Saving a nation

We need a complete regeneration.

Count Stephen Széchenyi
Speech to Hungarian chamber of magnates
April 22, 1840

The story of an obscure, 19^th century Hungarian count who took it upon himself to rebuild his broken nation may illustrate for us exactly what is missing on the part of both contenders in our quadrennial political prizefight:   a spirit of sacrifice.

First, some back-story:

As a young man, uber-wealthy Hungarian nobleman Istvan Széchenyi came across a prophecy by the German writer Johann Gottfried Herder, written in 1791.  Herder said there would be no such thing as “Hungary” in just 100 years.  The country was too backward, too beset by problems.  In effect, he was saying “you can’t get there from here.”

Széchenyi was struck as though by lightning by this pronouncement.  Which was a bit strange for someone who had spent a lot of time away from home, first in the military and then traveling.  As a result, even his magyar language skills were just so-so, yet something stirred within him:  patriotism.   Soon enough, he determined to set about with his whole being, his intellect, imagination and capital, to make the dire and somewhat cynical prophecy not so.

Today, more than 200 years later, and half a world away, America seems nearly as pressed on all sides as Hungary was back in the 18^th century.  We may not face imminent demise, but the problems we face are daunting.  And we are not on a path to solve them.

Consider just these:

Finance.  Since it is constantly growing, our staggering debt – federal, state, individual – has made real the threat of financial collapse.  No, not this week, or next, perhaps, as so many are fond of pointing out, but down the road the probabilities increase.  That should still matter, but to so many, it doesn’t, possibly because it would require sacrifice.   There’s that word again.  Anathema to Washington.  The Obama administration doesn’t’ “sacrifice,” it borrows.  It has increased the national debt more in four years than in the eight years of the Bush administration, and that is really saying something.  As recently as 2000, the national debt stood at $5 trillion; by 2008, $9 trillion, now it is nearly $16 trillion.  “Unsustainable” is the word we often hear applied to this thriving malignancy, but even the most financially sober national political candidate – Paul Ryan -- only proposes cutting the rate of growth of the deficit near term versus the actual deficit.  

Széchenyi would not have gone along with this.   He knew sound money was the foundation for prosperity.  To promulgate his views, he wrote on credit and other issues of political economy in three books (Credit, World, Stadium).  He wanted a strong and solvent nation.  He called on his fellow aristocrats to follow his lead for the good of the nation; it was a hard sell then, he was regarded as a traitor to his class, but he did it.

One cannot discuss our financial situation without considering our military policy, and energy policy.  Of the former, with 900 to 1,100 military bases around the world (no one knows for sure), too many; on the latter, we have none.   Széchenyi was very much opposed to war, by the way.  He knew its death and destruction first hand, something none of the current four candidates do.  None have served in the military.

Economy. Let’s say the USA was solvent, and the world, at peace everywhere.  Still we have economic competition vis-à-vis China, Brazil, India, Russia, and a host of emerging nations.  Széchenyi was concerned with production, he wrote on agriculture, the biggest industry of the day, and promoted new methods to increase production.  He engineered a bridge spanning the Danube, linking Buda and Pest, to stimulate trade, earning the nickname, “Bridgeman.”  The famous Széchenyi Bridge still stands.  Széchenyi was first to navigate the Danube to the sea, again to set the stage for more trade, a stronger Hungary. Széchenyi had a vision; our incumbent president does not even seem to know who creates a business.

Education.  American schoolchildren have fallen far behind their overseas counterparts.  Some third world nations have higher literacy rates than the U.S.   Széchenyi knew the future belonged to the educated.  Not waiting for government action, he founded Hungary’s National Academy of Sciences with funds from his own pocket.    What is the U.S. plan?  Very far down the list, unfortunately.

Health.  None of the above matters if you aren’t alive.  The obesity epidemic is a modern-day equivalent of the bubonic plague.  It is everywhere.  So, too, is heart disease, stroke, diabetes, cancer, arthritis.  Some of this is genetic, but some of it is environmental, brought on by consumption of excess calories`.  Factor in alcoholism, drug abuse and all the rest.  America is facing a health crisis, which precipitates a financial crisis to pay for it.   So very little of our discussion goes into prevention of disease, so much of the popular imagination goes into figuring out how to pay for new diseases instead of preventing them, as best as one can.

