Colorado fire destroys hundreds of homes

Massive wildfires raging across Colorado have destroyed hundreds of homes and forced tens of thousands to flee, but better weather Thursday should help crews beat back the blazes.

"There is not a tool we won't use," fire incident commander Rich Harvey told reporters. "Today we will be incredibly aggressive. We have the horsepower in place."

Summer wildfires are common in the mountains of arid Colorado but rarely burst into residential areas, as the Waldo Canyon Fire did earlier this week, forcing the evacuation of 36,000 people from the Colorado Springs area.

The fire, one of several blazing across the front range of the Rocky Mountains, has torched more than 18,500 acres (7,400 hectares) but there have been no reports of deaths or injuries.

In a sign of the scale of the destruction, US President Barack Obama plans to visit the state on Friday and offered his "thoughts and prayers" on Wednesday to the families impacted and those fighting the fires.

Residents were anxiously awaiting word on whether their homes were safe, but officials warned conditions were still too dangerous for a close assessment.

"I've been evacuated since Saturday. I have no clothes -- nothing," Virginia Caldwell said as she cradled her 18-month-old granddaughter at a Red Cross shelter.

She did not know whether her house was one of the 300 reportedly engulfed by the blaze, and her face was creased with worry.

"I'm up until two and three in the morning," she told AFP.

Artist Colin Gingrich, 38, managed to get his watercolors out of his apartment but had to leave his acrylics.

"I'll have to remember how they looked so I can do them over," he said as he waited for news at the shelter. "I don't have a car so I left with my neighbors... But I did get 50 pieces of art out."

Colorado Springs Mayor Steve Bach said he could not yet provide even a estimate of how many homes were lost, telling reporters Thursday morning only that "hundreds of homes have been destroyed."

About 1,200 firefighters have been battling the blaze, helped by the US military and volunteer organizations in the area.

The blaze has also forced the evacuation of the US Air Force Academy where cadets joined fire crews in protecting their barracks and other buildings as the fire swallowed 10 acres of the academy's land.

"This is absolutely the worst wildfire I've ever seen," said Ernst Piercy, the Academy's fire chief.

The wildfire, which began on Saturday, blew out of control Tuesday afternoon when winds changed directions, whipping up flames and causing them to jump fire lines.

It was not immediately clear what sparked the Waldo Canyon Fire -- which has already caused an estimated $3.2 million in damage and threatens more than 20,000 homes -- but Governor John Hickenlooper suggested it may have been human activity.

"There's suspicion out there that we've got some idiot," he told CNN Wednesday.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation said it was helping local law enforcement to determine whether any of the fires were caused by "criminal activity" but has not opened an official investigation.

While the Waldo Canyon fire remains at only five percent containment, winds died down and humidity rose to the point that a "red flag" warning was withdrawn Thursday for the first time since the blaze began.

Record high temperatures, extremely low humidity and wind gusts of up to 60 miles (100 kilometers) an hour have fueled fires across the American West, where an unusually mild and dry winter left widespread tinder-like conditions.

The High Park Fire, a blaze sparked by lightning some 60 miles northwest of Denver -- and described by the Denver Post as Colorado's second-largest in history -- has eaten through 87,284 acres but is now 75 percent contained.

Firefighters are also working to keep the Flagstaff Fire -- estimated at just over 200 acres -- away from the city of Boulder, home to the University of Colorado.

Several other fires are burning in other parts of the state -- famous for winter skiing and adventure sports -- including the Little Sand Fire, which was sparked by lightning on May 13 and has burned through 23,400 acres of land.

The neighboring state of Utah is also combating a major fire, which burned through more than 6,000 acres of grassland in an area south of state capital Salt Lake City.

More than 8,400 people, 578 fire trucks and 79 helicopters have been deployed to tackle wildfires around the United States, the White House said.

