have unjustly enriched cable
corporations for more than a decade. An extensive breakdown of these actions
is found on www.mediascam.com.
The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Ontario
Securities Commission (OSC) have been requested to investigate potential
violations of New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX)
listing standards on corporate governance by Rogers Communications and Shaw
Communications. The request has been made by legal counsel for Mr. Mahar, a
Rogers and Shaw shareholder who is a social worker, precedent-setting public
interest litigant (Mahar v. Rogers Cablesystems Ltd. 1995), and former
corporate insider in the Canadian broadcasting industry.
"Prime Minister Harper introduced the Federal Accountability Act but
apparently media companies and the CRTC are exempt from accountability and
above the law," stated Mr. Mahar.
As posted on www.mediascam.com, documents were made available to the SEC
and OSC that demonstrate that the corporations may have breached Canadian law.
The OSC has also been asked by Mr. Mahar to review the activities of Cogeco
and Quebecor.
"Citizens and journalists are invited to review the documents on
Mediascam.com and judge for themselves whether or not Prime Minister Harper's
decision to ignore this matter has been in the public interest", Mr. Mahar
added.
This afternoon Mr. Mahar appeared at the CRTC public hearing on the
Canadian Television Fund (CTF), a program operated as a partnership between
industry and government which is central to the activities in question. He
noted that the federal agency had destroyed documents related to the issue and
urged Commissioners to formally review the outstanding issue.
SOURCE Mediascam.com
Keith Mahar, (613) 236-5000 (until Friday, 8 February 2008),
info@mediascam.com, www.mediascam.com; Mailing address: P.O. Box 108, Mawson
ACT 2607, Australia
Prime Minister Stephen Harper fails to take action on CRTC cable scandal - Canadian...
Thu Feb 7, 2008 8:21pm EST
Prime Minister Stephen Harper fails to take action on CRTC cable scandal -
Canadian consumers may be owed more than 1.2 billion dollars
OTTAWA, Feb. 7 /PRNewswire/ - Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper was
notified more than two years ago of questionable activities amongst industry
and government officials and has not taken action on this issue. At stake is
more than $C 1.2 billion in fees collected from millions of Canadian consumers
under a misleading pretence. A submission made by Canadian citizen Keith
Mahar's legal counsel has not been addressed by the prime minister. At issue
are actions taken by officials at the Canadian Radio-television and
Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) that have unjustly enriched cable
corporations for more than a decade. An extensive breakdown of these actions
is found on www.mediascam.com.
The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Ontario
Securities Commission (OSC) have been requested to investigate potential
violations of New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX)
listing standards on corporate governance by Rogers Communications and Shaw
Communications. The request has been made by legal counsel for Mr. Mahar, a
Rogers and Shaw shareholder who is a social worker, precedent-setting public
interest litigant (Mahar v. Rogers Cablesystems Ltd. 1995), and former
corporate insider in the Canadian broadcasting industry.
"Prime Minister Harper introduced the Federal Accountability Act but
apparently media companies and the CRTC are exempt from accountability and
above the law," stated Mr. Mahar.
As posted on www.mediascam.com, documents were made available to the SEC
and OSC that demonstrate that the corporations may have breached Canadian law.
The OSC has also been asked by Mr. Mahar to review the activities of Cogeco
and Quebecor.
"Citizens and journalists are invited to review the documents on
Mediascam.com and judge for themselves whether or not Prime Minister Harper's
decision to ignore this matter has been in the public interest", Mr. Mahar
added.
This afternoon Mr. Mahar appeared at the CRTC public hearing on the
Canadian Television Fund (CTF), a program operated as a partnership between
industry and government which is central to the activities in question. He
noted that the federal agency had destroyed documents related to the issue and
urged Commissioners to formally review the outstanding issue.
SOURCE Mediascam.com
Keith Mahar, (613) 236-5000 (until Friday, 8 February 2008),
info@mediascam.com, www.mediascam.com; Mailing address: P.O. Box 108, Mawson
ACT 2607, Australia
Tim Hasselbeck/Fantasy Football is Gambling Time Bomb for Players
http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/1997/Jul-25-Fri-1997/sports/5778474.html
Friday, July 25, 1997
Boston College continues to sort out mess from gambling scandal
Associated Press
NEWTON, Mass. -- Two Boston College players have been reinstated and three others were given additional suspensions by the NCAA for their parts in the biggest gambling scandal in college football history.