What drove The Count?  A complex man, motivated by many things, one of these was faith, Christianity.  A Roman Catholic, Széchenyi went to confession and received communion all his life.  Before undertaking an overseas trip with his Protestant friend, Wesselényi, Széchenyi warned him it was his custom to pray on his knees each night.  But it didn’t end there, his faith required action, as he put it, to join the battle of good and evil as an “active citizen.”   Which would mean addressing – straight-on – the aforementioned issues that beset us all.   Many in the faith community are not even aware of the financial crisis, let alone demanding our feckless legislators make necessary cuts, raise revenues, balance the scales, to invoke a Biblical image.  Faith for many is compartmentalized.  For Széchenyi, life was all of one cloth.

Sacrifice, then, to achieve necessary goals was second nature to him.  It couldn’t be so easily put in a box and forgotten.

Our times cry out for a Széchenyi , a leader with the moral caliber to own up to the problems at hand, face them squarely, not flinch and then to call for the requisite sacrifices, the regeneration, the imagination to develop solutions, the vision to see a better day, and the energy to make it all happen.

And with the moral courage to call for sacrifice, on the part of all, not just some.  That’s the missing and catalytic dimension so far in the race of 2012.  The concept of “nation,” of “all” versus the concept of “me.”  Instead we have a class consciousness, an ‘us versus them’ mentality, red vs. blue, left vs. right, versus a problem-solving mentality.  The talk radio hosts who should know better fan the flames, better to earn personal profits.  Again, the “me.”  The Count put his personal gain last, the betterment of his country first. 

Széchenyi the iconoclastic aristocrat, was anything but a narrow partisan, he was a problem solver.

Instead of a ‘kick the can down the road’ mentality, Széchenyi manifested a sense of urgency.

For the Count, the clock was ticking, and it was not for the next generation to tackle the problems at hand, it was for him.  Széchenyi took responsibility.  After a lifetime of creativity and hard work, Széchenyi was successful enough to earn the appellation “the greatest Hungarian” from another individual who could himself qualify for the honor (Lajos Kossuth, his political rival, and leader of the 1848 rebellion).

Right now we need another “greatest,” leading an entire nation not just one party.  With real programs not slogans about “change.”  With the spirit of Széchenyi-type sacrifice, and new fiscal soberness, and new urgency, our nation could attack and overcome all its problems.  We could achieve a complete regeneration.  We need nothing less.  Széchenyi shows us, 200 years later, it can be done.

John A. Sarkett is author of Extraordinary Comebacks: 201 Inspiring Stories of Courage, Triumph, and Success and has re-published Stephen Széchenyi And The Awakening Of Hungarian Nationalism, 1791-1841, by Dr. Geo. Barany, originally from Princeton University Press.  More at sarkett.com.  For this and any other blog post, he solicits your comments.

Ex-Bear Chris Zorich agrees to pay back charity funds that remain unaccounted for - chicagotribune.com

An extraordinary comedown -- the flip side of an "extraordinary comeback"

Former Chicago Bear Chris Zorich, who was named a Pro Bowl alternate in 1993, retired from the NFL in 1997. He went on to receive a law degree from Notre Dame, never passed the bar and worked for a few years in the school's athletic department. He is currently unemployed, Lydon said.

The full story:

Ex-Bear Chris Zorich agrees to pay back charity funds that remain unaccounted for - chicagotribune.com

No yolk: eating the whole egg as dangerous as smoking? - chicagotribune.com

No yolk: eating the whole egg as dangerous as smoking? - chicagotribune.com

Isaac Stern's initial NY reviews

In his autobiography, Isaac Stern spoke of the reviews that followed his New York debut: "We were so bitterly disappointed...I was being patted on the head by some of New York's most eminent critics and told that I hadn't yet crossed the 'Great Divide' into the lofty realm of the artist; that my playing was 'erratic'; that I ought to go back to San Francisco, to the 'land of violinistic prodigies, movie yes-men and sunshine,' and practice some more."

Fortunately for us, Mr. Stern used this as fuel to work even harder, the result being that he did indeed enter that "lofty realm of the artist". 

From The Violinist blog



Stern would go on to become on of the violin greats, and in his "spare" time, save Carnegie Hall from the wrecking ball.  How much richer we all are because he didn't quit when his initial reviews were unkind....

Jon Corzine has a deal for you - MarketWatch First Take - MarketWatch

Jon Corzine has a deal for you - MarketWatch First Take - MarketWatch

Absolutely unbelievable ---- but there it is....

