Saturday, October 1, 2011

Benefits Of Having Regular Automotive Repair | AUTO TIPS and ...

Very few automobile owners actually go through the auto manual which comes with new cars. As time goes by, automotive fixes of your automobile become very important. This is due to the fact that with regular use the different parts of a automobile do not perform like they used to when they were in newer condition. Most US residents, including those living in cities like Tyler and Athens grappling high repair bills just because they did not service their automobile in time.

Getting your automobile serviced each now and then has its benefits. Some of these are:

1. Less chance of high repair bills: If you notice that your automobile tires have become worn out or the automobile fluids are continuously leaking out or you regularly overlook the dashboard warning lights and still you neglect taking the automobile to a mechanic, you might incur heavy repair bills when you finally decide to get your precious automobile repaired. Superior would be to do a regular check up of your automobile to refrain such heavy costs on automotive fixes at one go. It has been noticed that several US citizens, including those residing in cities like Tyler and Henderson have their precious automobiles checked on a regular basis.

2. More dependable vehicle: Nobody would like the intent of getting stranded in the middle of the road. Regular maintenance of your car, like different fluid checks or oil change will ensure that your automobile serves you for a longer life span.

3. Superior re-sell value: A mortal who has his automobile well maintained will have a superior chance of getting a good re-sell value for his automobile when he decides to trade it in. Nobody would like the intent of purchasing a used automobile for which the new owner has to pay a fortune to get it in a superior working condition.

4. Environment friendly vehicle: Timely maintenance of your automobile will ensure that it passes all emission tests. This will establish that your automobile is in perfect running condition. A automobile which does not blow out smoke and does not make any sort of sound while it is running would add to make this planet a lovely place to live in.

If you are looking for an expert in automotive fixes ? Tyler and Marshall are some of the cities in Texas where residents can hire mechanics from Gordy?s Automotive Super Center. Their auto repair services include tune-ups, diagnostic, radiators and so on. For any further clarification about their charges and services visit their website, at automotivesupercenterlongview.com.

Related Automotive Articles

Source: http://www.keywestcocktales.com/benefits-of-having-regular-automotive-repair.html

afi elk elk mol obama speech elizabeth taylor star trek

Contest rewards random acts of travel kindness

A gallbladder stone ... a lost passport ... altitude sickness, diarrhea and dehydration ? those are the sort of experiences that can really ruin a vacation.

But sometimes a stranger, friend or family member comes to the rescue. And it would be nice if they could get a reward.

That?s the idea behind a contest to award a $10,000 vacation to one heroic do-gooder who saved a trip.

Over the summer, travelers sent tales of vacations rescued by random acts of kindness to Travel Guard, a travel insurance company. A panel of travel experts chose ten finalists.

Some examples:

  • A stranger offered cash to a young woman to replace stolen travel documents;
  • Someone arranged an interpreter, amenities and a medical evacuation for a couple with a medical emergency;
  • A couple helped a woman and her baby trapped in a car that flew off the highway, flipped and rolled down an embankment.?

Not all stories involved the kindness of strangers. In some, a friend or family member is the hero.

For instance:

  • A woman on an adventure in Colorado with her best friend ended up in the hospital for five days with a gallbladder stone attack. Sara S. (no full names are posted in the online contest) wrote: ?Laura was a champion of either catching or cleaning up my vomit, measuring and dumping out my urine bonnet, and listening to me whine about the pain until I was well enough for surgery. She had taken a week off from her nursing job to go on vacation and ended up being my own personal nurse.?
  • Another finalist relates how he felt ready to die after coming down with ?some kind of amoebic dysentery? on a Mount Kilimanjaro climb. ?My father, with the help of two porters, carried me and our essential gear down the mountain,? wrote Ryan E., ?stopping only once for a short?five minute water break ... he finally got me to a clinic, and battled his way through Masai warriors with spears to get my medications. He never gave up on me, so I am alive.?

Travel Guard is asking the public to vote on which act of travel kindness should be rewarded with a $10,000 vacation. All ten tales of travel woe are posted here. Voting starts today and runs through October 31.