The school suspended 13 players for the final three games of the 1996 season after an investigation into gambling on the Eagles football team. One has since suffered a career-ending injury, four were allowed to complete their coursework and three had their scholarships revoked.
Of the remaining five, the school said, two players have had their eligibility reinstated, two are suspended for the first two games of the 1997 season and one will sit out the first four games.
The school did not identify which players received which punishment, and a spokesman declined further comment.
Football coach Dan Henning resigned at the end of the 1996 season, due mostly to his 16-19-1 record. Basketball coach Jim O'Brien also left the school after a falling out with the admissions office over the rejection of three recruits just days after the football scandal broke.
Last week, athletic director Chet Gladchuk left to take over the same position at Houston.
The 8,800-student school was at the center of a point-shaving scandal in 1982 when Rick Kuhn was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison for his role in fixing six basketball games during the 1978-79 season.
Initial reports pointed to a similar problem this time. Rumors of point-shaving first surfaced after the Oct. 26 Syracuse game, in which the Orangemen trailed 14-7 before rallying for 17 points in the final 1:43 of the first half.
After a 20-13 loss to Pittsburgh several players were confronted by Henning and the team's student captains.
Thirteen players were eventually suspended by the school, the most players ever implicated in a gambling scandal. After a nine month investigation by Middlesex County District Attorney Tom Reilly, six men were indicted last week in connection with the gambling ring -- none of them current BC athletes.
-----
http://www.lostbet.com/news_fantasy.aspx
Fantasy Football is Gambling Time Bomb for Players
Giants backup quarterback Tim Hasselbeck remembers all too well the dark cloud that descended over the Boston College football program a decade ago. And it had nothing to do with the fickle New England weather.
"I was in the locker room with guys betting against our team. It's not pretty," says Hasselbeck, who with his older brother Matt, was a member of the 1996 Eagles squad enveloped in the biggest gambling scandal in college football history. "It's an ugly, ugly situation."
Thirteen Boston College players were suspended for gambling infractions including two players - Jamall Anderson and Marcus Bembry - who bet against BC in a lopsided loss to Syracuse that season. The Eagles finished 5-7, while the school suffered a year-long backlash of negative attention - everything from revelations of BC student bookies to ties with organized crime. "An ugly situation," Hasselbeck repeats.
But Hasselbeck has a different take on the fantasy football craze in America, where an estimated 15 to 20 million sports fans - including Colts linebacker Cato June and Redskins tight end Chris Cooley - get to act as faux general managers, create their own teams, draft and trade real players and try to accumulate the most points each week based upon different statistical categories. Participants scrutinize NFL game stats with the intensity of a pro football general manager.
When asked if players participating in fantasy leagues could lead to another gambling scandal like the one he experienced as a BC undergraduate, Hasselbeck smiles.
"I know a lot of (football players) do play. And a lot of these fantasy football leagues are based on points and not necessarily money," Hasselbeck says. "But I'm sure there are plenty of them that revolve around money, which is essentially gambling. Anybody that I know who plays is playing for fun. But there's some criticism of the dangerous, slippery slope that it could possibly lead down."
The NFL may already be heading down that precarious path. June and Cooley went on the record about their fantasy football passion, with June boasting about his fantasy "Juneimus D" team featuring starting QB Tom Brady. "Playing New England, I can't be happy with him throwing a TD pass, but in the back of my mind, I'm like, 'Yeah, I just got six points in my fantasy league,'" June told ESPN a couple of weeks ago.
If it sounds like the NFL and its new commissioner Roger Goodell should be alarmed at comparisons that may be drawn between fantasy football and illegal gambling, think again.
Not only is the league not preaching concern about its players' fantasy league participation, the NFL itself promotes fantasy leagues through its own Web site - an estimated 1.3 million fans play via NFL.com - complete with grand prizes and runner-up gifts for the winners.
"It is not gambling and it is ludicrous to suggest an NFL player would give his fantasy team a higher priority than his NFL job," says NFL spokesman Greg Aiello.
Goodell, who has been on the job just over three months, echoed Aiello's remarks in a recent interview with the Daily News.