EconomicPolicyJournal.com: Paul Ryan Insider Trading Thief

EconomicPolicyJournal.com: Paul Ryan Insider Trading Thief

Again we predict:  Obama wins it.  Race is as "over" as all the ones in London last 2 weeks.......

Fact Check: Ryan budget plan doesn't actually slash the budget | Fox News

Fact Check: Ryan budget plan doesn't actually slash the budget | Fox News

This is not "conservatism."

This will backfire.  Obama is now assured a win.....there will be QE to infinity, until the markets take U.S. down, as they did with Greece.  It will take longer, but the outcome will be the same.  Profligate spending is always punished, sooner or later.

Data Mining in Agriculture

Cows In the Cloud: The Hot Startup Moving Farmers Into The Cloud - Forbes

Finjamos Que Soy FelizLet us pretend that I'm happySor Juana Ines de la Cruz (1648-1695)

Finjamos Que Soy Feliz

Let us pretend that I'm happy,
Sad thought, for a while;
You may actually persuade me
but I know otherwise

(alt.) Feign we that I am happy
Sad thought, a little while,
For, though ‘twere but dissembling,
Would thou couldst me beguile.

In feeling apprehension
They say the trouble lies:
If you’ll only feel you’re happy,
You needn’t be otherwise.

(alt.) Yet since but in our terrors
They say our miseries grow,
If joy we can imagine,
The less will seem our woe.

Let my intelligence serve,
For once, as a source of comfort.
Must wit forever be
The enemy of profit?

(alt.) Must our intelligences
Some time of quiet find
Not always may our genius
With profit rule the mind.

The world is full of opinions
Of what is or is not true;
Whatever is black for one
Will be white in another’s view.

(alt.) The world’s full of opinions,
And these so different quite,
That what to one black seemeth
Another proves is white.

What one man finds attractive
Will make another recoil.
What is relief for one.
Another rejects as toil.

(alt.) To some appears attractive
What many deem a bore:
And that which thee delighted
Thy fellow labors o’er

The man who is sad condemns
The cheerful man as inane.
While the cheerful are greatly amused
When they hear the sad complain.

(alt.) He who is sad condemneth
They gay one’s gleeful tones;
He who is merry jests
Whenever the sad one groans

The two Greek philosophers (Democritus and Heraclitus)
Were always of opposite cheer:
What split the one with laughter
Reduced the other to tears.

(alt.) By two old Greek wiseacres
This truth well proved appears
Since what in one caused laughter,
The other moved to tears.

Renowned has been this contest
For ages, without fruit,
And what one age asserted
Till now is in dispute.

Into two lists divided
The world’s opinions stand,
And as his humor leads him
Follows each one his band.

One says the world is worthy
Only of merriment;
Another, its distresses
Call for our loud lament.

For all opinions various
Some proof or reason’s brought,
And for so much there’s reason
That reason is for naught.

All, all are equal judges,
And all of different view,
And none can make decision
Of what is best or true.

Then since can none determine,
Think you, whose reason strays,
To you God has committed
The judgment of the case?

O why to yourself cruel,
Do you your peace reject?
Between the sweet and bitter,
The bitter you elect?

If its mine my understanding,
Why always must it be
So dull and slow to pleasure,
So keen for injury?

A sharp blade is our learning
Which serves us at both ends:
Death by the point it gives
By the handle, it defends.

And if, aware of peril,
Its point you will demand,
How do you blame the weapon
For the folly of your hand?

Not is true wisdom knowing
Most subtle speech and vain;
Best knowledge is in choosing
That which is safe and sane.

To speculate disaster,
To seek for presages,
Serves to increase affliction,
Anticipate distress.

In the troubles of the future
The anxious mind is lost,
And more than any danger
Does danger’s menace cost

Of him the unschooled wise man
How happy is the chance!
He finds from suffering refuge
In simple ignorance

Not always safe aspire
The wings that genius bears;
Which seek a throne in fire,
And find a grave in tears.

And vicious is the knowledge
That seeking swift its end
Is all the more unwary
Of the woe that does impend.

And if its flight it stops not
In pampered, strange deceits,
Then for the curious searching
The needful it defeats.

If culture’s hand doesn’t prune
The leaves of the tree
Takes from the fruit’s sustainment
The rank, wild greenery.

If all its ballast heavy
Yon light ship not prevents,
Will it help the flight of pionions
From nature’s battlements?

