CANADA-MAIL DELIVERY BY TUESDAY

Canadian Senate moves to end postal shutdown
JUNE 26,11

OTTAWA (Reuters) – Canadians could begin receiving mail again within two days after the Senate on Sunday endorsed back-to-work legislation ending the labor dispute that shut down the postal service.The Senate held a rare weekend session to approve the government measure that was passed by the House of Commons on Saturday after a 58-hour filibuster by opposition MPs who said the bill was unfair to the workers.
Canada Post locked out the nearly 48,000 workers June 15 after more than a week of rotating strikes that the company said had caused mail deliveries to drop by nearly 50 percent.The Conservative government said it had no choice but to intervene because contract negotiations between the company and union had failed, and a prolonged dispute posed a threat to the national economy.Mail deliveries could resume Tuesday, officials said.The Canadian Union of Postal Workers said its members will return to work as ordered, but warned that the order does not resolve the issues that lead to the dispute. It may challenge the legislation in court.

In addition to wages and pensions, the company and union are at odds over how the system should adjust to technological changes that seen customers drop traditional mail in favor of writing emails and using the Internet to pay bills.The legislation provides for an arbitrator to pick between the offers made by the union or Canada Post, but it includes a controversial measure that sets the pay increase at less than the company had already offered the union.If the arbitrator accepts Canada Post's offer, the company would also be allowed to offer new hires lower salaries, pensions and vacations than its existing workers now get.(Reporting Allan Dowd, editing by Anthony Boadle)

Canada Post promises mail delivery Tuesday-Employees head back to work over next 48 hours CBC News Last Updated: Jun 26, 2011 10:13 PM ET

Canadian homes and businesses will start receiving mail again Tuesday now that legislation forcing 48,000 postal workers back to their jobs has become law, Canada Post says.Post offices that were closed during the labour dispute will start to reopen Tuesday as well, while mailboxes will be unsealed starting Monday, the Crown corporation said.The announcement came Sunday night, shortly after the government's back-to-work-bill received royal assent.The bill imposing a labour contract on the Canadian Union of Postal Workers was passed by the House of Commons on Saturday and the Senate on Sunday.Just when Canadians can expect mail service to be back to normal isn’t clear, Canada Post suggested in a news release.With unprocessed mail in the system and accumulated mail received from other countries that has not yet entered our system, it will take some time to stabilize our operations and to return to our normal delivery standards,the release said.The postal workers were locked out June 17 after 12 days of rotating strikes. They’ll all be called back within the next 24 to 48 hours, Canada Post said.

Senators question witnesses

In a rare Sunday sitting, the Senate spent more than seven hours studying the back-to-work bill and questioning witnesses before voting 53-26 in favour.Union president Denis Lemelin told senators the union would respect the legislation if it passed, although it raises difficulties for employees, who weren't consulted about the provisions.I'm happy to be working for Canada post, but I want to be treated fairly for the work I do,postal worker Pierre Brisson of Montreal said after the bill was enacted.The law imposes a four-year contract on the workers, specifies pay increases and leaves other disputed issues to binding arbitration.The House of Commons gave the bill final reading Saturday night after a filibuster by the Opposition NDP.Although the mail disruption might not have bothered Canadians heavily reliant on technology, the government argued the economy would lose millions of dollars a week. Small business and organizations were hit hard, Conservative MPs said.That was always the intent of the bill — to restore the mail service, to make sure that the economy will be held intact,Labour Minister Lisa Raitt said.Individuals also looked forward to the return of snail mail.I still remember how to write letters, and I do write letters and put stamps on them,said Randolph Ianniruberto of Alliston, Ont., who uses Canada Post to pay his bills and for correspondence.

Bill described as sledgehammer

In the Senate, Liberal James Cowan said Bill C-6 gutted the collective bargaining process and he accused Prime Minister Harper of using a sledgehammer approach to solving the dispute.His solution was clear: break the monopoly of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers.The senator read a quotation from Harper from 1997, in which he stated that ending the monopoly in the postal service will ensure that Canadians are never held hostage by another postal strike.

P.O.V.:

Do you agree with the House's decision to pass the back-to-work bill?

Canada Post CEO Deepak Chopra told senators the Crown corporation wants to welcome back employees in a special manner and begin long-term healing.Faced with the prospect of stiff fines for violating the back-to-work measures, CUPW vice-president George Floresco said the union would comply with the legislation. But Floresco insisted the union would carry on the struggle for a just collective agreement and just working conditions.We'll deliver the mail, but this isn't the end of it, Floresco told CBC News from Ottawa. We'll continue to work with our allies who have been out on the street with us and supporting true negotiations, and we're not going to let this die.

Hizbollah members confess to spying for CIA
8:54PM BST 24 Jun 2011

In the first such acknowledgement of infiltration since the group's founding in the 1980s, Nasrallah refused to disclose the identities of the two party members but said a third case was under investigation, slamming the US embassy in Lebanon as a den of spies.When the Israeli enemy failed to infiltrate Hizbollah, it turned to the most powerful intelligence agency, Nasrallah said in a television speech broadcast in Lebanon, referring to the Central Intelligence Agency.Our investigation has found that ... intelligence officers (in the CIA) have recruited two of our members separately, whom we shall not name out of respect for the privacy of their families, he added.The first confessed he was recruited five months ago ... while the second confessed he had been recruited even before that, he said, adding that the recruiters were CIA agents posing as diplomats at the US embassy east of Beirut.

Nasrallah also said the group was investigating whether the third member of the party had been recruited by the CIA, Israel's Mossad or the intelligence service of a European country.The Shiite leader, whose party is blacklisted as a terrorist group by the United States, insisted however that the alleged agents had not been involved in the 2008 assassination of top Hizbollah operative Imad Mughnieh in Damascus.Hizbollah has openly accused Israel of the bombing that killed Mughnieh and vowed to avenge his death. The Jewish state has denied responsibility.The Syrian- and Iranian-backed Shiite movement last fought a devastating war with Israel in 2006.
The month-long fighting killed more than 1,200 Lebanese, mainly civilians, and 160 Israelis, mainly soldiers, and destroyed much of Lebanon's major infrastructure.