"We've been talking about that a little bit," Goodell said when asked about NFL players, fantasy leagues and possible fears of gambling. "They're not wagering on them. They're paying a fee to participate. At this point, no, it doesn't concern me, but I think it's something we'll keep an eye on - that if any way it even leads to a perception that it should concern us, we will address it."
Las Vegas gambling experts, however, see fantasy leagues in the same vein as your everyday casino patron placing a bet at the blackjack table. It's gambling, pure and simple.
"I do have a problem when the league sees gambling as this terrible thing and then they say fantasy football is this wonderful thing," says Wayne Allyn Root, the chairman and CEO of Winning Edge International, a publicly traded sports handicapping Web site. "It's the same thing. You're betting money, you're gambling, wagering, investing on the performance of players and teams, not whether they win or lose.
"If I bet on the Redskins plus-3 or plus-8, then I'm not betting on them to win. I'm betting on them to cover the point spread and the league frowns upon that. But if I'm betting on a certain Redskins player to gain 100 yards today and that's my wish in the fantasy football league, it's the same thing. I don't care if the Redskins win. I'm cheering for that one player to get yards and whether the team wins or loses means nothing to me. There's no question in my mind it's a hypocritical stance on the part of the NFL."
Adds Ed Looney of New Jersey's Council on Compulsive Gambling: "Fantasy football is like an interlude, like a stepping stone to sports betting."
Jimmy Vaccaro, a Vegas veteran who has run sports rooms for several hot spots over the last few decades and now does public relations for American Wagering, a company that owns and operates over 50 race and sports wagering locations throughout Nevada, says flatly that there is no difference in playing fantasy football and laying down a bet.
"Fantasy football is gambling," Vaccaro says. "The IRS expects you to report the money you win, end of (f------) story. I'd like to see how many IRS 1029 forms are filled out when fantasy football winners pick up their cash winnings. ... Pete Rozelle is probably turning over in his grave."
Giants running back Tiki Barber doesn't see it that way.
"I don't see anything wrong with it because most people do it for fun," Barber says. "I'm sure some people would construe it as a form of gambling, but again, since most of the fantasy leagues are friends playing together I don't see why it's a big issue.
"Unless they're putting money on it. But I don't think that's happening."
The NFL is not alone in condoning fantasy football. Both Major League Baseball and the NBA say they have no issue with their athletes morphing into mock GMs and playing with fantasy sports teams.
"We have no problem with players participating," MLB spokesman Rich Levin says. "We're not concerned."
A Division I football coach who bet with friends in an NCAA basketball pool three years ago wasn't as lucky. Rick Neuheisel, then the University of Washington football coach, was fired for participating in the pool (the NCAA prohibits betting on illegal activity). Neuheisel later won a $4.5 million settlement in his lawsuit against the NCAA and the university, when it was revealed that a university compliance officer had E-mailed Neuheisel and permitted the coach to participate in the pool.
"I understand the reasoning behind (Neuheisel's dismissal)," says Tim Hasselbeck. "But, I mean, if you could really tell me that Rick Neuheisel being in an office pool with the NCAA basketball tournament - how that affects him coaching the Huskies... Really, let's be honest. Was anything wrong really going on there?"
At least the NFL and gambling experts seem to agree on one aspect of fantasy leagues: With teams providing up-to-date injury reports throughout the week, every week, there is little chance that fantasy league enthusiasts would be able to glean insider information ahead of someone else.
"Injuries don't mean a thing," says Vaccaro. "You're better off making one straight bet on that team for the weekend. There are 10 other players on that fantasy team that can score or not score."
That doesn't stop fantasy fans from trying to get a step ahead of their competitors when the opportunity presents itself. Hasselbeck says he thought there was something unusual about the number of Seahawks fans suddenly popping up in New York City earlier this fall. Following Seattle's Oct. 22 loss to Minnesota, Hasselbeck was deluged with inquiries about his brother Matt, who had sprained his right MCL and had to leave the game.