In verdant beauty useless,
What profits the fair field
If the blooming growths of springtime
No autumn fruitage yields?

And of what use is gen;ius
With all its work of might,
If are its toils rewarded
By failure and despite?

And perforce to this misfortune
Must that despair succeed,
Which, if its arrows kills not,
Must make the bosom bleed.

Like to a fire does genius
In thankless matter grow;
The more that it consumes
It boasts the brighter glow.

It is of it own master
So rebellious a slave,
That to offence it turns
The weapons that should save

Such exercise distressful,
Such hard anxiety
To all the sad world’s children
God gave their souls to try

What mad ambition takes us
From self-forgetful state,
If it’s to live so little
We make our knowledge great?

Oh! If we must have knowledge,
I would there were some school
Where to teach not knowing
Life’s woes, should be the rule.

Happy shall be his living
Whose life no rashness mars;
He shall laugh at all the threatenings
Of the magic of the stars!

Learn we the wise unknowing,
Since it so well appears
That what to learning’s added
Is taken from our years.

Making sense of Syria

No one does it better than Hal Lindsey.  So many players, so much at stake in Syria, and the potential for a sudden shock.....read Hal's thoughts, dated today.....

July 27th, 2012

Over the last year, I have watched Syria and occasionally reported on the crisis there. However, it seems that even though much has transpired there -- as many as 19,000 have been killed in the violence -- nothing really changed. The unrest in Syria began in the early days of the "Arab Spring," which erupted in February, 2011. Yet today, 17 months later, Bashar al-Assad's regime is still in control and maintains that control via a military that remains essentially intact.

Now it appears that the Assad dynasty may be nearing its end. Whether Bashar al-Assad is assassinated, hands over power peacefully, or makes his escape a few steps ahead of the pursuing rebel forces, it seems to be just a matter of time before Syria becomes a radically different nation. And that prospect is causing more than a few sleepless nights throughout the neighborhood.

As I look at the Middle East this week, one word springs to mind: "confusion." The civil war in Syria is no ordinary civil war. The nation of Syria is critical to several different players -- all of whom figure prominently in the end-times scenario:

-- The Iranians don't want Assad to fall because they don't want to lose their closest ally and proxy or access to Lebanon and the Mediterranean.

-- Both Turkey and Saudi Arabia want Assad to go because they want to see Iran's influence in the region diminished.

-- Russia doesn't want to lose a major arms client, access to its warm-water naval base at Tartus, or see Turkey's regional influence strengthened.

-- Egypt's new Muslim Brotherhood leadership wants to see him gone so their compadres, the Syrian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood, can get a shot at the power.

-- Lebanon's Hezbollah doesn't want to lose its weapons pipeline from Iran.

-- And, paradoxically, Israel and Jordan aren't too excited about Assad's impending departure, either, because they know how to deal with him. But who's to say the nature of the Muslim nation that will replace him? (Egypt is a perfect example of this dilemma.)

But these competing agendas are not the only elements that complicate the crisis. Syria has major stockpiles of biological and chemical weapons -- many of which they received from Saddam Hussein shortly before the Coalition invasion of Iraq. They also have the missiles to deliver the bio/chem warheads.

The Syrian government has threatened to use these weapons of mass destruction if they are attacked by foreign forces. A Foreign Ministry spokesman reiterated this week that Syria reserves the right to use these weapons in the face of "external aggression." And, coincidentally, they will decide the definition of "external aggression!"

Recently, Syrian security forces have been observed moving these bio/chem weapons to various staging areas around the country. Of course, the main fear is that they will use them to suppress the rebellion. But it's not inconceivable that Assad may launch these weapons against Israel to draw other Muslim nations into the fray (and establish his legacy among Muslim leaders).

Of course, Israel has let it be known that any bio/chem attack against Israel will be answered swiftly and decisively. And the Prophet Isaiah's yet-to-be-fulfilled prophecy that Damascus will be destroyed overnight looms large at a critical moment like this.

As if this weren't enough intrigue for one week, the 2012 London Olympics begin today. The International Olympic Committee refuses to observe a moment of silence in memory of the Israeli athletes who died in the Munich Massacre 40 years ago. The London Sunday Times is reporting that Scotland Yard and Britain's intelligence service, MI5, have warned Israel that they've uncovered a potential threat to the Israeli delegation from an Iranian hit squad. And the BBC got into the act by refusing to identify Jerusalem as the capital of Israel on its official Olympics website. Israel is the only nation among the competitors that has a "seat of government," not a "capital." I suppose anti-Semitic bigotry can extend even to the pettiest gestures.

