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September 28 - October 4. 2009 
 News In Review
 Vol 4, Issue 21
In This Issue
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Dear Ron,

The News In Review newsletter is a service provided by Understand The Times that is a compilation of the news articles previously posted on our site . Understand The Times does not endorse these events but rather is showing the church the current events.  Our purpose of posting these articles is to warn the church of the Biblical deception.

 September 28 - Our Lady and Islam: Heavenīs Peace Plan
 Article:Roman Catholic Church And The Last Days

Followers of Islam are known as Muslims (also: Moors, Turks, and Moslems) and, just as Jews and Christians, believe in only one God. Yet, over the centuries, Muslims have engaged in tremendous wars with Christians and Jews. It would seem that there is little hope for peace. However, Heavenīs Peace Plan, involving Our Lady, is evidenced at Fatima, Portugal as well as other places around the world.

It is a fact that Moslems from various nations, especially from the Middle East, make so
many pilgrimages to Our Lady of Fatimaīs Shrine in Portugal that Portuguese officials have expressed concern. The combination of an Islamic name and Islamic devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary is a great attraction to Moslems. God is writing straight with crooked lines, as we will see. Fatima is a part of Heavenīs Peace Plan. It is hope for the world.

In the Koran, Our Blessed Mother is described as "Virgin, ever Virgin." The Islamic belief in the virginity of Mary puts to shame the heretical beliefs of those who call themselves Christian, while denying the perpetual virginity of Mary. Make no mistake about it, there is a very special relationship between the Blessed Virgin Mary and the Moslems!

The Aztecs worshipped an evil stone "serpent god" that demanded human sacrifice. It was extremely difficult to win souls for Christ from these bloodthirsty savages. However, with God all things are possible. Our Lady appeared to a humble Aztec Indian convert by the name of Juan Diego in 1531. When asked her name by Juan Diego, at the request of the local bishop, Our Ladyīs response, in the Aztec language, included the words "te coatlaxopeuh" (pronounced: "te quatlasupe") and meant "one who crushes the head of the stone serpent."  To Juan Diego and his fellow Aztecs, this revelation had great meaning, coupled with
the miraculous image of Our Lady standing on top of a "crescent," the symbol of this evil serpent god. A tidal wave of conversions to Catholicism ensued
 
On October 7, 1571, a great victory over the mighty Turkish fleet was won by Catholic naval forces primarily from Spain, Venice, and Genoa under the command of Don Juan of Austria. It was the last battle at sea between "oared" ships, which featured the most powerful navy in the world, a Moslem force with between 12,000 to 15,000 Christian slaves as rowers. The patchwork team of Catholic ships was powered by the Holy Rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary.  Knowing that the Christian forces were at a distinct material disadvantage, the holy pontiff, St. Pope Pius V called for all of Europe to pray the Rosary for victory. We know today that the victory was decisive, prevented the Islamic invasion of Europe, and evidenced the Hand of God working through Our Lady. At Lepanto, the Victory over the Moslems was won by the faithful praying the Rosary. Even though they had superior numbers, the Turks really were overmatched. Blessed Padre Pio, the Spiritual Father of the Blue Army, said: "The Rosary is the weapon," and how right he was!

And with that we are back to Fatima, Portugal where Our Lady, when asked her name, said: "I am the Lady of the Rosary." At Fatima, Our Lady taught us to pray the Rosary every day. Heaven presented its peace plan at Fatima and truly gave us hope for the world. Conversions were promised at Fatima: the conversion of sinners; the conversion of Russia; and what also appears to be the conversion of Islam. Our Lady of the Rosary, pray for us!
 


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 September 26 - Report: New Iran nuclear facility will be operational soon
 Article: Wars and Rumors Of Wars

Iran's newly disclosed nuclear fuel facility will soon become operational, an aide to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was quoted as saying on Saturday.