"A lot of people asked me, 'How's your brother doing?' And I'm thinking, 'Gee, that's nice of them,'" Hasselback says. "Then as the conversation goes along, I realize, 'You know what? They're not asking me because they actually care.' They want to know because they're trying to figure out, 'Is (Matt) playing next week or do I have to draft someone else?'"
http://min.scout.com/2/654896.html
Boyd Blasts NFL
By Viking Update Staff
Posted Jun 27, 2007
Former Viking guard Brent Boyd was among the former players to speak in front a Congressional sub-committee Tuesday about the failings of the NFL's policy of granting former players disability and helping them with the loss of productivity and normalcy of life due to their playing careers.
Brent Boyd, a Vikings offensive lineman from 1980-86, was among the former players who spoke to a Congressional committee Tuesday about the problems retired players have in getting pension benefits from the league and the mounting health issues that plague former players.
Boyd spoke before the House Judiciary subcommittee, along with several other players. Curt Marsh, who played with the Raiders from 1981-87 and spoke about having more than 30 surgeries, including a leg amputation, said he was denied disability payments for years despite his long track record of surgeries and complications from surgery. Boyd, a single father, discussed being homeless for extended periods as well as suffering brain damage as the result of multiple concussions.
The league countered that $1.1 billion has been set aside for a disability/pension fund and that more than $20 million in disability payments are paid out each year. To hear Boyd describe it, however, it is very different.
“Now that they have put the lipstick on the pig, I want to tell you what reality is,” Boyd told the sub-committee, adding that the league’s retirement policy has the unofficial mantra “delay, deny and hope I put a bullet in my head.”
“The NFL was hoping I would go away and die,” Boyd said.
Among the others to speak were Mike Ditka and an attorney for the late Mike Webster, who was denied full disability before his death in 2002.
The committee cited that just 317 players are currently on full disability with a payout of $20 million, prompting Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), whose husband is a former NFL player, to question how so few players can be receiving full benefits.
“In one of the most dangerous sports in the history of mankind, only 317 are receiving disability?” she asked.
Ditka made an impassioned plea to the sub-committee to put pressure on the NFL to recognize those who helped build the game and paid for it with their own long-term health. At the end of the meeting, Boyd gave Ditka a hug and said, “Thanks, Coach.”
The thought of a Vikings player and a Bears coach being on the same side of an issue would strike a lot of people as strange, but, as more of these horror stories emerge in the comings weeks and months, the strange bedfellows banding together for a mutual cause might become a much more common scene.
Friday, July 25, 1997
Boston College continues to sort out mess from gambling scandal
Associated Press
NEWTON, Mass. -- Two Boston College players have been reinstated and three others were given additional suspensions by the NCAA for their parts in the biggest gambling scandal in college football history.
The school suspended 13 players for the final three games of the 1996 season after an investigation into gambling on the Eagles football team. One has since suffered a career-ending injury, four were allowed to complete their coursework and three had their scholarships revoked.
Of the remaining five, the school said, two players have had their eligibility reinstated, two are suspended for the first two games of the 1997 season and one will sit out the first four games.
The school did not identify which players received which punishment, and a spokesman declined further comment.
Football coach Dan Henning resigned at the end of the 1996 season, due mostly to his 16-19-1 record. Basketball coach Jim O'Brien also left the school after a falling out with the admissions office over the rejection of three recruits just days after the football scandal broke.
Last week, athletic director Chet Gladchuk left to take over the same position at Houston.
The 8,800-student school was at the center of a point-shaving scandal in 1982 when Rick Kuhn was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison for his role in fixing six basketball games during the 1978-79 season.
Initial reports pointed to a similar problem this time. Rumors of point-shaving first surfaced after the Oct. 26 Syracuse game, in which the Orangemen trailed 14-7 before rallying for 17 points in the final 1:43 of the first half.
After a 20-13 loss to Pittsburgh several players were confronted by Henning and the team's student captains.
Thirteen players were eventually suspended by the school, the most players ever implicated in a gambling scandal. After a nine month investigation by Middlesex County District Attorney Tom Reilly, six men were indicted last week in connection with the gambling ring -- none of them current BC athletes.
-----
http://www.lostbet.com/news_fantasy.aspx
Fantasy Football is Gambling Time Bomb for Players
Giants backup quarterback Tim Hasselbeck remembers all too well the dark cloud that descended over the Boston College football program a decade ago. And it had nothing to do with the fickle New England weather.