Finally, just to light the candles on the cake, last week Iran's Supreme leader, the Ayatollah Ali Kahmenei delivered a major address to the nation through the state media. In it, he reminded followers worldwide that we are now living in the "end of times." He didn't mince words when he notified the world of his and Iran's intentions. He said, "The issue of Imam Mahdi is of utmost importance, and his reappearance has been clearly stated in our holy religion of Islam.... We must prepare the environment for the coming so that the great leader will come."

If you recall, Imam Mahdi is Islam's messiah figure. He has been dead for centuries, but is predicted to reappear on earth amid an apocalyptic and catastrophic war. He will defeat Islam's enemies and subdue the world for Islam. Many Muslims -- including Ayatollah Khamenei and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad -- believe it is their duty to create the conditions that will usher in the Mahdi. That means they feel it's their responsibility to start an apocalyptic war. And they say so publicly, even from the podium of the United Nations!

Yet western leaders and the media refuse to take them at their word. Instead, they insist that evangelical Christians who believe in the Rapture of the church and the Second Coming of Jesus Christ are the ones who want to start Armageddon so Jesus will return!

Oh, well, that's just the sort of upside-down thinking (and blindness) the Bible prophets predicted for these days -- the "end of times."

Statues of limitation

Statues of limitation 
from the Chicago Tribune

.........Rather than remove the statue (Paterno), it should have been kept intact, and three other statues should have been commissioned. Statues of former President Graham B. Spanier, former Senior Vice President-Finance and Business Gary C. Schultz and Athletic Director Timothy M. Curley.

The four statues could stand silent watch outside the empty football stadium. Passers-by could wonder what kind of men they were, before reading the words carved into stone underneath each one:

Protecting a college football program was more important to him than protecting children from a rapist. 

The idea of statues of disgrace isn't mine. It comes from the Olympic Games, which open this week in England. The idea comes not from the modern games, the games of performance-enhancing drug tests and athletes selling athletic gear and sugared soft drinks and TV ratings, but from the ancient Games.

.................

How's this for irony? Bastion of rectitude U. of Illinois Law Schooll fined

u. of i. law school fined - chicagotribune.com

Why Flying Is No Fun (And May Be More Dangerous) : NPR

Why Flying Is No Fun (And May Be More Dangerous) : NPR

Must reading, listening....

Stories, Old Friends, A Good Time 'Til The End and "A Privilege to Die"

Bishop Ramirez says .... he asked his grandmother, Panchita, "'What have you been doing lately?'

"And she said, 'I've been having a good time.' "

"Wow," Ramirez recalls saying. "What do you do, at 90 years old, to have a good time?

"She says, 'Oh son, I have been going to funerals.' "

Ramirez then asked his grandmother if that meant what it seemed: that she'd been having a good time at funerals.

"'Oh yes," Ramirez recalls his grandmother answering. "Yes, we drink coffee, we tell stories, we meet old friends — it's wonderful. We have a great time.' "

"I said, 'Grandma, how can you have a good time when somebody dies?'

"She looked at me, straight into my eyes. And she was serious, almost scolding me. And she said, 'Son, haven't you learned yet, that it is a privilege to die?'

"In all my years of study, in theology and listening to sermons, I had never quite heard it that way."

Only weeks later, Panchita died.

"She was in the hospital, recovering from a heart attack, but we knew she probably wouldn't make it, at her age," Ramirez says. "And she kept repeating, like a mantra, 'Solo quiero ver a Dios' — I just want to see the face of God.'

Stories, Old Friends, A Good Time 'Til The End | WYPR

The Smartest Man in Europe

The Smartest Man is a Firedancer

“The next step will be for every central bank in the world to keep printing money.  Ultimately this will bring on a higher level of inflation, but I think the world is ready to accept that.  World leaders will agree that growth should be their objective and inflation will be the price they will have to pay for it.  This may result in some instability among currencies.  Before this happens there will have to be more suffering.  Spain and Greece will default.  There won’t be outright financial disaster because by the time the defaults take place the banks will have sold most of the troubled sovereign debt on their balance sheets to the European Central Bank.  France’s deficit will get worse as Hollande implements some of the programs he talked about in his campaign.  Human beings and governments have an unlimited imagination and they will use it to delay the day of reckoning.  In the longer term the crisis may turn out to be a good thing because the pain of what we are about to go through will prevent it from ever happening again."

and

“So what am I doing with my money?  It is hard to hide in stocks.  Even Danone is reporting disappointing earnings; people are so worried they aren’t even buying yogurt.  The French auto companies are in trouble.  I think gold is going much higher.  I am buying energy stocks because I want to own something real.  Preserving capital is my focus now, not making money, but I like IBM and Apple.  Also some Swiss multi-nationals.  If Obama wins in November the market will go down.  A Romney victory will create a rally, but once he gets into office he will find there is not much he can do to make things better.”

