Overview
Given the rapid pace of change in the financial markets these past few weeks along with a barrage of information that makes it difficult to distill what information matters most, we have created this key insights overview of the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008. Importantly, please note that the observations that follow are meant to provide a brief overview for executives at our member organizations based upon an initial review of the DRAFT Act. Our interpretation of the Act's implications may change as we review the final version of the act and we review more commentary on it by regulators and policy makers. You should not rely on this information as legal or tax advice.
Eight Things You Should Know Even if You Are Not a Financial Institution
1. Broad Power to Stabilize the Financial Markets. While a large portion of the Act's 110 pages go to oversight, the Treasury Secretary has broad, sweeping power under the Troubled Asset Relief Program ("TARP”)-probably broader than any government minister has had in modern history-to stabilize the US financial markets.
2. Potential Suspension of FAS 157. The Act (Sec. 132) gives the SEC authority to suspend FASB Statement 157 (i.e., the mark-to-market accounting requirement) for any issuers or any class or category of transaction; given the SEC's actions to prohibit short selling and loud complaints in the press about mark-to-market requirements, the SEC is likely (at least a 50% chance) to exercise this authority to some degree.
3. Purchases of Troubled Assets from Retirement Funds. The Act authorizes the Treasury Secretary to purchase Troubled Assets from retirements as defined by clauses (iii), (iv), (v), and (vi) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (excluding non-qualified deferment plans as defined by clause of section 402(c)(8)B) for corporations with retirements funds whose value has been substantially compromised by investments-even indirect-in Troubled Assets, this provision MAY provide an avenue for relief depending on the Treasury Secretary's plan and purchase priorities; at this time, it is unclear how the Act's provisions providing the Treasury with an equity or debt interest in participating financial institutions and limitations on executive compensation would apply in these instances.
4. Not All Financial Institutions May Benefit from the Act. Don't assume that your bank or financial partner is inherently stronger as a result of the TARP program; financial institutions don't have the right to participate; for example, the Treasury Secretary can choose to exclude a financial institution that doesn't have strong prospects for long-term viability; overall, the Treasury Secretary is charged with deploying a scarce (albeit large) set of funds and to take into account the "net present value to the tax payer” of the purchases and guarantees made, which likely means the funds won't be spread peanut butter thin and, most likely, we will see many more financial institutions fail.
5. US National Debt Will Increase Sharply and Potentially Permanently. Despite provisions giving the Treasury warrants, preferred stock, or senior debt obligations in participating financial institutions, nothing in the Act requires TARP to NOT increase the national debt; the deficit will increase dramatically in the short term and the national debt ceiling was raised to $11.315 trillion; the President is required to submit legislation 5 years hence proposing how to recover from financial institutions any shortfall, but there is no guarantee such legislation will pass or that a feasible method of recovery will exist.
6. Frequent Shocks to the Financial System May Persist. The Act creates a number of incentives that favor auctions and open-market transactions for Troubled Assets over direct purchases (e.g., different executive compensation limits for participating institutions, less burdensome reporting and oversight for the Treasury Secretary, and direction in the Act to the Treasury Secretary) and the Treasury will need to issue large amounts of debt to finance TARP; the former transactions periodically and suddenly will create new pricing information that may change substantially (i) the valuation of assets in mark-to-market models and (2) investor assessment of the health of individual institutions, the financial system, and the housing market; the latter Treasury auction may produce substantial swings in interest rates and dollar exchange rates, as well as highly correlated commodity prices (e.g., crude oil prices). Additionally, much like the Federal budget, the program requires continuing acts of Congress (authority under the Act sunsets in December 31, 2009 and may be extended briefly by the Secretary for up to 2 years from the passage of the Act) which may create uncertainty.
7. Early Look at Potential Broad Executive Compensation Changes. The Act provides an early look at how the next administration and Congress may consider reshaping executive compensation more broadly than just financial institutions participating in TARP, especially regarding tax deductibility; limits include:
(1) restrictions on golden parachutes (either prohibition of payment or the ability to create new ones);
(2) limits on incentives that threaten the value of the financial institution; (3) provisions for the recover of compensation based on earnings/gains that later prove materially inaccurate; and (4) tax deductibility limits with the $1 million cap falling to $500k and golden parachutes even more likely to be treated as non-deductible (if it is even possible). Note that the executive compensation limitation draws a line between companies that participate via direct sales of assets and those that participate via open auctions; clearly favoring the latter. The motivation of lawmakers in drawing this distinction is unclear to us at this time (beyond a bias toward using market mechanisms for the purchase of assets).