"I was in the locker room with guys betting against our team. It's not pretty," says Hasselbeck, who with his older brother Matt, was a member of the 1996 Eagles squad enveloped in the biggest gambling scandal in college football history. "It's an ugly, ugly situation."
Thirteen Boston College players were suspended for gambling infractions including two players - Jamall Anderson and Marcus Bembry - who bet against BC in a lopsided loss to Syracuse that season. The Eagles finished 5-7, while the school suffered a year-long backlash of negative attention - everything from revelations of BC student bookies to ties with organized crime. "An ugly situation," Hasselbeck repeats.
But Hasselbeck has a different take on the fantasy football craze in America, where an estimated 15 to 20 million sports fans - including Colts linebacker Cato June and Redskins tight end Chris Cooley - get to act as faux general managers, create their own teams, draft and trade real players and try to accumulate the most points each week based upon different statistical categories. Participants scrutinize NFL game stats with the intensity of a pro football general manager.
When asked if players participating in fantasy leagues could lead to another gambling scandal like the one he experienced as a BC undergraduate, Hasselbeck smiles.
"I know a lot of (football players) do play. And a lot of these fantasy football leagues are based on points and not necessarily money," Hasselbeck says. "But I'm sure there are plenty of them that revolve around money, which is essentially gambling. Anybody that I know who plays is playing for fun. But there's some criticism of the dangerous, slippery slope that it could possibly lead down."
The NFL may already be heading down that precarious path. June and Cooley went on the record about their fantasy football passion, with June boasting about his fantasy "Juneimus D" team featuring starting QB Tom Brady. "Playing New England, I can't be happy with him throwing a TD pass, but in the back of my mind, I'm like, 'Yeah, I just got six points in my fantasy league,'" June told ESPN a couple of weeks ago.
If it sounds like the NFL and its new commissioner Roger Goodell should be alarmed at comparisons that may be drawn between fantasy football and illegal gambling, think again.
Not only is the league not preaching concern about its players' fantasy league participation, the NFL itself promotes fantasy leagues through its own Web site - an estimated 1.3 million fans play via NFL.com - complete with grand prizes and runner-up gifts for the winners.
"It is not gambling and it is ludicrous to suggest an NFL player would give his fantasy team a higher priority than his NFL job," says NFL spokesman Greg Aiello.
Goodell, who has been on the job just over three months, echoed Aiello's remarks in a recent interview with the Daily News.
"We've been talking about that a little bit," Goodell said when asked about NFL players, fantasy leagues and possible fears of gambling. "They're not wagering on them. They're paying a fee to participate. At this point, no, it doesn't concern me, but I think it's something we'll keep an eye on - that if any way it even leads to a perception that it should concern us, we will address it."
Las Vegas gambling experts, however, see fantasy leagues in the same vein as your everyday casino patron placing a bet at the blackjack table. It's gambling, pure and simple.
"I do have a problem when the league sees gambling as this terrible thing and then they say fantasy football is this wonderful thing," says Wayne Allyn Root, the chairman and CEO of Winning Edge International, a publicly traded sports handicapping Web site. "It's the same thing. You're betting money, you're gambling, wagering, investing on the performance of players and teams, not whether they win or lose.
"If I bet on the Redskins plus-3 or plus-8, then I'm not betting on them to win. I'm betting on them to cover the point spread and the league frowns upon that. But if I'm betting on a certain Redskins player to gain 100 yards today and that's my wish in the fantasy football league, it's the same thing. I don't care if the Redskins win. I'm cheering for that one player to get yards and whether the team wins or loses means nothing to me. There's no question in my mind it's a hypocritical stance on the part of the NFL."
Adds Ed Looney of New Jersey's Council on Compulsive Gambling: "Fantasy football is like an interlude, like a stepping stone to sports betting."
Jimmy Vaccaro, a Vegas veteran who has run sports rooms for several hot spots over the last few decades and now does public relations for American Wagering, a company that owns and operates over 50 race and sports wagering locations throughout Nevada, says flatly that there is no difference in playing fantasy football and laying down a bet.
"Fantasy football is gambling," Vaccaro says. "The IRS expects you to report the money you win, end of (f------) story. I'd like to see how many IRS 1029 forms are filled out when fantasy football winners pick up their cash winnings. ... Pete Rozelle is probably turning over in his grave."