"This new plant, God willing, will soon become operational and will make the enemies blind," Mohammad Mohammadi-Golpayegani, who heads Khamenei's office, said, according to the semi-official Fars News Agency. Mohammadi-Golpayegani, a cleric, said the construction of the plant was a sign of Iran being at the "summit of power," Fars reported. He was speaking at a ceremony marking the start of the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war.

Meanwhile Friday, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said that Israel "will not dare attack Iran" and that if Israel does, "the Iranians can defend themselves." We are not concerned [about an Israeli attack]. Iran is a very big country. Much larger and bigger than what some people think and imagine," Ahmadinejad told a news conference.

"It's not a secret site. If it was, why would we have informed the IAEA about it a year ahead of time," Ahmadinejad said. "They [the United States, Britain and France] will regret this announcement." The statement came after Ahmadinejad said Iran was not obliged to tell the Obama administration of every uranium enrichment plant it has, turning up the heat in a dispute over Tehran's nuclear program.

Following the revelation of a second uranium enrichment plant in Iran, House Republican Whip Eric Cantor issued the following statement:
"Iran is a real-time security threat to the United States, Israel, and our allies around the world. A nuclear Iran is closer than many thought it was yesterday, and the problem is getting worse by the day, not better.

Egypt's foreign minister is warning that a nuclear-capable Israel and an Iran pursuing nuclear weapons could trigger a nuclear arms race in the Middle East.


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 September 26 - Report: New Iran nuclear facility will be operational soon
 Article: Wars And Rumors OF Wars

Iran's newly disclosed nuclear fuel facility will soon become operational, an aide to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was quoted as saying on Saturday.

"This new plant, God willing, will soon become operational and will make the enemies blind," Mohammad Mohammadi-Golpayegani, who heads Khamenei's office, said, according to the semi-official Fars News Agency. Mohammadi-Golpayegani, a cleric, said the construction of the plant was a sign of Iran being at the "summit of power," Fars reported. He was speaking at a ceremony marking the start of the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war.

Meanwhile Friday, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said that Israel "will not dare attack Iran" and that if Israel does, "the Iranians can defend themselves." We are not concerned [about an Israeli attack]. Iran is a very big country. Much larger and bigger than what some people think and imagine," Ahmadinejad told a news conference.

"It's not a secret site. If it was, why would we have informed the IAEA about it a year ahead of time," Ahmadinejad said. "They [the United States, Britain and France] will regret this announcement." The statement came after Ahmadinejad said Iran was not obliged to tell the Obama administration of every uranium enrichment plant it has, turning up the heat in a dispute over Tehran's nuclear program.

Following the revelation of a second uranium enrichment plant in Iran, House Republican Whip Eric Cantor issued the following statement:
"Iran is a real-time security threat to the United States, Israel, and our allies around the world. A nuclear Iran is closer than many thought it was yesterday, and the problem is getting worse by the day, not better.

Egypt's foreign minister is warning that a nuclear-capable Israel and an Iran pursuing nuclear weapons could trigger a nuclear arms race in the Middle East.



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 September 25 - Where Have All the Christians Gone?
 Artilce: Signs Of The Last Times

Christianity is plummeting in America, while the number of non-believers is skyrocketing.

A shocking new study of Americans' religious beliefs shows the beginnings of a major realignment in Americans' relationship with God. The American Religious Identification Survey (ARIS) reveals that Protestants now represent half of all Americans, down almost 20 percent in the last twenty years. In the coming months, America will become a minority Protestant nation for the first time since the pilgrims.

The number of people who claim no religious affiliation, meanwhile, has doubled since 1990 to fifteen percent, its highest point in history. Non-believers now represent the third-highest group of Americans, after Catholics and Baptists.

Other headlines:

1) The number of Christians has declined 12% since 1990, and is now 76%, the lowest percentage in American history.

2) The growth of non-believers has come largely from men. Twenty percent of men express no religious affiliation; 12% of women.

3) Young people are fleeing faith. Nearly a quarter of Americans in their 20's profess no organized religion.