8. Criminal Enforcement like the Post-Enron Period. The Act tightens up fraud provisions around use of FDIC protection claims and directs key players to co-operate fully with the FBI in investigations related to the financial crisis. Executives should expect far reaching investigation (if not charges) that extend not just to financial institutions, but also to their advisors, customers, and partners who helped create mortgaged-back securities (e.g., accounting firms, law firms) or transacted in them (e.g., pension funds, corporate treasuries).
Other Things You May Want to Know About the Act
What TARP Encompasses
* Section 101 of the Act empowers the Treasury Secretary to purchase Troubled Assets (basically any residential or commercial mortgage-related assets) held by financial institutions originated on or before March 14, 2008, or others as determined the Secretary after consultation with the Fed Chairman.
* Instead of purchasing those assets, Section 102 allows the Treasury Secretary to issues guarantees for the interest and principal of Troubled Assets (not to exceed 100%) held by financial institutions in return for a premium paid by those institutions; the premiums must at a "level necessary to create reserves sufficient to meet anticipated claims, based on an actuarial analysis, and to ensure that taxpayers are fully protected”; the premiums are managed in the Troubled Assets Insurance Financing Fund.
* The Treasury Secretary has authority immediately to tap up to $250 billion, which the President can increase to $350 billion; the Treasury Secretary can increase that authorization up to $750 billion upon sending a notice and plan to Congress, so long as Congress doesn't disapprove of the plan through a joint resolution within 15 days of receiving the plan.
* The Act encourages the Treasury Secretary to place special emphasis on supporting institutions that lend to lower-income borrows as well as small financial institutions that were well capitalized prior to the government placing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac into conservatorship.
* The Treasury Secretary has broad power to manage the purchased Troubled Assets, including sell them and create securities based on them.
* Note also that there are a number of provisions throughout the act designed to assist financial institutions negatively affected when the government placed Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac into conservatorship (e.g., treatment of gains/losses of preferred stock in those institutions as ordinary income) and to prevent incidental penalties to companies like J.P. Morgan Chase who purchased financial institutions and assets as part of broader efforts to shore up the financial markets.
Efforts to Reduce Foreclosures
* The Treasury Secretary must create a plan designed to reduce the number of foreclosures; to that end, the Secretary can change the terms of residential mortgages in purchased Troubled Assets.
* Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac must issue plans designed to encourage lenders to participate in the HOPE program (the July 2008 law aimed at stemming the US foreclosure rate), although it remains voluntary and its efficacy to date in shoring up the housing market is questionable.
Protection of Taxpayers
* The Act directs the Treasury Secretary to establish policies and otherwise act to prohibit participants in TARP from unjust enrichment, which largely means that the Secretary shouldn't pay more for Troubled Assets than they cost the person from whom they are purchased; there are potentially important exceptions for current owners and conservators of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers, and Washington Mutual.
* The Treasury Secretary takes a warrant in publicly traded companies for non-voting common stock or preferred stock in those companies who sell Troubled Assets under the program; non-publicly traded companies must provide senior debt instruments instead; the Treasury Secretary determines the terms and conditions and will include anti-dilution provisions; the Treasury Secretary can establish de minimis exceptions where the aggregate purchase from the institution is under $100 million.
* Costs of purchased and guaranteed Troubled Assets will be determined in accordance with the Federal Credit Reform Act of 1990 (2 USC 661 et. seq.).
Oversight
* The Act creates an Office of Financial Stability, headed by an Assistant Secretary of the Treasury (Presidential appointment, with Senate confirmation).
* The Treasury Secretary must consult with the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve, the FDIC, the Comptroller of the Currency, the Director of the Office of Thrift Supervision, and the Secretary of Housing & Urban Development; note, though, that consultation typically doesn't have a lot of teeth.
* The Act also creates a Financial Stability Oversight Board consisting of the Fed Chairman, the Treasury Secretary, the Director of the Federal Home Finance Agency, the SEC Chairman, and the Secretary of Housing & Urban Development; the Chair of the Board is selected by its members, but it can't be the Treasury Secretary; it meets monthly and has the power to create a Credit Review Committee to evaluate the Treasury Secretary's exercise of purchase authority.
* The Comptroller General has oversight of TARP, basically to evaluate the efficacy of the program and its implementation as well as to monitor controls; it can only report and recommend changes; the Comptroller General also is charged with creating a big "what happened, who is responsible, and what should we do about it” report by June 1, 2009.