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Online Marketing Tips | The Online Sage

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Building Covenant Relationships ? Frank Damazio

What matters most in life is not what ladders we climb, churches we build, or possessions we accumulate. What matters most is relationship, more specifically, our covenant relationships. A covenant relationship is one that you can accept or reject, but you can?t change it. Covenant relationships with God-given friendships are a vital part of every leader?s life.
Covenant relationships take time, commitment, and godly character; they don?t just happen. True covenant relationships begin with a specific decision and continue as certain principles of integrity are respected and continually activated. God is adamant about covenant relationships.
One example from the Bible of a covenant relationship is the one between David and Jonathan. Every believer and leader should understand and glean from four clear principles exemplified in David and Jonathan?s relationship.
1. Covenant relationship begins with a spiritual act of being knit together
Being ?knit? together is like being chained to one another. In nearly every language, friendship is considered to be the union of souls bound together by the band of love. Covenant relationships produce a sameness ? as though one soul were in two bodies. To be knit together, the strands of God-centered belief need to be tied in place. There must be a mutual personal commitment to the relationship that includes a mutual respect, resulting in building the other person and not tearing down.
2. Covenant relationship begins and grows by making and keeping covenant
The purpose of a covenant is to guarantee that the relationship will remain healthy and will last. The covenant itself is a series of words that are spoken to define the nature of the relationship and the principles of commitment to it. When covenant is the foundation for relationships, the possibility of maintaining permanence and stability is greatly enhanced.
3. Covenant relationship begins with a ?generous soul? attitude
The generous soul gives not only what is valuable and suitable to the relationship, but also asks what is honorable. A ?generous soul? attitude causes both people to pour out affirmation, encouragement, and words of greatness. It quickly promotes the other person over self. All relationships grow when the ?generous soul? attitude is present.
4. Covenant relationship grows and stays healthy as we protect the relationship
Every relationship will have its times of testing, stretching, problems, and disruption. Outside pressures can be expected; however, we must handle these pressures wisely and successfully if we are to maintain true covenant relationships. We need to consistently protect the relationship by being faithful at all times with our words, attitudes, and actions.
Your leadership and your life will be much more fulfilling and fruitful when you have covenant relationships.
Like this post? You might also like these:

Gate Church: book / click here

Twelve Leadership Covenants: sermon notes / click here

Relationships: sermon series / click here

Tagged as: leadership, Life, Relationships

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PFT: Hargrove's agent rips NFL bounty evidence

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The question of whether justice is done depends largely on the perspective of the person who is seeking it. ?Rarely, if ever, do both sides of a dispute embrace the outcome crafted by a third party.

In the case of the players suspended for allegedly participating in, funding, and/or establishing the Saints? alleged bounty program, the fact that one of the two parties will also be resolving Monday?s appeals makes it even harder for the other party to be confident that the outcome will resemble anything remotely close to justice.

Saints safety Roman Harper nevertheless remains hopeful that, eventually, justice will be served. ??I know what really went down in our locker room, and I know the things that got hit on us are nowhere near what they?re supposed to be,? Harper told Alex Cassara of the New Orleans Times-Picayune. ??That?s my only comment on it, but I know due justice will eventually happen.?

It likely won?t happen at 345 Park Avenue on Monday, when Commissioner Roger Goodell begins the process of taking a second look at the player suspensions he already has imposed. ?Though it?s possible that he thumbed the scale the first time around in order to appear open-minded and merciful by reducing the suspensions after further review, the four players believe there should be no suspensions, fines, or any other penalties.

Unfortunately, they likely won?t have a full and fair chance to attempt to establish their innocence on Monday.

?I don?t know any part of our government where you can punish somebody and then not say what you?re punishing them for or what you?ve got against them,? Harper said, after being informed of the evidence that the league plans to use. ??I just don?t know anywhere in America where that?s justice.?

The league will call it justice, because for the NFL justice consists of being the ultimate authority on all matters relating directly or indirectly to its business. ?True justice entails a neutral, objective party getting to the truth, especially where as in this case the truth is hotly contested.

As to Saints linebacker Jonathan Vilma, Saints defensive end Will Smith, Packers defensive end Anthony Hargrove, and Browns linebacker Scott Fujita, something they regard to be justice likely will have to come in some other setting. ?In a controversy that entails plenty of questions and ambiguities (and precious few answers from the league), the only thing that appears certain at this point is that the players certainly won?t have a full and fair chance to prove that their version of the events is the correct one on Monday.