And because this is a contest about kindness, the traveler who submitted the winning story will receive $2,000 in airfare and one randomly selected voter will receive an iPad2.

More stories you might like:

Find more by Harriet Baskas on StuckatTheAirport.com and follow her on Twitter.

Source: http://overheadbin.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/09/30/8065654-contest-rewards-random-acts-of-travel-kindness

fsu football ted kennedy warren zevon caroline kennedy caroline kennedy day of rage sportscenter

Interior Design services - Business Websites - RSS Directory

Walsh And Sons Paving And Excavating Inc
Walsh And Sons Paving And Excavating Inc We offer 35 years of experience in residential & commercial construction throughout Fairfield County, CT. We specialize in drainage systems, septic systems & sewer and water ...
http://www.fairfieldcountysepticsystems.com/ | Details | Hits: 119
Power Washing Ireland
Power Washing Ireland The Real Dirtbusters is Ireland's leading industrial cleaning company providing builders' initial clean, power washing, window cleaning and carpet cleaning. ...
http://www.dirtbusters.ie | Details | Hits: 95
Display Homes
Display Homes Paulding Homes build quality new houses and custom built homes from their display home range, including house and land packages. Paulding Homes construct new homes throughout ...
http://www.paulding.com.au/visitdisp.htm | Details | Hits: 144
Central Heating Ealing
Central Heating Ealing Call CJ Plumbing on 0845 234 0850 for 24 hour emergency service of boiler repairs and central heating services in Ealing and south east areas. ...
http://www.boilerbreakdownservice.com/central-heating-ealing.htm | Details | Hits: 65
Find a Home Improvement Contractor Remodeling Refe
Find a Home Improvement Contractor Remodeling Refe Contractors Now is the Internet's leading contractor referral service for the home improvement industry. Whether you are remodeling your kitchen, bathroom, floors, or painting your home, ...
http://www.contractorsnow.net | Details | Hits: 116
Employee Motivation
Employee Motivation Useful tips and techniques on how to get your employee to work hard; how to use employee motivation surveys and a simple motivation program. ...
http://employee-motivation-about.info/ | Details | Hits: 97
Wood floor installation London
Wood floor installation London Wood floor fitter London, Wood floor fitting, Wood floor installation based UK - Rent a Fitter, Installation of quality wood floors and wood flooring. ...
http://www.rent-a-fitter.co.uk/ | Details | Hits: 92

Source: http://www.bussinesdirectory.us/link/34217/Interior-Design-services

philadelphia phillies cher verizon wireless alyssa milano tcf schwarzenegger strike

Friday, September 30, 2011

Typhoon moves to Vietnam after hitting China

People brave strong winds and rain on a street as a typhoon hit Haikou in south China's Hainan province, Thursday, Sept. 29, 2011. The powerful typhoon slammed into southern China on Thursday after skirting Hong Kong and bringing death and widespread flooding to the Philippines earlier this week (AP Photo) CHINA OUT

People brave strong winds and rain on a street as a typhoon hit Haikou in south China's Hainan province, Thursday, Sept. 29, 2011. The powerful typhoon slammed into southern China on Thursday after skirting Hong Kong and bringing death and widespread flooding to the Philippines earlier this week (AP Photo) CHINA OUT

A man walks at a pier against a backdrop of Hong Kong's Victoria Habour Thursday, Sept. 29, 2011. Residents of Hong Kong hunkered down Thursday as they rode out a powerful typhoon that brought death and destruction when it tore through the Philippines earlier this week. Hong Kong's stock market suspended trading and shops and businesses shuttered as Typhoon Nesat made its way across the South China Sea from the Philippines, where the storm killed 35 people and that left another 45 missing. (AP Photo/Vincent Yu)

A barge, right, is seen run aground with its moorings slipped off by Typhoon Nesat in Hong Kong Thursday, Sept. 29, 2011. Residents of Hong Kong hunkered down as they rode out a powerful typhoon that brought death and destruction when it tore through the Philippines earlier this week. Hong Kong's stock market suspended trading and shops and businesses shuttered as Typhoon Nesat made its way across the South China Sea from the Philippines, where the storm killed 35 people and that left another 45 missing. (AP Photo/Vincent Yu)