* The Act creates a Special Inspector General also to oversee TARP.
* The Act also creates a Congressional Oversight Panel.
Thursday, October 02, 2008
Tuesday, September 09, 2008
Thursday, July 10, 2008
BRING BACK BIHAR - MOMENT OF AWAKENING, THE FILM IS READY TO BE RELEASED THIS MONTH.
THIS FILM WILL SHAKE YOU UP.
THE FILM DEALS WITH VIOLENCE RELATED TO MIGRATION OF LABOURS FROM UP AND BIHAR TO PROBLEMS AND PROMISES OF BIHAR.
IT IS A POSITIVE FILM AND WILL SHOW THE REAL VIBRANT BIHAR WITH ITS GOLDEN PAST. IT WILL MAKE YOU THINK ATLEAST ONCE FOR YOUR BIHAR.
THE FILM DEALS WITH VIOLENCE RELATED TO MIGRATION OF LABOURS FROM UP AND BIHAR TO PROBLEMS AND PROMISES OF BIHAR.
IT IS A POSITIVE FILM AND WILL SHOW THE REAL VIBRANT BIHAR WITH ITS GOLDEN PAST. IT WILL MAKE YOU THINK ATLEAST ONCE FOR YOUR BIHAR.
How to check Inflation-Nice Logic - It May Work !!
A man eats two eggs each morning for breakfast. When he goes to the Kirana store he pays Rs. 12 a dozen. Since a dozen eggs won't last a week he normally buys two dozens at a time. One day while buying eggs he notices that the price has risen to Rs. 16. The next time he buys groceries, eggs are Rs. 22 a dozen.
When asked to explain the price of eggs the store owner says, "The price has gone up and I have to raise my price accordingly". This store buys 100 dozen eggs a day. He checked around for a better price and all the distributors have raised their prices. The distributors have begun to buy from the huge egg farms. The small egg farms have been driven out of business. The huge egg farms sell 100,000 dozen eggs a day to distributors. With no competition, they can set the price as they see fit. The distributors then have to raise their prices to the grocery stores. And on and on and on.
As the man kept buying eggs the price kept going up. He saw the big egg trucks delivering 100 dozen eggs each day. Nothing changed there. He checked out the huge egg farms and found they were selling 100,000 dozen eggs to the distributors daily. Nothing had changed but the price of eggs.
Then week before Diwali the price of eggs shot up to Rs. 40 a dozen. Again he asked the grocery owner why and was told, "Cakes and baking for the holiday". The huge egg farmers know there will be a lot of baking going on and more eggs will be used. Hence, the price of eggs goes up. Expect the same thing at Christmas and other times when family cooking, baking, etc. happen.
This pattern continues until the price of eggs is Rs. 60 a dozen. The man says, " There must be something we can do about the price of eggs".
He starts talking to all the people in his town and they decide to stop buying eggs. This didn't work because everyone needed eggs.
Finally, the man suggested only buying what you need. He ate 2 eggs a day. On the way home from work he would stop at the grocery and buy two eggs. Everyone in town started buying 2 or 3 eggs a day.
The grocery store owner began complaining that he had too many eggs in his cooler. He told the distributor that he didn't need any eggs.
Maybe wouldn't need any all week.
The distributor had eggs piling up at his warehouse. He told the huge egg farms that he didn't have any room for eggs would not need any for at least two weeks.
At the egg farm, the chickens just kept on laying eggs. To relieve the pressure, the huge egg farm told the distributor that they could buy the eggs at a lower price.
The distributor said, " I don't have the room for the %$&^*&% eggs even if they were free". The distributor told the grocery store owner that he would lower the price of the eggs if the store would start buying
again.
The grocery store owner said, "I don't have room for more eggs. The customers are only buying 2 or 3 eggs at a time. Now if you were to drop the price of eggs back down to the original price, the customers
would start buying by the dozen again".
The distributors sent that proposal to the huge egg farmers but the egg farmers liked the price they were getting for their eggs but, those chickens just kept on laying. Finally, the egg farmers lowered the
price of their eggs. But only a few paisa.
The customers still bought 2 or 3 eggs at a time. They said, "when the price of eggs gets down to where it was before, we will start buying by the dozen."
Slowly the price of eggs started dropping. The distributors had to slash their prices to make room for the eggs coming from the egg farmers.
