CENTRAL FALLS, R.I. — Paul St. George worked 19 years as a firefighter, sometimes running into burning buildings for rescues. Once, he was injured when a wall fell on him. For his service, he counted on a promised $36,000-a-year pension. But in August 2011, this small city — with an $80-million unfunded pension, and retiree health benefit liability five times annual revenues — filed for bankruptcy. LINK

The article begins with a story about a woman who decided she never wanted to have children, and further, never regretted that decision, followed by a weighty discussion of how our nation’s birthrate is currently the lowest it has ever been in its history: LINK

Syrian troops drove insurgents from central Homs on Monday, tightening their siege on remaining rebel bastions in the strategically important city, which links Damascus to the Mediterranean heartland of President Bashar al-Assad’s Alawite sect. The fighting has devastated the city, leaving buildings in ruins.LINK

“God’s prophet” – famed evangelist Billy Graham – is praying America will experience another “great spiritual awakening.”International evangelist Reinhard Bonnke – whose ministry records 72 million people responding to the call of salvation in Africa and elsewhere – says God told him the time has come for “a mighty wave of salvation to sweep the USA.” LINK

A friend of PPSIMMONS sent us a picture of what we originally thought to be a photoshopped image of a place called ‘Hawaii’ in, of all places, Kenya! So we posted it to our blog for a few laughs. The picture is below…Notice also, the close proximity to a place called “Hell’s Gate National Park.’LINK

Diplomats in London have been thrown into chaos after Britain’s biggest bank, HSBC, sacked them as customers and gave them 60 days to move their accounts. Their situation has been made far worse because other banks have been closing ranks and refusing to take their business. More than 40 embassies, consulates and High Commissions have been affected. Even the Vatican has been given its marching orders. LINK

“Last fall, there was a tremendous seminar. Thousands and thousands of people in the desert came together and prayed and worshiped the Lord and many came to Christ. So even in the midst of despair and violence, you see the Lord working.” Open Doors USA is also sending relief to the beleaguered believers in Syria, who are caught between a brutal regime and a rebel alliance that is even more hostile to Christians. LINK

Buenos Aires (CNN) — “He told me. …(pope) ‘I’m in favor of gay rights and in any case, I also favor civil unions for homosexuals, but I believe that Argentina is not yet ready for a gay marriage law,'” said Marquez, a gay rights activist, a self-described devout Catholic and a former theology professor at a Catholic seminary.
http://www.cnn.com/2013/03/20/world/americas/argentina-pope-civil-unions

Just as homosexuals through the potent and unwavering crusade of Britain and the United States of America have succeeded in stampeding the United Nations to support gay rights, pedophiles have also started arguing along the same lines to have their rights guaranteed as heterosexuals and homosexuals.

http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/artikel.php?ID=280977

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-LIMFKudPk0

Gay marriage: As of August 1, same-sex couples can marry in 13 states and D.C. Freedom to Marry now estimates that 30 percent of Americans live where gay marriage is legal. In public celebrations and intimate ceremonies, gay couples exchanged vows Thursday in Minnesota and Rhode Island as the number of places where same-sex couples can wed grew to more than a quarter of U.S. states. http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Latest-News-Wires/2013/0801/Gay-marriage-Weddings-begin-in-Rhode-Island-and-Minnesota

A clay fragment unearthed in Jerusalem may be the oldest Hebrew inscription ever discovered in the city – and could prove that accounts of the reigns of King David and Solomon are historical fact. A clay fragment unearthed in Jerusalem may be the oldest Hebrew inscription ever discovered in the city –

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2013/08/02/newser-jesus-cross-archaeologists/2611357/

Archaeologists working at an ancient church in Turkey think they’ve unearthed a piece of the world’s most famous cross, the one used to crucify Jesus. They found a stone chest during excavation at a 1,350-year-old church, and the chest had a number of relics inside believed to be associated with the crucifixion, a historian at Turkey’s Mimar Sinan University of Fine Arts tells the Hurriyet Daily News.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2013/08/02/newser-jesus-cross-archaeologists/2611357/