A man braves strong winds and rain on a street as typhoon Nesat hits Haikou in south China's Hainan province, Thursday, Sept. 29, 2011. The powerful typhoon slammed into southern China on Thursday after skirting Hong Kong and bringing death and widespread flooding to the Philippines earlier this week. (AP Photo) CHINA OUT

Motorcyclists hold on to a tree in strong winds as typhoon Nesat hits Haikou in south China's Hainan province, Thursday, Sept. 29, 2011. The powerful typhoon slammed into southern China on Thursday after skirting Hong Kong and bringing death and widespread flooding to the Philippines earlier this week (AP Photo) CHINA OUT

(AP) ? A powerful typhoon that forced hundreds of thousands of people from their homes on an island in southern China appeared to have caused little damage Friday and was sweeping away from the country toward Vietnam.

Typhoon Nesat was expected to make landfall in Vietnam late Friday or early Saturday, after flooding streets on China's Hainan island on Thursday. Hainan authorities had plenty of time to prepare for the storm as it churned across the South China Sea from the Philippines, where it killed at least 43 people and left 30 missing earlier in the week.

Authorities evacuated 300,000 people, canceled flights, closed schools, suspended ferry services and recalled fishing boats as the storm approached, and the preparations appeared to have paid off with little damage reported on the island.

That was also the case in Hong Kong, which wasn't directly hit by the storm but saw wild weather Thursday as the system passed offshore.

In the Philippines, more than 160,000 people were still in evacuation centers Friday, three days after Nesat tore a path across the country's main island and triggered some of the worst flooding in the capital in decades.

Even as the weather improved with some sunshine, more misery hit residents of Bulacan province just north of Manila when three dams released excess water, flooding farmland and sending residents in towns downstream wading through neck-deep waters.

Bulacan Gov. Willy Alvarado said he called dam administrators to temporarily stop the release of water, which he said unleashed flooding on "unprecedented" levels.

Army and police rescuers distributed food and other relief goods to those stranded on rooftops in Calumpit and Hagonoy townships in Bulacan.

Preparations were also under way as a new typhoon headed toward the northern Philippines. It was expected to hit over the weekend.

Overall, damage from Typhoon Nesat was estimated at $91 million in the Philippines. No estimates have been given yet for damage to Hainan.

___

Associated Press writer Teresa Cerojano in Manila, Philippines, contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2011-09-29-AS-Asia-Typhoon/id-60000ac1dcbc4ebeb1686aac227e2c05

stoma stoma money ball bill cunningham vladimir putin vladimir putin rampage jackson

The Church and the Homosexual | One Utah

There?s an old joke ? in the Bible there are 300 verses about straight people and 6 about gay people; it?s not that God doesn?t love gay people, it?s that heterosexuals need more supervision.? I?m borrowing the title of John J. McNeill?s landmark book for this post.

FWIW, this post turned out much more challenging than I expected when I began.?

When I started writing, I had to basic ideas ? first to explore some of what lies behind the often unhinged resistance of so many Christians to glbt rights and issues and second what if anything is the relationship between glbt persons and the Christian church.? It?s impossible to write about the relationship between the church and gay people without acknowledging? that the Christian church, historically and in the present day, has been and is pointlessly, repeatedly and sadistically cruel toward glbt persons.? It has denied their full humanity and it has more often than not been the agent of their oppression, repression and destruction.? To deny this reality is to be willfully blind to the damage the church is fully capable of inflicting upon people in the name of orthodoxy and right morality.?

The church?s cruelty, though not consistent in all times, places, denominations, intensities?or behaviors, has been an ever present reality for gay people for centuries.? To be gay in the Christian world has been to be automatically suspect; at a minimum, sexual minority persons have suffered from a malign neglect.? Sexual minorities have adopted various strategies for survival, the most common of which is the creation of a relatively closed subculture; in the 60s, prior to Stonewall, elaborate cultural and social taboos against homosexuality led to the formation of a subculture dominated by fear, anonymity, furtive sexual contacts and the mob, which usually owned and ran the bars.? To be gay in pre-Stonewall America was to be a regular target of official harassment by law enforcement.? The church, rather than standing on the side of those abused by the power structure, gave that power structure their full and explicit support.? When the church spoke about gay people ? which it didn?t do very often ? it did so in toxic ways.