The egg farmers cut their prices because the distributors wouldn't buy at a higher price than they were selling eggs for. Anyway, they had full warehouses and wouldn't need eggs for quite a while.
And those chickens kept on laying.
Eventually, the egg farmers cut their prices because they were throwing away eggs they couldn't sell.
The distributors started buying again because the eggs were priced to where the stores could afford to sell them at the lower price.
And the customers starting buying by the dozen again.
Now, transpose this analogy to the gasoline industry.
What if everyone only bought Rs 200.00 worth of Petrol each time they pulled to the pump? The dealer's tanks would stay semi full all the time. The dealers wouldn't have room for the gas coming from the huge tanks. The tank farms wouldn't have room for the petrol coming from the refining plants. And the refining plants wouldn't have room for the oil being off loaded from the huge tankers coming from the oil fiends.
Just Rs 200.00 each time you buy gas. Don't fill up the tank of your car. You may have to stop for gas twice a week, but the price should come down.
Think about it.
Also, don't buy anything else at the fuel station; don't give them any more of your hard earned money than what you spend on gas, until the prices come down..."
...just think of this concept for a while.
When asked to explain the price of eggs the store owner says, "The price has gone up and I have to raise my price accordingly". This store buys 100 dozen eggs a day. He checked around for a better price and all the distributors have raised their prices. The distributors have begun to buy from the huge egg farms. The small egg farms have been driven out of business. The huge egg farms sell 100,000 dozen eggs a day to distributors. With no competition, they can set the price as they see fit. The distributors then have to raise their prices to the grocery stores. And on and on and on.
As the man kept buying eggs the price kept going up. He saw the big egg trucks delivering 100 dozen eggs each day. Nothing changed there. He checked out the huge egg farms and found they were selling 100,000 dozen eggs to the distributors daily. Nothing had changed but the price of eggs.
Then week before Diwali the price of eggs shot up to Rs. 40 a dozen. Again he asked the grocery owner why and was told, "Cakes and baking for the holiday". The huge egg farmers know there will be a lot of baking going on and more eggs will be used. Hence, the price of eggs goes up. Expect the same thing at Christmas and other times when family cooking, baking, etc. happen.
This pattern continues until the price of eggs is Rs. 60 a dozen. The man says, " There must be something we can do about the price of eggs".
He starts talking to all the people in his town and they decide to stop buying eggs. This didn't work because everyone needed eggs.
Finally, the man suggested only buying what you need. He ate 2 eggs a day. On the way home from work he would stop at the grocery and buy two eggs. Everyone in town started buying 2 or 3 eggs a day.
The grocery store owner began complaining that he had too many eggs in his cooler. He told the distributor that he didn't need any eggs.
Maybe wouldn't need any all week.
The distributor had eggs piling up at his warehouse. He told the huge egg farms that he didn't have any room for eggs would not need any for at least two weeks.
At the egg farm, the chickens just kept on laying eggs. To relieve the pressure, the huge egg farm told the distributor that they could buy the eggs at a lower price.
The distributor said, " I don't have the room for the %$&^*&% eggs even if they were free". The distributor told the grocery store owner that he would lower the price of the eggs if the store would start buying
again.
The grocery store owner said, "I don't have room for more eggs. The customers are only buying 2 or 3 eggs at a time. Now if you were to drop the price of eggs back down to the original price, the customers
would start buying by the dozen again".
The distributors sent that proposal to the huge egg farmers but the egg farmers liked the price they were getting for their eggs but, those chickens just kept on laying. Finally, the egg farmers lowered the
price of their eggs. But only a few paisa.
The customers still bought 2 or 3 eggs at a time. They said, "when the price of eggs gets down to where it was before, we will start buying by the dozen."
Slowly the price of eggs started dropping. The distributors had to slash their prices to make room for the eggs coming from the egg farmers.
The egg farmers cut their prices because the distributors wouldn't buy at a higher price than they were selling eggs for. Anyway, they had full warehouses and wouldn't need eggs for quite a while.
And those chickens kept on laying.
Eventually, the egg farmers cut their prices because they were throwing away eggs they couldn't sell.
The distributors started buying again because the eggs were priced to where the stores could afford to sell them at the lower price.
And the customers starting buying by the dozen again.
Now, transpose this analogy to the gasoline industry.
What if everyone only bought Rs 200.00 worth of Petrol each time they pulled to the pump? The dealer's tanks would stay semi full all the time. The dealers wouldn't have room for the gas coming from the huge tanks. The tank farms wouldn't have room for the petrol coming from the refining plants. And the refining plants wouldn't have room for the oil being off loaded from the huge tankers coming from the oil fiends.