Giants running back Tiki Barber doesn't see it that way.
"I don't see anything wrong with it because most people do it for fun," Barber says. "I'm sure some people would construe it as a form of gambling, but again, since most of the fantasy leagues are friends playing together I don't see why it's a big issue.
"Unless they're putting money on it. But I don't think that's happening."
The NFL is not alone in condoning fantasy football. Both Major League Baseball and the NBA say they have no issue with their athletes morphing into mock GMs and playing with fantasy sports teams.
"We have no problem with players participating," MLB spokesman Rich Levin says. "We're not concerned."
A Division I football coach who bet with friends in an NCAA basketball pool three years ago wasn't as lucky. Rick Neuheisel, then the University of Washington football coach, was fired for participating in the pool (the NCAA prohibits betting on illegal activity). Neuheisel later won a $4.5 million settlement in his lawsuit against the NCAA and the university, when it was revealed that a university compliance officer had E-mailed Neuheisel and permitted the coach to participate in the pool.
"I understand the reasoning behind (Neuheisel's dismissal)," says Tim Hasselbeck. "But, I mean, if you could really tell me that Rick Neuheisel being in an office pool with the NCAA basketball tournament - how that affects him coaching the Huskies... Really, let's be honest. Was anything wrong really going on there?"
At least the NFL and gambling experts seem to agree on one aspect of fantasy leagues: With teams providing up-to-date injury reports throughout the week, every week, there is little chance that fantasy league enthusiasts would be able to glean insider information ahead of someone else.
"Injuries don't mean a thing," says Vaccaro. "You're better off making one straight bet on that team for the weekend. There are 10 other players on that fantasy team that can score or not score."
That doesn't stop fantasy fans from trying to get a step ahead of their competitors when the opportunity presents itself. Hasselbeck says he thought there was something unusual about the number of Seahawks fans suddenly popping up in New York City earlier this fall. Following Seattle's Oct. 22 loss to Minnesota, Hasselbeck was deluged with inquiries about his brother Matt, who had sprained his right MCL and had to leave the game.
"A lot of people asked me, 'How's your brother doing?' And I'm thinking, 'Gee, that's nice of them,'" Hasselback says. "Then as the conversation goes along, I realize, 'You know what? They're not asking me because they actually care.' They want to know because they're trying to figure out, 'Is (Matt) playing next week or do I have to draft someone else?'"
http://min.scout.com/2/654896.html
Boyd Blasts NFL
By Viking Update Staff
Posted Jun 27, 2007
Former Viking guard Brent Boyd was among the former players to speak in front a Congressional sub-committee Tuesday about the failings of the NFL's policy of granting former players disability and helping them with the loss of productivity and normalcy of life due to their playing careers.
Brent Boyd, a Vikings offensive lineman from 1980-86, was among the former players who spoke to a Congressional committee Tuesday about the problems retired players have in getting pension benefits from the league and the mounting health issues that plague former players.
Boyd spoke before the House Judiciary subcommittee, along with several other players. Curt Marsh, who played with the Raiders from 1981-87 and spoke about having more than 30 surgeries, including a leg amputation, said he was denied disability payments for years despite his long track record of surgeries and complications from surgery. Boyd, a single father, discussed being homeless for extended periods as well as suffering brain damage as the result of multiple concussions.
The league countered that $1.1 billion has been set aside for a disability/pension fund and that more than $20 million in disability payments are paid out each year. To hear Boyd describe it, however, it is very different.
“Now that they have put the lipstick on the pig, I want to tell you what reality is,” Boyd told the sub-committee, adding that the league’s retirement policy has the unofficial mantra “delay, deny and hope I put a bullet in my head.”
“The NFL was hoping I would go away and die,” Boyd said.
Among the others to speak were Mike Ditka and an attorney for the late Mike Webster, who was denied full disability before his death in 2002.
The committee cited that just 317 players are currently on full disability with a payout of $20 million, prompting Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), whose husband is a former NFL player, to question how so few players can be receiving full benefits.
“In one of the most dangerous sports in the history of mankind, only 317 are receiving disability?” she asked.
Ditka made an impassioned plea to the sub-committee to put pressure on the NFL to recognize those who helped build the game and paid for it with their own long-term health. At the end of the meeting, Boyd gave Ditka a hug and said, “Thanks, Coach.”