4) But these non-believers are not particularly atheist. Instead, these individuals have a belief in God but no interest in organized religion, or they believe in a personal God but not in a formal faith tradition



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 September 22 - Cardinal says Communion received kneeling and on the tongue is most reverent
 Article: Roman Catholic Church And The Last Days

In a homily Sunday at the Cathedral of Lima, Cardinal Juan Luis Cipriani said, "The most respectful manner of receiving the Eucharist is kneeling and on the tongue.  We must recover the respect and reverence that the Eucharist deserves, because the love of Jesus is the center of our Christian life.  The soul is at stake."
 
He also encouraged the faithful to participate in Eucharist adoration in the more than 70 adoration chapels that have been built throughout the Archdiocese of Lima since the Year of the Eucharist, thus making the Peruvian capital a "Eucharistic city."
 
"Lima is a Eucharistic city with more than 70 chapels of Eucharistic adoration, where the Lord is exposed and where you can speak to Him, because He listens to you and helps you.  We need to adore Him and allow our hearts to be filled with the joy and the beauty of His wisdom," the cardinal said.


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 September 30 - Methodists, Catholics, Lutherans celebrate milestone
 Article: Ecumenical Movement - Protestants Uniting With Roman Catholics

Justification by faith. Those three words divided Western Christianity for centuries, splitting apart families and nations. Wars were fought over their meaning. So it is with a sense of awe and wonder that representatives of three major Christian traditions - Methodism, Lutheranism and Catholicism - will gather in a Chicago church Oct. 1 to celebrate their fundamental agreement on how sinful human beings are forgiven and brought into a right relationship with God.

Side by side, speaking in an age when some would dismiss religion as a source of violence and division, Bishop Gregory Palmer, president of the United Methodist Council of Bishops, Cardinal Francis George, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, and Bishop Mark Hanson, president of the Lutheran World Federation, will join other international dignitaries and faithful in a service of thanksgiving celebrating their common Christianity. Bishop Sharon Zimmerman Rader, ecumenical officer for the United Methodist bishops, will also be there.

How big a deal is this in the grand sweep of Christian history? "It's of enormous importance because it is the first point of conflict of the unfolding of the breakup of the Western church," says the Rev. James Massa, executive director of the Secretariat of Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs of the Catholic conference. "It's of enormous importance for all of the traditions within Christianity that have their roots in the Western church."

The statement declaring the council's fundamental doctrinal agreement with the Catholic-Lutheran document on justification by faith was circulated twice to all member churches, including The United Methodist Church. The statement was signed by Catholic, Lutheran and Methodist representatives July 23, 2006, at a meeting of the World Methodist Council in Seoul.

In their common affirmation, Methodists, Catholics and Lutherans said they viewed the agreement as a sign of their desire for a "common witness to the world, which is the will of Christ for all Christians."

"I think it's extraordinary that it has happened," says the Rev. William MacDonald, a United Methodist minister who serves St. Paul's Lutheran Church in Vonore, Tenn. "With Methodists joining on, I think that just re-energized the issues."

"We believe in a gospel of reconciliation," he says. "We have to be reconciled among ourselves if we are to be a convincing witness to the world."



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 September 27 - The US joins the world
 Article: Israel And The Last Days

US President Barack Obama last week firmly aligned his administration with the Arab world, joining the rest of the international community in its position against the Jewish State of Israel.

Addressing some 140 world leaders gathered in New York for the 64th Session of the United Nations General Assembly, Obama condemned as an illegal "occupation" Israel's presence in its ancestral homeland. And he roundly rejected the right of Jews to live and build communities in the hill country they believe was given to them by their God.

But while, according to the American leader, Israel's people have no right to possess, dwell in and govern the land of their fathers, the United States must insist that Israel "respect the legitimate claims and rights of the Palestinians."

Obama's position indicates his acceptance and intention to champion the Arab narrative - which insists that the "Palestinians" have lived in the land "from time immemorial" and have the right to be formed as a nation in it.