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Merkel: Political Union a 'Herculean Task'

Chancellor Angela Merkel rebuffed pressure on Thursday for Germany, Europe's most powerful economy, to underwrite debt or guarantee bank deposits in the euro zone as Spain's soaring borrowing costs raised new alarm.

Spain's 10-year bond yield hit a euro lifetime high above 7 percent - a danger level above which Greece, Ireland and Portugal were driven to seek international rescues - despite last weekend's euro zone agreement to lend Madrid up to 100 billion euros ($125 billion) to recapitalise ailing banks.

Moody's Investor Service slashed Spain's sovereign credit rating by three notches to Baa3, just one level above junk, late on Wednesday, adding to a sense of emergency in financial markets ahead of an election in debt-plagued Greece on Sunday.

Addressing parliament in Berlin, Merkel rejected "miracle solutions" such as issuing joint euro bonds or creating a Europe-wide deposit guarantee scheme, backed by new French President Francois Hollande, Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti and Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy.

Such proposals were "counterproductive" and would violate the German constitution, she said.

Instead, she called for gradual steps towards the "Herculean task" of building a European political union.

"It is our task today to make up for what was not done (when the euro was created in 1999) and to end the vicious circle of ever new debt, of not sticking to the rules," Merkel said.

She warned against overstraining the resources of Europe's biggest economy, saying: "Germany is putting this strength and this power to use for the wellbeing of people, not just in Germany but also to help European unity and the global economy. But we also know Germany's strength is not infinite."

Italy, rapidly coming into the firing line, saw its three-year borrowing costs shoot up to 5.3 percent at auction on Thursday, the highest since December, despite Germany's strong expression of support for Monti's reforms when he visited Berlin on Wednesday.

Surging Spanish and Italian bond yields reflect investors' concern that the 17-nation currency bloc has failed to arrest its 2-1/2-year-old debt crisis and faces potential turmoil after a general election that could put Greece on an unprecedented exit route from the euro area.

GREEKS WARNED

Hollande said in an interview with Greek television that he wanted Athens to stay in the single currency and it was up to Greek voters to decide what they wished.

"But I have to warn them, because I am a friend of Greece, that if the impression is given that Greece wants to distance itself from its commitments and abandon all prospect of recovery, there will be countries in the euro zone which will prefer to finish with the presence of Greece in the euro zone."

He did not name the countries but German, Dutch and Austrian officials have spoken openly of a possible Greek exit.

In the last opinion polls published before a blackout 10 days ago, the leftist SYRIZA party, which rejects the terms of Greece's EU/IMF bailout, was running neck-and-neck with the conservative New Democracy party, raising the possibility of a radical anti-austerity coalition or another deadlock.

However, battered Greek bank stocks rallied by 20 percent on market talk of secret opinion polls showing a government favourable to the bailout agreement was likely to emerge from the election.

"The market sees that a pro-European government which will push ahead with reforms will be formed on Sunday," Panagiotis Kladis, an analyst at NBG Securities told Reuters.

Greeks, who have endured four years of recession and now have 22.6 percent unemployment, have been pulling money out of the banks and stocking up on food ahead of the election, fearing worse turmoil after the vote.

Greece's debt woes have helped push neighbouring Cyprus to the brink of seeing a financial rescue, with officials looking to Europe, Russia and China for the best possible bailout terms.

After weeks of wrangling Germany's centre-right governing parties and the centre-left opposition agreed on Thursday on a deal for parliament to ratify a treaty creating a permanent euro zone rescue fund in the last week in June, a coalition source said.

German Social Democratic opposition leaders, whose votes Merkel needed for the required two-thirds majority, had held off until after they met Hollande in Paris on Wednesday, emerging to say they agreed broadly on the need for measures to revive growth in Europe and tax financial transactions.

SPD chairman Sigmar Gabriel said Hollande understood that euro zone bonds could only come about after much deeper European economic and fiscal union had been created.

"We, however, at this point deem the introduction of a debt redemption (fund)... as the appropriate instrument and our French partners showed a lot of interest in this model," he told reporters in Paris.