Israel's Vatican envoy backs off WWII pope praise
By NICOLE WINFIELD, Associated Press – Sun Jun 26, 10:28 am ET

VATICAN CITY – Israel's ambassador to the Vatican on Sunday backed off his praise of Pope Pius XII, the World War II-era pope blamed by some Jews and historians for having failed to speak out enough against the Holocaust.Ambassador Mordechai Lewy said in a statement that his personal judgment about the role of Pius, the Vatican and Catholic Church during the war had been premature since the issue is still being researched.Lewy made headlines last week when he praised Pius and the Catholic Church in general for having given refuge to Roman Jews during the Nazi occupation of the Italian capital. The Vatican newspaper ran his speech on the front page, giving the brief but significant remarks high visibility.But some Jewish groups balked, saying Lewy's comments were morally wrong, historically inaccurate and hurtful to Holocaust survivors.Pope Benedict XVI is keen to see Pius beatified, the first step to sainthood, and a concerted campaign is under way among Pius' supporters to correct what they say has been an unfair and incorrect judgment passed on Pius.As a result, Lewy's remarks in praise of Pius — unusual for a Jew much less an Israeli official — were significant in that they indicated a slight shift in the historic judgment of a man the Vatican considers worthy of one of the church's greatest honors but who many Jews consider a moral coward.

Pius was pope from 1939-1958. Before his election he served as the Vatican's No. 2 and before that papal nuncio to Germany. Given his deep involvement in the Vatican's diplomatic affairs with the Nazis, what Pius did or didn't do during the war has become the single most divisive issue in Vatican-Jewish relations.The Vatican insists Pius used quiet diplomacy and that speaking out more publicly and critically against the Nazis would have resulted in more Jewish deaths. Critics argue he could have and should have said and done more.And so eyebrows were raised when Lewy told a ceremony awarding a Righteous of the Nations medal in honor of Gaetano Piccini, an Italian priest who sheltered Jews, that Piccini wasn't alone in saving Jewish lives in Rome.It would be an error to declare that the Catholic Church, the Vatican or the pope himself opposed actions aimed at saving Jews, Lewy said June 23.The contrary is actually true: they helped wherever they could.He said the fact that the Vatican couldn't stop the deportation of Jews from Rome's ghetto on Oct. 16-18, 1943 only increased the will, on the part of the Vatican, to offer its own sites as refuges for the Jews.He said Jews were traumatized by the deportation and expected much more from the pope.Fine, we all know what happened, but we also must recognize that the train that left on Oct. 18, 1943 was the only one that the Nazis managed to organize from Rome to Auschwitz, he said.On Sunday, Lewy said he wanted to make a clarification to his remarks, noting that his praise of Piccini's good deeds were embedded in a broader historical context.Given the fact that this context is still under the subject of ongoing and future research, passing my personal historical judgment on it was premature,the statement said.Elan Steinberg, vice president of the group American Gathering of Holocaust Survivors and their Descendants, said he appreciated Lewy's clarification.It takes courage to admit a mistake, said Steinberg, who had initially criticized Lewy for his comments.Jewish leaders have asked that the Vatican not beatify Pius until the complete set of Vatican archives is opened to scholars, which is not expected for several more years. Pius' supporters argue that a good chunk of the documents are already available and that few scholars ever consult them.(This version corrects last name to Lewy instead of Levy.)

EU leaders call US bluff on 1967 borders in Israel
ANDREW RETTMAN 25.06.2011 @ 08:44 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - EU countries have called on the US to get behind an initiative to revive Middle East peace talks based on a format disliked by Israel.
The EU leaders in a communique at the summit in Brussels on Friday (24 June) said they fully support the high representative's call for the Quartet to create a credible perspective for the re-launching of the peace process as a matter of urgency.The line refers to EU foreign relations chief Catherine Ashton's appeal to hold a meeting of the four parties - the EU, Russia, the UN and the US - in Washington in the first half of July.The communique did not explicitly say the credible perspective or blueprint for talks should involve Israel pulling back to lines held before the 1967 war, but it welcome[d] President Obama's recent proposals, in line with previous EU positions on the subject.US leader Barack Obama in a speech on 19 May said Israel should go back to 1967 borders. The proposal, which would involve Israel extracting armed extremist settlers from occupied land, was immediately attacked by Israel and by the US congress, with the US administration going quiet on the idea ever since.The Israeli foreign minister earlier this month also told Ashton it is not a good moment to try to restart talks because the world should be concentrating on Syria instead.An EU diplomat said Poland did a good job of overcoming reluctance about the EU statement among pro-Israeli countries in central and eastern Europe, such as the Czech republic.

Asked by EUobserver what Israel thinks of the EU summit appeal, Mark Regev, the spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, said Israel is ready for talks if the Palestinian Fatah movement abandons a unity government deal with Hamas, a militant Palestinian group listed as a terrorist entity by the EU and US.The Israeli side wants to see peace talks resume and has called on the Palestinian leadership to annul their pact with Hamas and to re-enter talks,Regev said.A comparison of a draft version of the EU summit text circulating on Friday morning with the official version adopted a few hours later shows that two pro-Irsaeli changes were made in the final stage.The official text contains a new line calling for the organisers of an upcoming aid flotilla to Hamas-controlled Gaza to back off, saying the move could endanger human lives, even though it was Israeli commandos who shot dead several flotilla members last year. It also contains an appeal to Hamas to release Israeli hostage Gilad Shilat.Elsewhere, the EU communique took a hard line on Syria but a soft one on Bahrain, which is part of an EU-US-Saudi-Arabia alliance.

Published on a day when Syrian troops killed 15 more protesters, the EU text said the regime is calling its legitimacy into question and threatened President Bashar Assad's people with the international tribunal in The Hague, adding:Those responsible for crimes and violence against civilians shall be held accountable.On Bahrain, which handed out life sentences to eight pro-democracy protesters the day before the EU summit and which stands accused of systematic murder and torture of dissidents, EU leaders said they are concerned and encouraged respect for rights.For his part, French leader Nicolas Sarkozy in the post-summit press conference took a swipe at outgoing US defence chief Robert Gates over recent remarks that EU countries are not pulling their weight in fighting in Afghanistan and Libya.Obviously Robert Gates was about to step down and go into retirement and he was obviously not very happy about this and possibly this explains his rather bitter words,the Frenchman said.

DOCTOR DOCTORIAN FROM ANGEL OF GOD
then the angel said, Financial crisis will come to Asia. I will shake the world.

JAMES 5:1-3
1 Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you.
2 Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten.
3 Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days.