He has thus rejected the Jewish narrative - which holds that this was the Land of Canaan given to Abraham, then Isaac, then Jacob and then Jacob's descendants; that the nation took root here nearly 4000 years ago, growing and developing in this land and ruling as sovereigns over it; that following the Jews' expulsion from the land they kept burning for two millennia the fire of their intended return; that they are not a foreign implant, not a colony, not in the land in order to assuage stricken western consciences following the Holocaust; that the Palestinian Arabs have no national history - neither in this land nor anywhere else, and that the creation of an Arab state in the historical Jewish homeland constitutes land theft and poses an existential threat to Israel.

Critics slammed Obama's speech as the most anti-Israel message ever delivered by a president of the United States. America's former ambassador to the United Nations, John Bolton, slammed Obama's address as "the most radical anti-Israel speech I can recall any president making."



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 October 1 - Fossil Skeleton From Africa Predates Lucy
 Artcile: Creation/Evolution - Evidence For Ancient Man

Comment from UTT:
 
According to Romans chapter one, the evidence that God has created is so obvious that if one denies the evidence, he or she is without excuse. Foolish hearts are darkened. Professing to be wise, people become fools. Rather than believing the truth of creation they believe a lie. This best describes what is happening today in the apostate church.

Ardi, short for Ardipithecus ramidus, is the newest fossil skeleton out of Africa to take its place in the gallery of human origins. At an age of 4.4 million years, it lived well before and was much more primitive than the famous 3.2-million-year-old Lucy, of the species Australopithecus afarensis. By replacing Lucy as the earliest known skeleton from the human branch of the primate family tree, the scientists said, Ardi opened a window to "the early evolutionary steps that our ancestors took after we diverged from our common ancestor with chimpanzees."

Ardi's feet had yet to develop the arch-like structure that came later with Lucy and on to humans. The hands were more like those of extinct apes. And its very long arms and short legs resembled the proportions of extinct apes, or even monkeys.

David Pilbeam, a professor of human evolution at Harvard University who had no role in the discovery, said in an e-mail message that the Ardi skeleton represented "a genus plausibly ancestral to Australopithecus" and began "to fill in the temporal and structural 'space' between the apelike common ancestor and Australopithecus."

In some ways the specimen's features are surprising, Dr. Hill added, "but it makes a very satisfactory animal for understanding the changes that have taken place along the human lineage."

Dr. White, Berhane Asfaw of the Rift Valley Research Service in Ethiopia and other team members concluded that "despite the genetic similarities of living humans and chimpanzees, the ancestor we last shared probably differed substantially from any extant African ape."

As Dr. Hill of Yale said, "It is always new specimens, particularly those from little known time periods or geographic areas, that provoke the greatest changes in our ideas." Looking ahead, Dr. White lamented that there were so few sites in Africa known to have fossil deposits six million to seven million years old. "We are getting so close to that common ancestor of hominids and chimps, and we'd love to find an earlier skeleton," he said.



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 October 2 - Over 1,000 Clerics Want Abortion Access in Health Care Bill
 Article: Perilous Times

More than 1,100 clerics and religious professionals want U.S. Senators to provide women with access to abortion as lawmakers consider new amendments that would cut coverage for the procedure.

The Religious Institute released an open letter that maintains that abortion is a "morally justifiable decision" that should be left to women to decide. The letter is a response to amendments in the Senate that would cut abortion coverage in private insurance plans that receive federal funding.

"Already, federal policy unfairly prevents low-income women and federal employees from receiving subsidized reproductive health services, but the new proposals would mean that even more women and families would lose access to these vital services," said the Rev. Debra W. Haffner, executive director of the Religious Institute. Haffner added, "Placing restrictions on private insurance plans that make abortion accessible to women represents a serious moral injustice."

The letter itself contends that the sanctity of human life is "best upheld" when it is made carefully, not when women are "coerced to carry a pregnancy to term."