Has a major bear market in gold begun? - Mark Hulbert - MarketWatch

Has a major bear market in gold begun? - Mark Hulbert - MarketWatch

In a word, Hulbert says 'no,' but also, do not become a perma-bull, worth reading...

Lukas Rosol hails 'miracle' Wimbledon win over Rafael Nadal - Wimbledon - Sport - Evening Standard

Lukas Rosol hails 'miracle' Wimbledon win over Rafael Nadal - Wimbledon - Sport - Evening Standard

He loses in the first round of the Wimbledon qualifiers each year for the past 5 years, not Wimbledon, the tournament to win a wild card into Wimbledon.

He comes back to defeat legend Rafael Nadal, in 5 sets.  He had never played in the tournament before, he had never been on Centre Court.  He went out to get the "feel" of it before his match.  He was hoping just not to lose 0, 1 and 1, he said.

He had "the eye of the tiger," though, a powerful hunger to win, and an insane self-confidence, and went all out on his shots.  Taken together, it was enough for the no. 100 player to defeat the no. 2 player. 

A stunning comeback to the site of his former defeats. We saw it 'live,' unforgettable.

Sermon to the Fish From Mahler's The Youth's Magic Horn

St. Anthony arrives for his Sermon
and finds the church empty.
He goes to the rivers
to preach to the fishes;

They flick their tails,
which glisten in the sunshine.

The carp with roe
have all come here,
their mouths wide open,
listening attentively.

No sermon ever
pleased the carp so.

Sharp-mouthed pike
that are always fighting,
have come here, swimming hurriedly
to hear this pious one;

No sermon ever
pleased the pike so.

Also, those fantastic creatures
that are always fasting -
the stockfish, I mean -
they also appeared for the sermon;

No sermon ever
pleased the stockfish so.

Good eels and sturgeons,
that banquet so elegantly -
even they took the trouble
to hear the sermon:

No sermon ever
pleased the eels so.

Crabs too, and turtles,
usually such slowpokes,
rise quickly from the bottom,
to hear this voice.

No sermon ever
pleased the crabs so.

Big fish, little fish,
noble fish, common fish,
all lift their heads
like sentient creatures:

At God's behest
they listen to the sermon.

The sermon having ended,
each turns himself around;
the pikes remain thieves,
the eels, great lovers.

The sermon was pleasing,
they all stay the same!

The crabs still walk backwards,
the stockfish stay rotund,
the carps still stuff themselves,
the sermon is forgotten!

The sermon was pleasing,
they all stay the same!

Sermon to the Fish From Mahler's The Youth's Magic Horn

Is there a Suicide Gene? Or 10 or more of them?

Excerpt:

The finding adds support to a 2,000-year-old belief, dating back to Biblical times, that mental illness and self-destructiveness run in families. Epidemiological studies also back up this idea. For example, two countries that top the world's suicide rate list are Hungary and Finland, with 40 suicides per 100,000 people. Although the countries lie 1,600 kilometers apart, their people share a language group and, presumably, genes. The Finno-Ugric people lived together for thousands of years in the Ural Mountains of what is now Russia, then migrated to Finland and Hungary.

The medical literature has documented many genetic links to suicide. One such study, published in the American Journal of Medical Genetics in 1985 examined the rate of suicide among the Amish population in southern Pennsylvania. Genealogical and medical records revealed that four families accounted for 73 percent of all suicides, but represented only 16 percent of the total Amish population. 

Read:


A Suicide Gene

Arianna Huffington: Iraq and Iran: A Partnership Made in America

Interestingly, Bible prophecy talks about a resurgent and wealthy Iraq (Babylon) at the end time.  Here is the forecast from none other than Arianna.....

Arianna Huffington: Iraq and Iran: A Partnership Made in America