And yet, despite this reality, glbt persons have refused to leave the church ? almost any church choir worth its salt has got more than a few gay people singing, directing or playing music.? Medieval monasteries and abbeys were home to more than?a few devout queer people, many of whom no doubt had lifelong intimate relationships with one another (with or without active sexuality since the enforcement of the rules was far from uniform).? Today, despite conservative Christians organizing national campaigns against glbt rights, the gay community has refused to turn its back on the church.

GLBT issues divide the church precisely because they occur at the intersection of personal life, Biblical authority, and the social order.? How one reads the Bible is perhaps the central question in Christianity today.? Is the bible an inerrant authority or is it the product of a set of social and historical circumstances which must be understood contextually?? Do we read St. Paul as a final arbiter of church order or do we understand him as a product of his culture, limited by it, but still valuable?? Do we read the Revelation of St. John as a metaphorical and allegorical product of religious vision or is it a literal map to the ?end times??? For a great many American fundamentalists, the latter interpretation shapes their worldview; it?s impossible to hear fundamentalist preachers talk about Israel without realizing they perceive it not as a nation-state but as part of a divine plan for Armageddon and the Second Coming.? If the Bible is an inerrant source of authority, then its rules and regulations must be obeyed without question lest one risk one?s eternal soul going to damnation.? (And yes, I know that even supposed Biblical literalists do not actually take the Bible literally and treat large parts of it as if they no longer apply ? i.e. almost all of the Jewish purity laws are dismissed as not applying to Christians.)

The faithful who so readily ignore huge chunks of Mosaic law insist on applying the Levictical injunction against men laying with me as with women literally ? of course to gay men.? All those other rules don?t count.? It?s as if a great many fundagelical Christians have picked the one sin they are pretty sure they won?t ever commit and decided it is the big one.? It sometimes seems that if conservative Christians took half the energy they spend condemning glbt people and focused it on homelessness, poverty, and other forms charity, they could transform the world tomorrow.

But that ignores one of George Lakoff?s most profound insights from Moral Politics ? conservative objections to gay rights are grounded in the conservative conception of social order as a strict father family.? The strict father family structure envisions a social order in which the authority figure stands atop an obedient hierarchy of men over women, adults over children, and spirit over body.? It is a social order which values self control and which sees giving into temptation as conclusive evidence one lacks control; it sees homosexuality not as a state of being but as nothing more than a physical act.? Gay people have gay sex because they lack the self control to not have it.? A same sex couples also fails to recreate the preferred social order ? by definition a household of two men or two women lacks a primary male authority figure ? a strict father ? who hands out rules and punishment and who is accountable for the household?s obedience.? The film Far From Heaven accurately portrays the meltdown of a strict father household ? as the father fails in his role, the family flies apart (fwiw, Far From Heaven is one of the smarter films I?ve seen in terms of its social commentary and its ability to portray racism, sexism and heterosexism and it is one of the most visually stunning films I?ve seen in years).?

GLBT persons and rights strike at the core of what it means to live in a moral, conservative household.? By arguing and understanding homosexuality as a matter of choice, conservative Christians in essence sidestep the moral, legal and social issues.? If something is a choice, than you can unchoose it and the problem goes away.? By envisioning being gay as an addiction, as nothing more than a behavior, fundamentalists offer a solution to the moral problem ? just stop being addicted and you will start obeying the rules.? When conservative Christians describe being gay as a choice, they are doing so because their moral system has no other means of dealing with it; in a paradoxical way, that position is a kind, even compassionate one.? By almost any standard, there is no way for someone embracing fundamentalist moral theology to make homosexuality morally acceptable; by arguing it is changeable, the fundamentalist Christian offers gay people a means of becoming moral and going to Heaven.