Religious denominations that have endorsed the letter include: American Baptist Churches, Church of the Brethren, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), United Church of Christ, and The United Methodist Church, among others.

The Religious Institute, which supports giving women access to abortion, claims to represent more than 4,800 clerics and religious leaders and more than 40 religious denominations and organizations



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 October 2 - Pope Stresses Church's Role in Civic Life
 Article: One World Religion

VATICAN CITY, OCT. 2, 2009 (Zenit.org).- Benedict XVI is emphasizing the Church's role in educating and forming consciences of citizens, as a positive and real contribution to civic life and public discourse.

The Holy Father underlined this vision that is "enshrined in the nation's founding documents," which inspires "a cohesive yet pluralistic society constantly enriched by the gifts brought by new generations."

He continued, "In recent months, the reaffirmation of this dialectic of tradition and originality, unity and diversity has recaptured the imagination of the world, many of whose peoples look to the American experience and its founding vision in their own search for viable models of accountable democracy and sound development in an increasingly interdependent and global society."

Benedict XVI affirmed that the cultivation of the values of "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness"
must now be "viewed from the higher perspective of the common good of the whole human family," rather remaining on an individual or national level.

He added, "The continuing international economic crisis clearly calls for a revision of present political, economic and financial structures in the light of the ethical imperative of ensuring the integral development of all people."

"What is needed," the Pope observed, "in effect, is a model of globalization inspired by an authentic humanism, in which the world's peoples are seen not merely as neighbors but as brothers and sisters."

As well, Benedict XVI affirmed
the need for the Church's guidance on issues such as "the protection of the right to conscientious objection on the part of health care workers, and indeed all citizens."
 


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 October 2 - Blair in line for EU presidency: report
 Article: Miscellaneous

Former prime minister Tony Blair is in line to become Europe's first president within weeks if voters pass an EU reform treaty, a newspaper reported on Friday, quoting unnamed sources.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy is supporting Blair and German Chancellor Angela Merkel has softened her opposition, according to The Times.

Blair could be ushered into the European Union's top post at a summit on October 29 if the Lisbon Treaty passes, the London-based newspaper said.

Nations currently preside over the EU, holding a rotating presidency for six months at a time, but under the Lisbon Treaty, a single president will be chosen. The treaty has been ratified by 24 of the 27 member states, with the signatures of the Polish and Czech presidents needed for full ratification.

Since stepping down as prime minister in June 2007, Blair has been the envoy for the Middle East Quartet -- comprising the EU, Russia, the United Nations and the United States -- which aims to mediate between Israel and the Palestinians



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 October 2 - Same-sex marriage close to D.C. approval
 Article: Perilous Times

D.C. Council member David A. Catania will introduce legislation Tuesday to allow same-sex couples to marry - a bill virtually assured passage by the council and unlikely to generate enough opposition to be overturned by the Democrat-controlled Congress.

The bill, which could be given final approval by the council as early as December, would expand current laws that recognize same-sex marriages performed in other jurisdictions to allow such marriages to be performed in the District. Currently, four states perform same-sex marriages. New Hampshire is scheduled to begin performing same-sex marriages in 2010, and Maine voters will consider the issue in a ballot initiative in November.

Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton, the District's nonvoting congressional representative, said she was confident that a same-sex marriage bill would survive any congressional opposition. "Opposition by some in the House already has been announced, but I believe we can and should defeat opposition to gay marriage rights in the District of Columbia as enacted by the District's own elected officials," she said.

"Democrats have the House, the Senate and the presidency, so it is an uphill battle at best," said Mr. Chaffetz, who opposes same-sex marriage. "The deck is stacked against us at this point."



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 September 21 - VeriChip shares jump after H1N1 patent license win
 Article: Technology For A Global Monetary System

Shares of VeriChip Corp (CHIP.O) tripled after the company said it had been granted an exclusive license to two patents, which will help it to develop implantable virus detection systems in humans.