Just Rs 200.00 each time you buy gas. Don't fill up the tank of your car. You may have to stop for gas twice a week, but the price should come down.
Think about it.
Also, don't buy anything else at the fuel station; don't give them any more of your hard earned money than what you spend on gas, until the prices come down..."
...just think of this concept for a while.
One Year of ArcelorMittal: Post Merger
One year ago, the new brand ArcelorMittal was launched. How has the group’s reputation evolved since? In this episode we take a closer look at how the company’s bold values sustainability, quality and leadership have been reflected in the last 12 months. Find out what happened since the brand launch and learn more about the best asset ArcelorMittal has – its team of 320,000 people, who make the company what it is and bring it forward.
ArcelorMittal Steel in Freedom Tower in NY
The Freedom Tower, designed and inspired by New York in all its facets, is a symbol of the spirit and resilience of New Yorkers and reflects their will to move forward and overcome adversity. In this episode you will get to know the people building this iconic edifice that honours the New Yorkers’ strength. Meet those who make this vision come true!
Sunday, July 06, 2008
Friday, May 16, 2008
Mera Rang De basanti Chola
Mera rang de song from legend of bhagath singh movie. One of my favorite songs which has inspired me since childhood days...when we used to sing this in School function.
Sunday, May 11, 2008
Nalanda to move from ruins to riches
NEW YORK: Why would a mentor group associated with a university that will be founded in the boondocks of Bihar outside a village called Bargaon be meeting in Tokyo, Singapore, and now in New York?
Because the stakeholders come from far and wide, stretching from East Asia to the United States, and the university is no ordinary one. We are talking here of Nalanda, the famous Indian seat of learning and one of the world's first residential universities founded some 1500 years ago that in its heyday boasted of over 10,000 students and 2,000 teachers coming from Korea, Japan, China, Tibet, Indonesia, Persia and Turkey.
Last week, representatives from host nation India and the East Asian countries had their third meeting in New York to decide the nuts and bolts of reviving the original globalist school "aimed at advancing the concept of an Asian community...and rediscovering old relationships."
Chaired by Nobel laureate Amartya Sen, the mentor group decided on six faculties for what will largely be a post-graduate research university. They include a School of Buddhist studies, philosophy, and comparative religion; School of historical studies; School of International Relations and Peace; School of Business Management and Development; School of Languages and Literature; and, School of Ecology and Environmental Studies.
The mentor group also decided to select an eminent academician to be the Inaugural Rector an initial appointment period of five years to oversee the project, which is expected to start rolling in 2009 after the group meets again in New Delhi in August and gives its recommendation to the East Asian Summit in December. By then, countries are expected to write out the checks to revive one of the world's landmark learning centers.
The numbers are still fuzzy, but the founders are looking at an initial endowment of anywhere from $250 million to $ 1 billion, a modest start in an era when Harvard University's endowment stands at $35 billion ( see Indiaspora ).
"The idea is not to have a Harvard replica...and besides, the dollar still goes a long way in India," said Neelam Deo, India's consul-general in New York who hosted the meeting, adding that the aim of reviving the university was "to emphasize the importance of eastern intellectual endeavour and ensure that human aspiration is not be dominated by western imprint."
The oldest extant universities in the world -- in continuous operation -- date back to around 1200 years ago, and they are all outside the United States. The University of Al Karaouine in Fez, Morocco (founded 859 AD), is listed as the world's oldest, continually-operating, degree-granting university, followed by Cairo's Al Azhar University (975 AD).
European universities all came in the next millennium with Bologna (1088), Paris (1150), and Oxford (1167) listed as the oldest. Nalanda preceded all of them, having been founded around 450 AD under the patronage of the Gupta
emperors, although some records date it back to 500 BC around the time of Buddha. It functioned till 1193 when it was sacked by the armies of Bakhtiyar Khilji.
But now, with the economic weight of the world shifting again to the east, countries in the region appear keen to also gain intellectual heft. Although India, China, Japan and Singapore are the prime movers, even Australia and New Zealand are said to be keen to contribute to the Nalanda project.
Jagjit Singh - Haske Bola Karo
Jajit Singh and Chitra live from Royal Albert Hall London.
Amazigly beautiful Gazal / Song.
Amazigly beautiful Gazal / Song.