To my mind, the primary failure of this position lies in not questioning or examining the validity of the rule itself.? What is it that makes being gay immoral?? It?s forbidden by the Bible; but for what reason is it forbidden?? Is it actually forbidden?? Did the Biblical authors actually understand sexual orientation as we do today?? All of these questions strike at the core of Biblical authority, raising the very real question that the Bible is fallible and flawed.? If Biblical authority crumbles then entire moral system itself crumbles.?

Both the Catholic and Mormon churches take the official position that being gay isn?t a sin, but acting on your gay feelings is.?

Author John J. McNeill rightly points out that any god who creates gay people and then tells them they must spend their lives ? willingly or not ? celibate is a cruel and sadistic god.? If being gay is not a sin then how is it a sin to fall in love, to have intimate relationships, to have sex??

Perhaps recognizing that they have no good answer to that question, conservative Christians have developed a second line of reasoning ? that sexuality serves the purpose of procreation and nonprocreative sex is immoral and damaging and must therefore be regulated.? John J. McNeill addresses this argument by pointing out that this view of sexuality reduces both our partners and the act of sex to nothing more than object, nothing more than a means to an end.? Arguing that sexuality is primarily for reproduction is starkly reductionist.? But, it also places same sex couples forever outside the moral circle since their sexuality cannot make babies.? Contrary to this view (advocated by many liberal Christians) is the view of sexuality as a means unto itself, a source of joy, union, communion and knowing of persons.? McNeill defines sexuality as a form of play ? something that occurs when one feels safe and free to express one?s self fully, something which serves no end beyond itself.

Conservative Christians have recently expanded their arguments against glbt rights to include claims that expanding civil rights protections and enacting marriage equality constitute an infringement on religious freedom.? These arguments place opposition to glbt rights at the center point of Christian doctrine; IOW, you can?t be Christian unless you are anti-gay.? Suffice to say that?s hardly a traditional or orthodox position of Christianity.

All of which would suggest that glbt folk would be better off walking away from the Christian church.? Even the more liberal and tolerant denominations have generally failed to effectively advocate for the rights of glbt persons.? Justin Lee, director of the Gay Christian Network, observed:

As I turned to my church and the Christians I respected most to get their support, things only got worse. Christian groups kicked me out or turned their backs on me when they learned that I was gay, even though I told them that I didn?t want to be and that I hadn?t even acted on my feelings! I learned that that one magic word, ?gay,? had the power to make Christians turn unkind and uncompassionate without even realizing they were doing it.

?By almost any measure, the Christian church is a hostile environment for glbt persons.? Which brings me to a difficult question: What place exists within Christianity for openly gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender persons?? Lee reported the same interview that some members of the GCN have chosen to remain celibate in view of scripture.? Such a position baffles me ? I tend to hold the view that celibacy can be valuable at times in almost any life but it is not good to force it on people who are not truly called to it.? I don?t believe for even a moment that anything in the Bible requires us to give up intimate relationships on the basis of a thousands of years old injunction given by a?dubious and probably mythical deity.

Should glbt persons even want a place within the Christian church?? Can the church be redeemed of its centuries of malignant hatred??

I hope someone knows, cause I got nothing.

Source: http://oneutah.org/this-blog/the-church-and-the-homosexual/

dart progeria watch free movies online watch free movies online montreal canadiens montreal canadiens jason aldean

Home Health And Fitness ? How To Choose The Best Home Gym ...

If you?re a sensible shopper, there are a variety of factors you wish to think about before you purchase that fitness machine. It is not that simple as you think however with some assistance, you will be able to find the home fitness equipment to suit the needs you have.

Determine Your Main Goal

The whole process of selecting what sort of training equipment suits you and exactly how much do you need to invest in it depends on what aims you want to accomplish along with your current fitness level. So before purchasing one or limiting you to ultimately which treadmill machine or Elliptical Trainer suits you, ask, ?What do I want to achieve?? Do you wish to increase your aerobic health? Do you wish to develop strength? Do you want to enhance your energy? Such concerns, when answered immediately would cause you to identifying what sort of machines do you really need.