REVELATION 18:10,17,19
10 Standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come.
17 For in one hour so great riches is come to nought. And every shipmaster, and all the company in ships, and sailors, and as many as trade by sea, stood afar off,
19 And they cast dust on their heads, and cried, weeping and wailing, saying, Alas, alas that great city, wherein were made rich all that had ships in the sea by reason of her costliness! for in one hour is she made desolate.

EZEKIEL 7:19
19 They shall cast their silver in the streets, and their gold shall be removed: their silver and their gold shall not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the LORD: they shall not satisfy their souls, neither fill their bowels: because it is the stumblingblock of their iniquity.

REVELATION 13:16-18
16 And he(FALSE POPE) causeth all,(WORLD SOCIALISM) both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:(CHIP IMPLANT)
17 And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
18 Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.(6-6-6) A NUMBER SYSTEM

WORLD MARKET RESULTS
http://money.cnn.com/data/world_markets/
CNBC VIDEOS
http://www.cnbc.com/id/15839263/?tabid=15839796&tabheader=false

HALF HOUR DOW RESULTS MON JUNE 27,2011

09:30 AM +2.25
10:00 AM +56.01
10:30 AM +103.80
11:00 AM +93.17
11:30 AM +83.86
12:00 PM +112.47
12:30 PM +110.25
01:00 PM +108.25
01:30 PM +94.91
02:00 PM +111.14
02:30 PM +147.81
03:00 PM +150.80
03:30 PM +153.33
04:00 PM +108.98 12,043.56

S&P 500 1280.10 +11.65

NASDAQ 2688.28 +35.39

GOLD 1,496.80 -4.10

OIL 90.74 -0.42

TSE 300 12,966.50 +57.60

CDNX 1867.72 -37.61

S&P/TSX/60 744.76 +5.02

MORNING,NEWS,STATS

YEAR TO DATE PERFORMANCE
Dow +15 points at 4 minutes of trading today.
Dow -0.68 points at low today.
Dow +164 points at high today so far.
GOLD opens at $1,498.30.OIL opens at $90.02 today.

AFTERNOON,NEWS,STATS
Dow -0.68 points at low today so far.
Dow +164 points at high today so far.

WRAPUP,NEWS,STATS
Dow -0.68 points at low today.
Dow +164 points at high today.

GOLD ALLTIME HIGH $1,573.50 (NOT AT CLOSE)

STORMS HURRICANES-TORNADOES

LUKE 21:25-26
25 And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity;(MASS CONFUSION) the sea and the waves roaring;(FIERCE WINDS)
26 Men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.

THE FIRST JUDGEMENT OF THE EARTH STARTED WITH WATER-IT ONLY MAKES SENSE THE LAST GENERATION WILL BE HAVING FLOODING
GENESIS 7:6-12
6 And Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of waters was upon the earth.
7 And Noah went in, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons’ wives with him, into the ark, because of the waters of the flood.
8 Of clean beasts, and of beasts that are not clean, and of fowls, and of every thing that creepeth upon the earth,
9 There went in two and two unto Noah into the ark, the male and the female, as God had commanded Noah.
10 And it came to pass after seven days, that the waters of the flood were upon the earth.
11 In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened.
12 And the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights.
GOD PROMISED BY A RAINBOW-THE EARTH WOULD NEVER BE DESTROYED TOTALLY WITH A FLOOD AGAIN.BUT FLOODIING IS A SIGN OF JUDGEMENT.

Typhoon batters Korean peninsula, at least 9 dead
– JUNE 26,11

SEOUL (Reuters) – At least nine people have been killed, mostly drowned in flooding, after a typhoon battered South Korea, a disaster official said on Monday, while impoverished North Korea braced for huge waves and torrential rain.Lee Gon-hee of the Central Disaster and Safety Control Center in Seoul said a further three people were missing after.Typhoon Meari skirted the west coast of South Korea at the weekend.Meari, the Korean word for echo, was due to make landfall in North Korea early on Monday.The North's KCNA state news agency warned residents in the coastal areas of South Hamgyong Province and Kangwon Province to be ready for tidal waves.

Dozens of domestic flights were canceled in South Korea on Sunday and ships ordered to stay in port. Authorities said international flights were not affected.The historic Chilgok bridge in North Gyeongsang, built to honor soldiers killed in the 1950-53 Korean War, partially collapsed at the weekend after the Nakdong River flooded.The same typhoon left nearly 30 people dead or missing in the Philippines and Vietnam last week.(Reporting by Jeremy Laurence and Seongbin Kang; Editing by Alex Richardson)

Nebraska residents shrug off flood risk to nuclear plant By Michael Avok – Sun Jun 26, 5:02 pm ET

BROWNVILLE, Neb (Reuters) – Residents near a nuclear plant on the rain-swollen Missouri River were largely unconcerned about any potential safety risks from flooding ahead of a nuclear regulator's visit on Sunday.Gregory Jaczko, the chair of the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission will monitor flood preparations during a visit to the Cooper Nuclear Station near Brownville.The plant is located about 80 miles south of Omaha, where snow melt and heavy rains have forced the waters of the Missouri River over its banks, although they have not flooded the plant and receded slightly on Sunday.I just don't think the water is going to get that high, said Brownville resident Kenny Lippold, a retired carpenter who has been following each step of the flood preparations in this riverside village of 148 residents.They claim that they are going to keep operating, Lippold said, adding that he will not flee his home of 29 years even though it is less than a mile from the Cooper reactor.