The thought of a Vikings player and a Bears coach being on the same side of an issue would strike a lot of people as strange, but, as more of these horror stories emerge in the comings weeks and months, the strange bedfellows banding together for a mutual cause might become a much more common scene.
Call to Try Bush
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2009/02/02
Published on Monday, February 2, 2009 by Inter Press Service
Call to Try Bush
by Julio Godoy
BERLIN - Now that former U.S. president George W. Bush is an ordinary citizen again, many legal and human rights activists in Europe are demanding that he and high-ranking members of his government be brought before justice for crimes against humanity committed in the so-called war on terror.
"Judicial clarification of the crimes against international law the former U.S. government committed is one of the most delicate issues that the new U.S. president Barack Obama will have to deal with," Wolfgang Kaleck, general secretary of the European Centre for Human and Constitutional Rights told IPS.
U.S. justice will have to "deal with the turpitudes committed by the Bush government," says Kaleck, who has already tried unsuccessfully to sue the former U.S. authorities in European courts. "And, furthermore, the U.S. government will have to pay compensation to the innocent people who were victims of these crimes."
Kaleck and other legal experts consider Bush and his highest-ranking officials responsible for crimes against humanity, such as torture.
Many agree that the evidence against the U.S. government is overwhelming. U.S. officials have admitted some crimes such as waterboarding, where a victim is tied up and water is poured into the air passages. Also, human rights activists have gathered testimonies by innocent victims of torture, especially some prisoners at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp.
In an interview with the German public television network ZDF, Austrian human rights lawyer Manfred Nowak, UN special rapporteur on torture, said that numerous cases of torture ordered by U.S. officials and perpetrated by U.S. authorities are well documented.
"We possess all the evidence which proves that the torture methods used in interrogation by the U.S. government were explicitly ordered by former U.S. defence minister Donald Rumsfeld," Nowak told ZDF. "Obviously, these orders were given with the highest U.S. authorities' knowledge."
"George W. Bush is without doubt responsible for crimes such as torture," says Dietmar Herz, professor of political science at the university of Erfurt, 235 km southwest of Berlin.
"According to the U.S. constitution, the U.S. president is responsible for all actions carried out by the executive," Herz told IPS. "Therefore, George W. Bush is responsible for the torture methods used by U.S. authorities, such as waterboarding."
International justice against crimes against humanity began in 1945, with the Nuremberg trials against Nazi criminals, says Kaleck. Leading prosecutor Robert Jackson said at the opening of the trials in October 1945 that "we are able to do away with...tyranny and violence and aggression by those in power against the rights of (the) people...only when we make all men answerable to the law."
But since then this promise has been fulfilled only in exceptional cases, Kaleck said.
"Crimes against humanity have been repeatedly committed ever since, but very few people have been brought before international courts for these crimes," he said, adding that this impunity is particularly obvious for leaders of the Allied countries (such as the U.S., France and Britain), who had organised the Nuremberg trials.
Nobody was ever judged for crimes against humanity committed in Algeria by France, in Vietnam and Latin America by the U.S., in Afghanistan by the Soviet Union and in Chechnya by Russia.
Only in the 1990s, after the Yugoslav wars of secession, the Rwanda genocide, and civil wars in countries such as Liberia and Sierra Leone were state criminals captured, judged and convicted.
"The creation of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in 2002 in The Hague in the Netherlands marks a turning point in the prosecution of state officials accused of crimes such as genocide, crimes against humanity or of war," Kaleck added.
But prosecution for crimes of war or for crimes against humanity continues to be highly selective. So far, only perpetrators from weak or failed states from south-eastern Europe, or from the south, especially Africa, have been brought to court. In a case such as that of former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet, Britain acted as an accomplice to protect him.
Over the last couple of years, human rights activists and some national courts in Europe have been fighting these arbitrary ways. They are appealing for, and in some cases even applying, a universal jurisdiction of national courts.
The Spanish judiciary has opened cases against Latin American dictators such as Guatemalan general Efraín Ríos Montt, who ruled the Central American country between 1982 and 1983, and Argentinean military officers involved in kidnapping and killing civilians.