The patents, held by VeriChip partner Receptors LLC, relate to biosensors that can detect the H1N1 and other viruses, and biological threats such as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, VeriChip said in a statement.

The technology will combine with VeriChip's implantable radio frequency identification devices to develop virus triage detection systems.

The triage system will provide multiple levels of identification -- the first will identify the agent as virus or non-virus, the second level will classify the virus and alert the user to the presence of pandemic threat viruses and the third level will identify the precise pathogen, VeriChip said in a white paper published May 7, 2009.



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 October 3 - WCC Leaders Stress Importance of Honesty in Interfaith Encounters
 Article: Ecumenical Movement - Misc.

Both the incoming and outgoing heads of the World Council of Churches this week stressed honesty as the basis upon which people of different faiths can have meaningful encounters.

Speaking at a conference on inter-faith relations in Geneva this week, outgoing WCC General Secretary the Rev. Dr. Samuel Kobia said that a fruitful understanding between people of faiths depended on honesty and being able to recognize and hold in "creative tensions," areas of convergence as well as genuine differences.

"Because we are different, we each have something unique to contribute, and every contribution counts. At the same time, dialogue partners seek to discover and appreciate the common values held by all," he said during the gathering initiated by the Muslim World League and also attended by Jewish leaders.

Kobia went on to stress that dialogue should not be restricted to discussions in conferences and councils, but was rather "a way of living out our faith in relation to one another."

"In loving and serving the God we know, we find our common calling to affirm human dignity, uphold human rights, preserve the environment and bring warfare to an end," he said.

"We are one humanity, expressed in different civilizations, sharing the same earth," Tveit said. "It is time for dialogue, honest dialogue, about our attitudes to our neighbor, about our common responsibility toward the earth and toward the coming generations."

Tveit, who was elected this past August to succeed Kobia as WCC's general secretary, has stressed that fulfilling Jesus' prayer "that they may be one" remains the global ecumenical body's primary task



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 September 22 - Christian and Muslim Leaders to Hold Joint News Conference to Discuss Islamic Prayer Vigil on the Grounds of the United States Capitol this Week
 Article: Ecumenical Movement - Christianity Uniting With Other Religions

Kris Keating, Director of Hillside Missions, states,
 
"Christians are interested in making God's love evident to all peoples. I am excited for the unique opportunity to do that through dialogue with Islamic leaders as we believe Christ is the hope of the world. In America, one can freely share their faith tradition with an open hand. This ongoing dialogue with Islamic leaders celebrates that freedom. Sitting at a table with people of diverse and even conflicting perspectives for a time of listening and sharing is positive and at the heart of Christian teaching. I encourage America's Christian community to be united with us as we acknowledge that love without conditions is the right motive for relationship with our Muslim neighbors."
 
Rev. Rob Schenck, President of the National Clergy Council, comments,
 
"With over 1.5 billion Muslims in the world, it is important that Christians have an open dialogue with the Islamic community. The church must never be timid in reaching out to peoples and groups with differing beliefs and traditions. Too much is at stake for future generations not to begin this historic conversation. This is an opportunity that we cannot afford to miss."
 
Rev. Patrick J. Mahoney, Director of the Christian Defense Coalition, adds,
 
"The heart of Christ is to reach out and build bridges to all peoples regardless of what their faith traditions or beliefs might be. Several years ago the Christian Defense Coalition began reaching out to the Muslim world which resulted in a prayer delegation going to Baghdad to pray for the nation of Iraq and Prime Minister Maliki. Since then we have had many conversations and discussions with Islamic leaders in Washington, D.C. and around the world. This news conference gives us another chance to dialogue and share with our Islamic neighbors. It also gives us the platform to celebrate the greatness of America where everyone is allowed to practice their faith tradition in the public square free from government interference of harassment.   The prayer vigil on the lawn of the Capitol this Friday highlights that timeless truth.


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We hope the Weekly News In Review has been a blessing to you.

Sincerely,
Ron Pierotti


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