Jaczko will be briefed on Sunday by NRC resident inspectors -- the agency staff who work on-site every day -- plant officials and executives, said Mark Becker, a spokesman at the Nebraska Public Power District, the agency that runs the plant.Water levels there are down after upstream levees failed, Becker said, relieving worries that water will rise around the Brownville plant as it has at another nuclear plant north of Omaha in Fort Calhoun.Local shop owner Katy Morgan, 28, said her fears have been assuaged by information she has received via plant officials, who give out emergency radio equipment to residents within a 10-mile radius of the Cooper plant.I know everybody freaks out when they talk about nuclear, said Morton, who runs a boutique on Brownville's main thoroughfare.I suppose if there was a drastic increase in the river I would be concerned. If they say evacuate then I would be concerned, Morton said.Jaczko will also visit on Monday the Fort Calhoun plant in the town of Fort Calhoun, Nebraska, about 20 miles north of Omaha, an agency official said.Flood water up to 2-feet deep is standing on the site of the 478-megawatt Fort Calhoun plant, which will stay shut down until the water recedes, the NRC said.On Sunday afternoon, workers accidentally deflated an auxiliary berm at the plant, said Omaha Public Power District spokesman Jeff Hanson.Hanson said the aqua dam was a supplemental measure that provided workers more freedom but was not essential to keeping the plant dry.The plant itself is still protected, Hanson said. Floodwater would need to rise over 7 feet to flow over the berms and enter the plant, Hanson said, adding that the supplemental dam was not in original flood prevention plans.An NRC inspection at Fort Calhoun two years ago indicated deficiencies in the flood preparation area, which have now been remedied, the agency said.(Writing by Eric Johnson; Editing by Tim Gaynor)

As water ebbs in Minot, thoughts of recovery
By DALE WETZEL and JOHN FLESHER, Associated Press – Sun Jun 26, 7:41 pm ET

MINOT, N.D. – The Souris River began a long, slow retreat in Minot on Sunday, leaving behind an arduous rebuilding job for more than 4,000 homeowners and hundreds of business operators, most of whom lack insurance to pay for it.Because they don't have coverage, federal assistance could amount to as little as a few thousand dollars apiece. Loan and grant programs will provide some help, as will an emergency relief fund just being set up.Still, there was at least one ray of hope: State lawmakers might be able to lend a hand, thanks in large part to North Dakota's oil boom, which generates $1 billion a year in tax money and has helped shield the state from the worst of the recession.Few people in Minot carried flood insurance — only 375 homes in the flooded areas, said John Ashton, a spokesman for the Federal Emergency Management Agency.Mike and Jodi Picard checked with neighbors when moving into their house less than two years ago and found that just one had flood insurance. The river was a quarter-mile away, and the prevailing opinion was that we were not in a floodplain anymore after a 1969 flood led to construction of levees and straightening of the river channel.Now you really kick yourself for not having it,said Jodi Picard.The Souris topped out Sunday nearly 2 feet below projections heading into the weekend, and it appeared damage might not extend beyond the homes and businesses that took on water Friday. Officials warned against overconfidence until the river fell enough to take the pressure off levees. The National Weather Service projected the river would decline 2 feet by midweek.

The Picards stood on a bridge overlooking the swollen river, straining for a glimpse of their house in a distant cul-de-sac. It appeared water was knee-deep on the main floor.The couple was staying with relatives in the area but said they were determined to return home. After the water recedes, they'll pump the basement dry, tear out drywall and insulation and make needed repairs.State lawmakers will probably consider offering flood relief during a special session this fall. They have $386 million in a rainy-day fund, as well as another $136 million in a school-aid fund that could be diverted to the many communities touched by floodwaters this year. Both funds are fattened by state oil revenues.I think we're going to look at Bismarck, Minot, the whole statewide flooding issue, and look at them all together,said Senate Majority Leader Bob Stenehjem, a Republican from Bismarck.When it comes to paying for rebuilding, FEMA has approved individual assistance for Burleigh (home to the capital of Bismarck) and Ward counties, where Minot is located. Gov. Jack Dalrymple is pushing to expand it to 20 other counties and the Turtle Mountain Chippewa and Spirit Lake Sioux reservations.We know that we have a tremendous recovery effort coming, and even as we talk about how to beat this water back over the next few days, we have already started talking about how the recovery will be managed and organized,the governor said.The FEMA assistance is capped at a little more than $30,000, but Sen. Kent Conrad, a North Dakota Democrat, said a more realistic figure is $7,000 to $8,000 — the typical amounts provided to victims of severe flooding in Nashville, Tenn., a year ago.FEMA and the federal Small Business Administration will offer loan and grant programs, too. The Bank of North Dakota, the nation's only state-owned bank, already offers low-interest loans up to $500,000 to business people, farmers and ranchers living in areas that the president has declared a disaster area.

The bank and the state's Public Finance Authority also have made low-interest loans available to local governments while they wait to collect expected federal aid after they make repairs on their public works.Eric Hardmeyer, the Bank of North Dakota's president, said the bank learned valuable lessons about administering disaster aid from the epic Red River Valley floods of 1997, which swamped the city of Grand Forks, knocked out its sewer and water systems and forced the evacuation of more than 50,000 people.We found that we needed to let the federal programs get in and do their business before we found out where we should play, Hardmeyer said.Their pockets are deeper, and they're more experienced at that than we are.Pat Owens, who was mayor of Grand Forks when the flood hit in April 1997, said federal agencies were critical to the city's recovery. They set up a one-stop shop for aid programs in Grand Forks' Civic Auditorium.That was a salvation, Owens told The Associated Press in a telephone interview Sunday.People would not know how to even begin trying to bring their lives back, and that gave them a place to go.Les Younger, a retired Air Force veteran who maintained aircraft weapons systems at Minot Air Force Base, and his wife, Jacque, a seamstress, said they did not buy flood insurance because they thought their home was far enough from the river.Jacque Younger said the couple's recovery is going to be very tough, because we don't have a lot of savings. But they tried to put the best face on it by thinking of how they might change things in rebuilding.You have to look on the bright side, because if you look on the dull side, it gets you down,Jacque Younger said.

China's Wen sees struggle to control inflation
JUNE 26,11

HONG KONG/BEIJING (Reuters) – Premier Wen Jiabao signaled for the first time that China would struggle to meet its 4 percent inflation target this year.Wen, who is traveling in Europe, was quoted by Hong Kong media on Monday as saying that while he sees the Chinese economy growing above 8-9 percent this year, it was hard for China to keep inflation under 4 percent in 2011.China's financial situation will still be among the best in the world this year, with economic growth kept above 8-9 percent, and CPI controlled under 5 percent, Wen told Hong Kong television media during the England leg of his Europe tour.Although Wen's latest comments are not as upbeat as his remarks on Friday when he said China's inflation is firmly under control this year and should cool steadily, they are unlikely to alter investor bets on China's monetary policy outlook.Many economists have long expected China to breach its inflation target for the year given that the inflation rate is well above the 4 percent mark since January, and is expected to peak at 6 percent in June or July.