Copyright © 2009 IPS-Inter Press Service
E-mail this article Printer-friendly Share Close Delicious Digg StumbleUpon Newsvine Facebook Google Yahoo TechnoratiDiscuss
Posted in bush, international law, torture
Published on Monday, February 2, 2009 by Inter Press Service
Call to Try Bush
by Julio Godoy
BERLIN - Now that former U.S. president George W. Bush is an ordinary citizen again, many legal and human rights activists in Europe are demanding that he and high-ranking members of his government be brought before justice for crimes against humanity committed in the so-called war on terror.
"Judicial clarification of the crimes against international law the former U.S. government committed is one of the most delicate issues that the new U.S. president Barack Obama will have to deal with," Wolfgang Kaleck, general secretary of the European Centre for Human and Constitutional Rights told IPS.
U.S. justice will have to "deal with the turpitudes committed by the Bush government," says Kaleck, who has already tried unsuccessfully to sue the former U.S. authorities in European courts. "And, furthermore, the U.S. government will have to pay compensation to the innocent people who were victims of these crimes."
Kaleck and other legal experts consider Bush and his highest-ranking officials responsible for crimes against humanity, such as torture.
Many agree that the evidence against the U.S. government is overwhelming. U.S. officials have admitted some crimes such as waterboarding, where a victim is tied up and water is poured into the air passages. Also, human rights activists have gathered testimonies by innocent victims of torture, especially some prisoners at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp.
In an interview with the German public television network ZDF, Austrian human rights lawyer Manfred Nowak, UN special rapporteur on torture, said that numerous cases of torture ordered by U.S. officials and perpetrated by U.S. authorities are well documented.
"We possess all the evidence which proves that the torture methods used in interrogation by the U.S. government were explicitly ordered by former U.S. defence minister Donald Rumsfeld," Nowak told ZDF. "Obviously, these orders were given with the highest U.S. authorities' knowledge."
"George W. Bush is without doubt responsible for crimes such as torture," says Dietmar Herz, professor of political science at the university of Erfurt, 235 km southwest of Berlin.
"According to the U.S. constitution, the U.S. president is responsible for all actions carried out by the executive," Herz told IPS. "Therefore, George W. Bush is responsible for the torture methods used by U.S. authorities, such as waterboarding."
International justice against crimes against humanity began in 1945, with the Nuremberg trials against Nazi criminals, says Kaleck. Leading prosecutor Robert Jackson said at the opening of the trials in October 1945 that "we are able to do away with...tyranny and violence and aggression by those in power against the rights of (the) people...only when we make all men answerable to the law."
But since then this promise has been fulfilled only in exceptional cases, Kaleck said.
"Crimes against humanity have been repeatedly committed ever since, but very few people have been brought before international courts for these crimes," he said, adding that this impunity is particularly obvious for leaders of the Allied countries (such as the U.S., France and Britain), who had organised the Nuremberg trials.
Nobody was ever judged for crimes against humanity committed in Algeria by France, in Vietnam and Latin America by the U.S., in Afghanistan by the Soviet Union and in Chechnya by Russia.
Only in the 1990s, after the Yugoslav wars of secession, the Rwanda genocide, and civil wars in countries such as Liberia and Sierra Leone were state criminals captured, judged and convicted.
"The creation of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in 2002 in The Hague in the Netherlands marks a turning point in the prosecution of state officials accused of crimes such as genocide, crimes against humanity or of war," Kaleck added.
But prosecution for crimes of war or for crimes against humanity continues to be highly selective. So far, only perpetrators from weak or failed states from south-eastern Europe, or from the south, especially Africa, have been brought to court. In a case such as that of former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet, Britain acted as an accomplice to protect him.
Over the last couple of years, human rights activists and some national courts in Europe have been fighting these arbitrary ways. They are appealing for, and in some cases even applying, a universal jurisdiction of national courts.
The Spanish judiciary has opened cases against Latin American dictators such as Guatemalan general Efraín Ríos Montt, who ruled the Central American country between 1982 and 1983, and Argentinean military officers involved in kidnapping and killing civilians.
Copyright © 2009 IPS-Inter Press Service
E-mail this article Printer-friendly Share Close Delicious Digg StumbleUpon Newsvine Facebook Google Yahoo TechnoratiDiscuss
Posted in bush, international law, torture
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