The German government's council of economic advisers has proposed a scheme for euro zone members' debts above 60 percent of GDP to be pooled and paid down over 20 years by issuing joint bonds. Merkel has rejected that idea too.

U.S. PRESSES

Merkel acknowledged that the euro zone crisis, and Germany's role, would be at the centre of attention at next week's summit of the G20 major world economies in Los Cabos, Mexico.

The leaders gather on Monday, a day after the Greek election.

U.S. President Barack Obama, whose re-election prospects in November could be dented by the euro crisis, telephoned European Council President Herman Van Rompuy on Wednesday to inquire how Europe planned to cope with the outcome of the Greek vote.

"There is a lot of concern in America about the outcome of the Greek elections and how Europe will deal with the results," a European official familiar with the talks told Reuters.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said the world would be looking to Germany and other EU countries to provide clarity on plans for a euro zone banking union, a financial firewall and how Europe can revive economic growth.

But he said it would be unfair to see Germany as the sole source of the problem in the euro zone.

"Germany is saying make monetary union work. We are prepared to be behind this broader endeavour, you need to be in support of reforms," Geithner told the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington, adding that other countries needed to move toward Germany's position.

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5/26/2012: CHICAGO SPORTS: Witness ties DNA to Clemens

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Defiant Australian legislator rejects brothel claims

CANBERRA (Reuters) - An Australian member of parliament accused of spending union money on prostitutes said on Monday he had been framed by union rivals and he made no mention of resigning, which would threaten the government's thin majority.

The legislator, Craig Thomson, has been suspended from the ruling Labor Party over the scandal, but he continues to support Prime Minister Julia Gillard's minority government, which clings to a knife-edge one-seat majority.

The scandal has dominated Australian media for the past three years and damaged public support for Gillard's government and the wider trade union movement, which have both distanced themselves from Thomson and his alleged spending.

In his first detailed response to the accusations, Thomson on Monday gave an hour-long speech to a hushed parliament, denying doing anything wrong and saying he had been set up by rivals who wanted to destroy his political career.

"I have consistently and on many occasions made it clear I have done nothing wrong," Thomson told parliament, adding he and his family had been subjected to abuse and death threats over the issue.

Some commentators had believed Thomson might announce his resignation from parliament, forcing a by-election which could then lead to the collapse of Gillard's deeply unpopular government. But Thomson gave no such indication.

Thomson is under police investigation over more than A$400,000 ($400,000) in expenses, including about A$6,000 on prostitutes, allegedly run up while he was a Health Services Union official and before he entered parliament in 2007.

A 1,100-page report by Australia's workplace regulator, tabled in parliament, found Thomson stayed at top hotels, withdrew more than A$100,000 in cash from his union credit cards over five years, and spent up to A$1,500 a night at top restaurants.

His credit card tabs also show almost A$6,000 spent at escort agencies A Touch of Class, Miss Behaving and Young Blondes, while his hotel bills show phone calls to escort services.

"ANGRY RIVALS"

Thomson has not been charged with any offence or faced any civil action.

But the conservative opposition has vigorously pursued details of his spending and has demanded the government no longer accept his vote. It has also suggested Thomson should be suspended from parliament because of the investigations.

Such a move would leave the government relying on the casting vote of the acting speaker to ensure its majority and to pass legislation during debate on its 2012-13 budget.

Opinion polls show Gillard's government support at near record lows and that her government would be defeated if elections were held. The next elections are due in late 2013.

Despite the pressure on him and his family, Thomson remained defiant.

"I have not been the subject of any conviction, nor the subject of any legal proceedings," he said, adding that many members of the pubic already consider him guilty.

He said the allegations of spending union funds on prostitutes stemmed from rival union officials who were angry about his moves to clean up the union's finances.

Thomson said rivals could have used his credit card and driver's license details, which were on the record at the union's headquarters, and hacked his phone to frame him for using prostitutes.

Thomson called on police to obtain brothel surveillance videos to prove he did not visit the establishments named on his credit card bills.

Thomson's union rivals have denied they conspired to frame Thomson over his spending.

Opposition manager of business Christopher Pyne said parliament should suspend Thomson to protect its reputation.

($1 = 1.0138 Australian dollars)

(Editing by Robert Birsel)

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