A Reuters poll of economists in June showed a median forecast for China to increase benchmark lending and deposit rates by another 25 and 50 basis points respectively this year.Copper prices lost ground on Monday on concern that inflation pressures may prompt top buyer China to tighten credit further and persistent worries about the euro zone debt crisis.Judging by a recent stream of comments from Beijing, the market's bias toward tighter policy in China appears to be in step with that of the Chinese government.Vice Premier Li Keqiang said on Saturday that fighting inflation is still China's top priority, effectively rebutting arguments among some investors that China may hurt its growth if it over-tightens policy at a time when its economy is already easing.Wen also took a stab at worries that China's economy risks a hard landing on Friday when he said China is fully capable of keeping its economy growing briskly.Writing in an opinion piece in the Financial Times, Wen said: There is concern as to whether China can rein in inflation and sustain its rapid development. My answer is an emphatic yes.China's central bank on its part has made clear that its focus is squarely on inflation.It raised banks' required reserve ratio to a record 21.5 percent earlier this month, hours after official data showed China's inflation quickened to a 34-month high of 5.5 percent in May.(Reporting by Victoria Bi and Donny Kwok in HONG KONG, Koh Gui Qing in BEIJING; Editing by Ramya Venugopal)

Bulls ready to charge into wall of worry
By Rodrigo Campos – Sun Jun 26, 12:13 pm ET

NEW YORK (Reuters) – A bounce could be the cards for stocks this week as bulls defend a key technical level and portfolio managers buy the quarter's winners to prop up their books.But gains coming from healthcare, staples or other defensive sectors that have outperformed the market in the last several months would only support the notion that the U.S. stock market needs to complete its correction phase and panic selling must occur before a more sustained comeback develops.We want to see more fear, said Ari Wald, equity strategist at Brown Brothers Harriman in New York.Be careful what you wish for.The problems that have driven the recent decline, including Greece's slow march toward a default on its debt, weak U.S. economic data and the creeping deadline to lift the U.S. debt ceiling, are far from being resolved.

HOLDING THE 200-DAY SHOWS THE WAY

Despite a drop that dragged the S&P 500 as much as 8.2 percent below its three-year high hit in early May, the index held above its 200-day moving average -- a major line in the sand as the bulls and bears battle for control of the market.The slide had been telegraphed for weeks and the market's by-the-book performance -- pulling back to a widely followed level -- seems too well choreographed for some analysts.
The fact that we went to the 200-day ... seems just a little too perfect, said Marc Pado, U.S. market strategist at Cantor Fitzgerald & Co in San Francisco.He said the timing of the move was supportive, as the market creates a technical base before resuming its upward move on the back of strong earnings.You might get an attempt at a shakeout move, Pado said.But sometimes the majority is right.Even if they are right, they don't seem too convinced. So far this quarter -- on track to be the first in the red for the S&P 500 in the last year -- daily volume on the New York Stock Exchange, NYSE Amex and Nasdaq has averaged 7.22 billion shares.That is down from the 7.94 billion shares traded daily during the first quarter, when the S&P 500 gained 5.4 percent. Commitment to the market has waned. The frantic selling, the flushing down of day traders seems absent so far in this corrective phase.Despite holding above that level, the market has not cleared the danger zone of dipping under its 200-day average. The curve has a steep slope, as the S&P 500 took roughly two years to notch a 100 percent advance from its March 2009 lows.The 200-day moving average now stands at 1,263.47, less than 0.4 percent below the S&P 500's close on Friday.

Every time you test a resistance or support level, you make it weaker, said Nicholas Colas, chief market strategist of the ConvergEx Group in New York.It's almost like a piece of metal. Every time you hit it, it grows more fragile and that's why people are really worried the third or fourth time.After three straight days of declines, the S&P 500 fell 0.24 percent for the week and finished on Friday at 1,268.45 -- its seventh decline in the last eight weeks.The Dow industrials (.DJI) lost 0.58 percent for the week, closing on Friday at 11,934.58, while the Nasdaq Composite (.IXIC) rose 1.39 percent for the week to end at 2,652.89. The Nasdaq is just fractionally higher for the year, while the Dow and the S&P 500 are both still solidly in the black for 2011.The next two weeks, before quarterly earnings season starts in earnest, could be marked by wild swings like the ones seen recently. On Thursday, after a market-friendly headline out of Greece, the S&P 500 posted its strongest comeback in almost a year, on days when the benchmark has fallen more than 1 percent.

From its session low on Thursday, the S&P 500 climbed more than 20 points into the close. The Dow's swing covered 233.79 points from its intraday low to session high on Thursday.But buying interest waned on Friday. Aside from doubts about the passage in Athens' Parliament of higher taxes and service cuts, weak Italian banks also are scaring investors.The Federal Reserve on Wednesday gave a bleak outlook on the economy, lowering its forecasts for GDP growth for both 2011 and 2012. And Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke found it hard to explain the sources of a so-called economic soft patch that seems to have become pervasive.

SUMMER STORM OF DATA

Besides the weekly jobless claims numbers, housing and manufacturing data will attract the most attention this week.The S&P Case-Shiller April home prices index on Tuesday and the National Association of Realtors May pending home sales index on Wednesday could confirm the housing market's double dip.Factory activity grew in May at its slowest pace since September 2009, according to the Institute for Supply Management, and Friday's ISM number for June is expected to drop to 51.9, indicating an even slower rate of growth.New applications for unemployment insurance on Thursday are expected to land above 400,000 for a 12th straight week, according to economists polled by Reuters.Personal income and consumption, out Monday, are expected to tick higher in May. Consumer confidence, out Tuesday from the Conference Board, is forecast at a June reading of 60.5, just a touch lower than May's 60.8, a Reuters poll showed. Despite a recent string of weak data in May, a sharp drop in crude oil prices is expected to buoy consumer confidence.(Reporting by Rodrigo Campos; Additional reporting by Edward Krudy; Editing by Jan Paschal)

Probably inevitable a country will exit euro: Soros
– Sun Jun 26, 8:28 am ET

VIENNA (Reuters) – Billionaire investor George Soros thinks a country will eventually exit the euro zone and urged policymakers on Sunday to come up with a plan B that could rescue the European Union from looming economic collapse.Soros, famous for making $1 billion by betting against the British pound in 1992, did not name any country he thought might exit the currency, but speculation is mounting about the fate of Greece as its politicians struggle to agree more austerity measures demanded by international lenders as the price for staving off bankruptcy.