Saturday, May 10, 2008
Jagjit Singh
A medley of ghazals and geets from a very rare video recording of their concert in Vancouver, Canada, in 1979. A very rare collection.
An awesome masterpiece by the Gazaljit Singh:).....u can't afford to miss it an awesome masterpiece by the Gazaljit Singh:).....u can't afford to miss it,,,
Koi baat Chale (album with Gulzar) release Concert held at Siri Fort New Delhi "Nazar uthao zara tum"
Man me Rm Basale
Aap ko dekh kar dekhta reh gaya
An awesome masterpiece by the Gazaljit Singh:).....u can't afford to miss it an awesome masterpiece by the Gazaljit Singh:).....u can't afford to miss it,,,
Koi baat Chale (album with Gulzar) release Concert held at Siri Fort New Delhi "Nazar uthao zara tum"
Man me Rm Basale
Aap ko dekh kar dekhta reh gaya
Tuesday, May 06, 2008
I am Bihar
I am the history of India, I gave the world its first Republic, I nourished Buddha to enlightenment, I gave world its best ancient university, My son Chanakya was the father of Economics, Mahavir came out of my womb to found Jainism, My son Valmiki wrote Ramayan, the greatest Epic Rishi Shushrut, the father of surgery, lived on my soil My son Vatsayana wrote Kamasutra, the treatise of love , My son Ashoka -- The Great was the greatest ruler of India , I gave birth to Aryabhatt, the great ancient mathematician , I gave Ashoka Chakra that adorns India's national flag , My son Dinkar is the national poet of India , I gave the world its first Yoga University , I gave India its first president , I am the land of festivals , I am brotherhood , I am humility , I am the past , I am the future , I am opportunity , I am revolution , I am culture , I am heritage , I am intellect , I am farmer , I am power , I am literature , I am poetry , I am love , I am heart , I am soul , I am yoga , I am global , I am inspiration , I am freedom , I am force , I am destiny , I am Bihar , ...Come with your dream I will make it a reality
Photos by :Bhaskar,Chandan Singh,Ajit Chouhan and others.
Photos by :Bhaskar,Chandan Singh,Ajit Chouhan and others.
Monday, May 05, 2008
The Hidden Story of Jesus Vs KRISHNA
heologian Dr Robert Beckford investigates amazing parallels to the Christ story in other faiths, some of them predating Christianity by thousands of years. The Hindu god, Krishna, was conceived by a virgin and his birth was attended by angels, wise men and shepherds. Buddha was also the result of a miraculous birth and visited by wise men bearing gifts. Beckford attempts to unravel the mystery of why there are so many versions of the Christ story across the world and asks which is the real one.
Who wrote the Bible
Who Wrote the Bible? Is the Bible the Word of God? Why is the Bible full of Contradictions?
This documentary explores questions at the heart of the great Christian faith in a fair open-minded fashion. It is NOT meant to be inflamatory but informative. The truth one will see is the Bible is NOT what it is thought to be. So what is the Bible? Find out!
Now since we can see Christianity is not what we thought it was, we can try and learn about Islam, a religion that many equate with terrorism. Search and learn about Islam as it is thought even by the most educated people on Earth to be the ultimate way to truth and happiness, in the truest sense of the word.
This documentary explores questions at the heart of the great Christian faith in a fair open-minded fashion. It is NOT meant to be inflamatory but informative. The truth one will see is the Bible is NOT what it is thought to be. So what is the Bible? Find out!
Now since we can see Christianity is not what we thought it was, we can try and learn about Islam, a religion that many equate with terrorism. Search and learn about Islam as it is thought even by the most educated people on Earth to be the ultimate way to truth and happiness, in the truest sense of the word.
PART 1
PART 2
PART 3
PART 4
PART 5
PART 6
PART 7
PART 8
PART 9
PART 10
PART 11
PART 11
PART 12
Decoding the Past - Secrets of the Koran (History Channel) (2006)
The Koran is an ancient tome that has been followed by Muslims for more than a thousand year. This History Channel presentation casts some Western eyes over the book and helps viewers to decipher some of the important passages of the text contained within. The program draws on the wise words of a number of people well versed in the ways of Islam, leading to some fascinating insights on what the Koran means and why it has proved to be so influential.
Here is a series of documentaries made by the HISTORY channel to throw some light on this:
Here is a series of documentaries made by the HISTORY channel to throw some light on this:
PART 1
PART 2
PART 3
PART 4
PART 5
PART 6
PART 7
PART 8
PART 9
PART 10
Sunday, May 04, 2008
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)