Set Your Financial Budget

The other, most significant thing you should determine is just how much you?re ready to invest in a certain version of fitness equipment. Various kinds of training equipment have different costs. An excellent treadmill machine costs from $1500 to $3500. An elliptical machine amounts from $200 to $5000. A exercise bike like the Schwinn 240 amounts between $500 and $1000. The old proverb, ?you get what you pay for? still applies here so just remember to balance between affordability, capabilities and usability.

Please note:
Not because you can use your credit card to acquire a thousand dollar elliptical machine or maybe a $3000 home treadmill means that you really can afford it. Examine your budget and know precisely how much you can invest in a specific buy. Should you be on a budget, you may want to think about the Schwinn Airdyne as it combines both advantages of the elliptical machine as well as the regular exercise bike.

Space Limitations

Other than your goals and spending budget, the 2 other essential things to remember when acquiring training equipment are: to test the equipment and also to measure the measurements of the equipment. While the former is sort of automatic, the latter is commonly ignored, mainly because while you?re at a shop, it really is difficult to know if the equipment will truly fit in to your available space. So take into account the space required for your machine. (This is applicable whether you have a home exercise space, whole room or perhaps a tiny space in the living room.)

Look Around

A shrewd consumer does not settle in 1 retail outlet. Pay a visit to at least 2 shops to compare prices of the same equipment. Additionally, it pays to do the research on the internet so you are armed with the proper information about a particular system you might be eyeing at. Browse product reviews whenever it can be available.

Don?t Be Deceived

People will do everything to make a sale. If you see T . v . advertisements saying that you?ll be able to lose several inches off your waist or lose several pounds following a week, don?t fall prey. Yes, they sound too good to be real, and they are. Quick fix products with ?before? and ?after? customer feedback can be too attractive but don?t forget this: bodies never change radically following a number of sessions. If it will, everyone who would like to have a 6 pack abs or who wants to lose pounds upon pounds of weight should be contented right now.

Think About All The Cost

Transportation, shipping, installation along with extra expenses can accumulate easily. So before buying one, ensure that you be aware all these charges so that you will be prepared for the exact amount you need to shell out.

Source: http://www.philagaylesbiantheatrefest.org/home-health-and-fitness-how-to-choose-the-best-home-gym-equipment/

jennifer hudson greyson chance bob dylan hatteras island plantar fasciitis cmp region

Thursday, September 29, 2011

Merkel says Greek bailout terms may be changed

Protesting taxi drivers stand in front of a protest banner placed at the transport ministry during a demonstration in Athens, Wednesday, Sept. 28, 2011. About 2000 striking taxi drivers gathered in front of transport ministry to protest against government plans to open up their licensed profession to more competition. (AP Photo/Kostas Tsironis)

Protesting taxi drivers stand in front of a protest banner placed at the transport ministry during a demonstration in Athens, Wednesday, Sept. 28, 2011. About 2000 striking taxi drivers gathered in front of transport ministry to protest against government plans to open up their licensed profession to more competition. (AP Photo/Kostas Tsironis)

Protesting taxi driver gesture towards the transport ministry building during a protest in Athens on Wednesday, Sept 28, 2011. About 2000 striking taxi drivers gathered to protest against government plans to open up their licensed profession to more competition.(AP Photo/Kostas Tsironis)

A protesting taxi driver carries a Greek national flag in front of the transport ministry during a protest in Athens on Wednesday, Sept 28, 2011. About 2000 striking taxi drivers gathered to protest against government plans to open up their licensed profession to more competition.(AP Photo/Kostas Tsironis)

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, left, and the Prime Minister of Greece, Georgios Papandreou, right, shake hands prior to a dinner at the chancellery in Berlin, Germany, Tuesday, Sept. 27, 2011. (AP Photo/Oliver Lang/dapd)

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, right, and the Prime Minister of Greece, Georgios Papandreou, left, adress the media prior to a dinner at the chancellery in Berlin, Germany, Tuesday, Sept. 27, 2011. (AP Photo/Michael Sohn)

(AP) ? German Chancellor Angela Merkel hinted that the second Greek bailout package might have to be renegotiated amid increasing market speculation Wednesday that European leaders want to force private holders of Greek bonds to take bigger losses.