Soros reiterated his view in a panel discussion in Vienna that the euro had a basic flaw from the start in that the currency was not backed by political union or a joint treasury.The euro had no provision for correction. There was no arrangement for any country leaving the euro, which in the current circumstances is probably inevitable,he said.While he called survival of the European Union a vital interest to all, he said the EU needed structural changes to halt a process of disintegration.
There is no plan B at the moment. That is why the authorities are sticking to the status quo and insisting on preserving the existing arrangements instead of recognizing there are fundamental flaws that need to be corrected.With a debt crisis in some peripheral members testing the EU's cohesiveness at a time of popular disquiet in wealthier countries over bailouts, he said leaders had to adopt measures now to remedy the situation.Let's face it: we are on the verge of an economic collapse which starts, let's say, in Greece but could easily spread. The financial system remains extremely vulnerable...We are on the edge of collapse and that is the time to recognize the need for change.Some steps the EU could adopt included creating a larger central budget; directing some of the income from value-added tax or a levy on financial transactions to Brussels; having a European institution guarantee banks, and tripling the size of its bailout fund by topping it up with tax revenue, he said.(Reporting by Michael Shields; editing by Sophie Walker)

World Bank to take stock as Egypt scraps IMF loan
– Sun Jun 26, 6:12 pm ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The World Bank said on Sunday it would have to take stock of plans to lend to Egypt after the International Monetary Fund confirmed the authorities no longer wanted an IMF-backed loan program.Egyptian Finance Minister Samir Radwan said on Saturday Egypt would not borrow from the World Bank and the IMF after revising its budget and cutting the deficit target to 8.6 percent of gross domestic product from 11 percent.A World Bank spokesperson said it was not informed of the decision.As far as we are aware these discussions are ongoing and we have heard nothing from the government to suggest the contrary, a World Bank spokesperson said.If there is no IMF program, we will have to take stock, the spokesperson added.

The IMF said Egypt had scrapped plans for a $3 billion IMF loan agreed last month. The World Bank and other international donors usually look to the IMF as a seal of approval to lend to governments.World Bank President Robert Zoellick said on May 24 the poverty-fighting institution would make available $4.5 billion over the next 24 months for Egypt. The funding included $1 billion this year in budget support and another $1 billion next year to help cover a huge budget shortfall after the economy was plunged into turmoil by mass protests that drove Hosni Mubarak from office on February 11.The World Bank program was also aimed at improving transparency and boosting employment, which were part of demands of the protesters.Radwan said Qatar had provided Egypt with $500 million for budgetary support in the past week, and Saudi Arabia had offered a similar amount.(Reporting by Lesley Wroughton; editing by Anthony Boadle)

U.S. gas prices dip slightly to near $3.63/gallon
– Sun Jun 26, 4:27 pm ET

NEW YORK (Reuters) – U.S. average retail gasoline prices fell over the past two weeks and could ease a bit more in coming weeks due in part to the release of crude oil from the U.S. strategic energy reserve, according to the latest nationwide Lundberg survey.The national average price for self-serve regular unleaded gas was $3.6283 a gallon on June 24, a decline of about 11 cents in the past two weeks, according to the survey of about 2,500 gas stations.A year ago, the price was $2.6613.At $3.32 a gallon, Jackson, Mississippi had the lowest average price for self-serve regular unleaded gas, while Chicago had the highest price at $4.06, the survey found.Gas prices will continue to fall in part because the International Energy Agency (IEA) said it will release 60 million barrels in July, which caused the price of crude oil to drop, survey editor Trilby Lundberg said.The IEA, made up of industrialized oil consumer nations including the United States, announced the release of 60 million barrels of oil from strategic government stockpiles in a bid to push down crude prices and underpin the global economy. About one-half of the total will come from the U.S.Even before the announcement, gas prices were slipping because poor economic news in the U.S. and Europe had been causing pessimism about petroleum demand.Unless there was a very severe disruption in the supply of crude, it's safe to say we won't see prices of crude coming back any time soon, Lundberg said.If crude oil prices stay at their current level, gas prices could fall another five to 10 cents by mid-July, Lundberg said. If crude prices fall further, gas prices could dip as much as 20 cents to 25 cents.Brent crude prices fell 2 percent on Friday, while U.S. crude ended slightly higher after seesawing and briefly dipping below $90 a barrel.

Israel: Journalists on flotilla face expulsion
By MARK LAVIE, Associated Press – Sun Jun 26, 4:13 pm ET

JERUSALEM – Israel said Sunday that any foreign journalist caught on board a Gaza-bound flotilla could face deportation and a 10-year ban from the country, in a move that threatened to worsen the nation's already strained relationship with the international media.Journalists said they should be allowed to cover a legitimate news story, but Israel said the media would be complicit in an illegal breach of its naval blockade of a hostile territory ruled by a terrorist group.The announcement reflected Israeli jitters about the international flotilla, which comes just more than a year after a similar mission ended with the deaths of nine Turkish activists in clashes with Israeli naval commandos who intercepted them. Each side blamed the other for the violence.Israel is eager to avoid a repeat of last year's raid, which drew heavy international condemnation and prompted Israel to ease its blockade on the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip.Many Israelis believe that the media's coverage of the bloodshed contributed to their country's image problems.In a letter to foreign journalists, the Government Press Office's director, Oren Helman, called the flotilla a dangerous provocation that is being organized by western and Islamic extremist elements to aid Hamas.He warned journalists that taking part in the flotilla is an intentional violation of Israeli law and is liable to lead to participants being denied entry into the State of Israel for 10 years, to the impoundment of their equipment and to additional sanctions, Helman said.The letter, he added, was reviewed and approved by Israel's attorney general.

The Foreign Press Association, which represents hundreds of journalists working for international news organizations in Israel and the Palestinian territories, condemned the Israeli decision and urged the government to cancel the order.The government's threat to punish journalists covering the Gaza flotilla sends a chilling message to the international media and raises serious questions about Israel's commitment to freedom of the press, the FPA said in a statement.The association's lawyer, Gilead Sher, sent a letter to Helman demanding that the threat be rescinded.The state of Israel must make a clear distinction between those who carry out an action and those who cover it (as journalists), Sher said in his note. Israel's local journalists association also condemned the government's letter.Israel sees the flotilla as a provocation aimed at stirring up trouble and says that it has standard channels for delivering humanitarian aid to Gaza.Israel imposed its land and naval embargo on Gaza after Hamas, an Iranian-backed group that rejects peace with Israel, overran the territory in 2007. Under international pressure, Israel eased the land blockade after last year's flotilla raid, but the naval closure remains intact.Israel says the blockade is justified on internationally accepted legal grounds because it is effectively in a state of war with Hamas, which has fired thousands of rockets into Israel and killed hundreds of Israelis in suicide bombings and other attacks.

Critics say that while Israel is entitled to stop arms smuggling, the blockade has amounted to collective punishment and caused widespread suffering among Gaza's 1.6 million people.The pro-Palestinian organizers of the flotilla say the mission is necessary to draw attention to the Gazans' plight.It remains unclear when the current flotilla will actually set sail, but organizers have hinted it could be as soon as this week.Organizers have said 10 boats, including two cargo vessels carrying aid supplies, will participate in the flotilla and that hundreds of people, including activists, journalists, politicians, writers and religious figures, will be on board.About two dozen activist groups, many of them based in Europe, are organizing the journey. Among them are IHH, a Turkish Islamic charity that helped organize last year's flotilla and is outlawed in Israel.There are already growing signs that this flotilla will be different.The Turkish boat that clashed with the Israeli navy has dropped out of this year's flotilla. After a year of tensions, both Turkey and Israel have signaled that they are interested in repairing strained ties.

Greece has also urged Greek citizens and Greek-registered vessels not to participate, noting the risk of violence. Activists on The Audicity of Hope,an American boat in the flotilla that plans to sail from a Greek port, said police declared they could not leave because of questions about the vessel's seaworthiness. In a statement, the activists speculated the delay stemmed from Israeli and U.S. pressure.Manuel Tapial, a Spanish activist, said a Spanish vessel in the flotilla planned to depart for Gaza this week in coordination with other aid boats and would be carrying 11 journalists, most of them Spanish. He criticized Israel's warning to reporters, saying Israel did not want witnesses to what they can do to us on the water.Associated Press writer Christopher Torchia contributed to this report from Athens.

Asian markets slip on Europe debt fears
By PAMELA SAMPSON, AP Business Writer – JUNE 26,11

BANGKOK – Asian markets dropped early Monday amid fears of a spreading European debt crisis after a ratings agency placed Italian banks on a review for a possible downgrade.Japan's Nikkei 225 fell 0.9 percent to 9,595.18. South Korea's Kospi lost 0.9 percent to 2,072.87, and Hong Kong's Hang Seng slipped 0.6 percent to 22,041.21.
Technology shares were among those facing the biggest slumps. South Korea's Hynix Semiconductor, one of the world's leading computer chip makers, was 3.9 percent down. Japanese chipmaker Elpida Memory slipped 2.1 percent, and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing lost 1.4 percent.Benchmarks in Australia, Singapore, Indonesia and Taiwan were also lower. Mainland Chinese shares were higher.On Friday, Italian banks were down sharply on the Milan stock exchange after ratings agency Moody's said it was considering downgrading their credit worthiness.Moody's Investors Service placed the long-term debt and deposit ratings of 16 Italian banks and two Italian government-related financial institutions on review for possible downgrade.

On Wall Street, stocks fell Friday after poor earnings reports from two major technology companies suggested that companies invested less in new technology as the economic recovery slowed.Fears of a spreading European debt crisis also weighed on markets. Italian bank stocks plunged and trading in some of them was halted after Moody's warned that it might downgrade their credit ratings.The Dow Jones industrial average fell 1 percent to 11,934.58. The Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 1.2 percent to 1,268.45. The Nasdaq composite fell 1.3 percent to 2,652.89.The decline erased all of this week's gains for the Dow Jones industrial average and S&P index. The broad stock market has now fallen for seven of the last eight weeks, largely because of concerns that the U.S. economy is slowing and that Europe's debt problems may lead to another financial crisis. The S&P 500 is down 7 percent since it hit a high for the year on April 29.Technology stocks were broadly lower. Micron Technology Inc. fell 14.5 percent after the company said lower sales of computer chips hurt its earnings, which were far less than analysts had expected. Oracle Corp. fell 4 percent after its sales of computer hardware fell sharply. Cisco Systems Inc. fell 3.5 percent, and Microsoft Corp. lost 1.3 percent.The U.S. economy has cooled since late April. Recent reports on housing, employment, manufacturing and retail sales all have been weak. The debt crisis in Greece and fears that China's growth is slowing have also pushed markets lower.In energy trading, benchmark crude for August delivery dropped 58 cents to $90.58 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract settled at $91.16 per barrel on the Nymex on Friday.In currencies, the euro weakened $1.4130 from $1.4171 on Friday in New York. The dollar ticked up to 80.72 yen from 80.52 yen.

THIS IS THE WRONG MOVE FOR NEW YORK TO DO SINCE NY HAS THE 2ND MOST ISRAELIS IN THE WORLD.I WONDER HOW MANY HURRICANES WILL HIT NEW YORK THIS YEAR BECAUSE OF THIS LEGELIZING SODOMITE RAINBOW GROUPERS.

Gay marriage backers: NY vote has national impact
By DAVID CRARY, AP National Writer – Sun Jun 26, 2:49 am ET

NEW YORK – Many obstacles still lie ahead for supporters of same-sex marriage, and eventually they will need Congress or the Supreme Court to embrace their goal. For the moment, though, they are jubilantly channeling the lyrics of New York, New York.Now that we've made it here, we'll make it everywhere, said prominent activist Evan Wolfson, who took up the cause of marriage equality as a law student three decades ago.With a historic vote by its Legislature late Friday, New York became the sixth — and by far the most populous — state to legalize same-sex marriage since Massachusetts led the way, under court order, in 2004.With the new law, which takes effect after 30 days, the number of Americans in same-sex marriage states more than doubles. New York's population of 19 million surpasses the combined total of Massachusetts, Connecticut, Vermont, New Hampshire and Iowa, plus the District of Columbia.The outcome — a product of intensive lobbying by Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo — will have nationwide repercussions. Activists hope the New York vote will help convince judges and politicians across the country, including a hesitant President Barack Obama, that support of same-sex marriage is now a mainstream viewpoint and a winning political stance.New York sends the message that marriage equality across the country is a question of when, not if,said Fred Sainz, a vice president of the Human Rights Campaign.Wolfson, president of the advocacy group Freedom to Marry, said the goal is attainable by 2020, or sooner,if we do the work and keep making the case.The work — as envisioned by leading activists — is a three-pronged strategy unfolding at the state level, in dealings with Congress and the Obama administration, and in the courts where several challenges to the federal ban on gay marriage are pending.