Merkel didn't rule out altering the terms to the euro109 billion ($148 billion) package, saying the decision must be based on how Greece's debt inspectors, the so-called troika, judge Athens' recent austerity efforts.

"So we must now wait for what the troika finds out and what it tells us: do we have to renegotiate or do we not have to renegotiate?" she said in an interview with Greece's ERT television Tuesday night.

Merkel added that she "cannot anticipate the result of the troika."

Greece was saved from default last year by an initial euro110 billion bailout, and the planned second rescue package includes a voluntary participation by private bondholders, who agreed to write off about 20 percent on their Greek debt holdings.

But many economists and analysts maintain that Greece ? mired in a deep recession worsened by the same austerity measures implemented in return for bailout loans ? must have its total debt reduced by as much as 50 percent if it is to have a chance of recovering.

The Financial Times reported that as many as seven of the eurozone's 17 members want the banks to take a bigger hit on their Greek bond holdings to allow this to happen.

Citing unnamed senior European officials, the newspaper said Germany and the Netherlands are at the forefront of the calls for the private sector to take a bigger hit, with France and the European Central Bank said to be fiercely resisting the move.

Greece "will not get back on its feet without a serious reduction in debt," said Ottmar Issing, a former chief economist of the European Central Bank, who has served as an adviser to Merkel in the past.

Athens needs to see its debt cut "at least 50 percent, probably more," Issing was quoted by Germany's Stern magazine.

Germany's banking association insisted there was no need to renegotiate the terms of the second bailout package. Banks in Germany and France are among the biggest holders of Greek bonds.

Greece's international debt inspectors will return to Athens on Thursday after they suspended their review of the country's finances early this month amid talk of budget shortfalls.

Once the fact-finding mission has made its conclusions, the finance ministers of the eurozone will organize a special meeting in October to assess them.

A positive review is required before the troika ? the IMF, ECB and European Commission ? can release the next batch of rescue loans Greece needs to avoid bankruptcy.

Jose Manuel Barroso, who heads the executive European Commission, said the 27-nation EU must develop a stronger central government in response to the current crisis.

"If we do not move forward with more unification, we will suffer more fragmentation," he told the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France. "I think this is going to be a baptism of fire for a whole generation."

"Today, we are facing the biggest challenges that this union has ever had to face throughout its history ? a financial crisis, an economic and social crisis, but also a crisis of confidence," Barroso said.

The debt crisis, which began in Greece some 18 months ago, eventually spread to engulf Portugal and Ireland, which also needed bailouts. It now threatens to mushroom further, prompting criticism from analysts and leaders including President Barack Obama that the EU is acting too slowly.

The head of the European Central Bank, Jean-Claude Trichet, was quoted in Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera on Wednesday saying governments should implement their crisis measures more quickly.

Among the most urgent is a proposal to give the eurozone's bailout fund more powers ? the ability to buy government bonds, bail out banks, and lend to troubled governments quickly before they are in a full fledged crisis. Lawmakers in Germany will vote Thursday, while Finland's parliament approved the move on Wednesday.

The proposal, along with Greece's second bailout, was agreed by eurozone leaders on July 21. But the delay in voting and implementing the decisions spooked financial markets in recent weeks.

In the meantime, the ECB has shouldered the burden, buying over euro150 billion ($205 billion) in government bonds to drive down borrowing costs for Italy and Spain.

Fears that the eurozone's third and fourth largest economy, Italy and Spain, may get sucked into Europe's debt crisis had stoked concern they would lose access to market funding and be forced into requesting bailouts.

A default by Greece or another country would send shock waves through the global economy, particularly in Europe, authorities fear. Banks would suffer such large losses on government bonds they hold that they would cut off credit to the wider economy and cause a new, sharper recession.

___

Don Melvin in Brussels and David McHugh in Frankfurt contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/apdefault/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2011-09-28-EU-Europe-Financial-Crisis/id-5d2a5fff19e847dcb027a152ba0a9433

norah jones matthew fox eid al fitr eid al fitr clp honda generators cubefield