This will be a big boost to our efforts nationally, said Richard Socarides, a former Clinton White House adviser on gay rights.It will help in the pending court cases to show that more states are adopting same-sex marriage, and it will help in the court of public opinion.The New York bill cleared the Republican-controlled Senate by a 33-29 margin, thanks to crucial support from four GOP senators who joined all but one Democrat in voting yes. The Democratic-led Assembly, which previously approved the bill, passed the Senate's stronger religious exemptions in the measure, and Cuomo swiftly signed it into law.Gay rights activists have been heaping praise on Cuomo for leading the push for the bill, seizing on an issue that many politicians of both parties have skirted. Yet the Senate vote marked the first time a Republican-controlled legislative chamber in any state has supported same-sex marriage, and several prominent Republican donors contributed to the lobbying campaign on behalf of the bill.For those engaged in the marriage debate nationally, recent months have been a political rollercoaster.Bills to legalize same-sex marriage failed in Maryland and Rhode Island despite gay rights activists' high hopes. However, Illinois, Hawaii and Delaware approved civil unions, joining five other states — California, Nevada, New Jersey, Oregon and Washington — that provide gay couples with extensive marriage-like rights.Adding those eight states to the six that allow gay marriage, more than 35 percent of Americans now live in states where gay couples can effectively attain the rights and responsibilities of marriage. Just 11 years ago, no states offered such rights.For now, gay couples cannot get married in 44 states, and 30 of them have taken the extra step of passing constitutional amendments banning gay marriage. Minnesota's Republican-controlled Legislature has placed such an amendment on the 2012 ballot.

Brian Brown, president of the conservative National Organization for Marriage, vowed to seek defeat of the New York Republicans who helped the marriage bill pass. He also predicted victory for the amendment to ban gay marriage next year in Minnesota, and said this would belie the claims that the same-sex marriage campaign would inevitably prevail nationwide.We've won every free, fair vote of the people, Brown said Saturday.Backroom deals in Albany are not an indication of what people in this country think about marriage.Efforts may surface in some states to repeal the existing marriage bans, but the prospect of dismantling all of them on a state-by-state basis is dim. In Mississippi, for example, a ban won support of 86 percent of the voters in 2004.Thus, looking long term, gay marriage advocates see nationwide victory coming in one of two ways — either congressional legislation or a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that would require all states to recognize same-sex marriages.

The way you do that is creating a critical mass of states and a critical mass of public opinion — some combination that will encourage Congress and the Supreme Court, Wolfson said.By winning New York, we add tremendous energy to the national conversation that grows the majority.Shorter term, gay rights activists and their allies in Congress would like to repeal the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act, which denies federal recognition to same-sex marriages. The act is being challenged in several court cases, and Obama ordered his administration in February to stop defending the law on the grounds it is unconstitutional.Democrats in Congress have introduced a bill to repeal the law, while the Republican leadership in the House has pledged to defend it.Obama, when elected, said he supported broadening rights for gay couples but opposed legalizing same-sex marriage. More recently, he has said his position is evolving, and he asked gay activists at a New York City fundraiser Thursday for patience.Nonetheless, frustrations are mounting. Freedom to Marry says more than 112,000 people have signed its Say I Do appeal to the president, and gay marriage supporters have launched an EvolveAlready campaign on Twitter.We hope that, through this public pressure, we'll be able to move the president to understand that he's falling behind the majority of Americans who see marriage equality as a key civil right,said Robin McGehee of the advocacy group GetEqual.Several recent opinion polls — by Gallup and The Associated Press, among others — have shown that a majority of Americans now approve of same-sex marriage, which a decade ago lagged below 40 percent support. Particularly strong backing for gay marriage among young people, who've grown up watching gay friendly films and TV programs, has prompted many analysts across the political spectrum to suggest the trend is irreversible.

Some conservatives, however, say the opinion polls are belied in the voting booth and point to the steady stream of approvals of state-level bans on same-sex marriage.
The opposition has created an illusion of momentum but not a real base of support or track record of victory in the courts,said Brian Raum, senior counsel with the conservative Alliance Defense Fund.Mary Bonauto would disagree.An attorney with Boston-based Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders, she has spent two decades battling for legal recognition of same-sex relationships. She helped win the landmark court rulings that led to civil unions in Vermont in 2000 and same-sex marriage in Massachusetts in 2004.Even in the 1990s, she recalled thinking the cause eventually would prevail nationwide.I could see attitudes change, she said. Eventually we have to have one standard of justice in this country and establish that sexual orientation is not a basis for discrimination.She recalled setbacks just a few years ago in New York — a 2006 Court of Appeals ruling that there was no constitutional right to same-sex marriage in the state, and the decisive defeat of a same-sex marriage bill in the state Senate in 2009.The switch this time tells us there's a lot of momentum pointing toward marriage equality, Bonauto said.Vermont lawyer Beth Robinson, now counsel for Gov. Peter Shumlin, worked with Bonauto in the late 1990s on the case that led to the state's pioneering civil union law. She expects the move toward nationwide same-sex marriage will be bumpy but inexorable.

As people get to know their gay and lesbian neighbors, friends and family, the notion of denying those families equal rights becomes untenable,she said.For New York to go there, on a vote rather that a court order, is huge ... It's a victory not just for New York, but for the whole country.Robinson said Vermont, which legalized same-sex marriage in 2009, offered a lesson to wary Americans in other states.It isn't that the sky isn't falling — it's more positive than that, she said. Vermont is a better place for it. Each of us has the opportunity to be our best selves.Among the New Yorkers who will now get that opportunity are Richard Dorr, 84, and John Mace, 91, who have been partners for 61 years while pursuing successful careers as voice teachers in Manhattan.We thought about getting married in Massachusetts, but it just didn't seem to jibe right, said Dorr.It should be in the state where you live.They plan to seek a marriage license as swiftly as possible but don't envision a lavish ceremony.Just a couple of witnesses and a justice of the peace, Dorr said.When they fell in love, back in 1950, marriage never crossed our mind,he added.It was just that we had to be together. We could not stay away.