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Rapids and sandy beaches are just a step away on family adventure vacations to beautiful Idaho. Enjoy unparalleled water rafting and be sure to bring the kids because the Lower Salmon River is warm, wide and smooth making it wonderful for beginning rafters.
During your Salmon River family adventure, see the pit houses colonized by ancestors of Nez Perce. Descend the rapids of Demon's Drop and Wright Way. Explore Snake River, which forms the Snake River Canyon, where Evil Knievel made his unsuccessful jump attempt in the 1970's. Take a picture of the expansive landscape covered in mountains of greenery and colorful flowers all under the bright blue sky. Tackle the splashy rapids at Cougar and Snow Hole Canyon. Enjoy your matchless experience at this wonderful oasis hidden in the lovely west Idaho.
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Thu 26 Jan 2012
Megaupload: A Lot Less Guilty Than You ThinkPosted by jennifer under copyright/IP , crime
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The recent Department of Justice decision to indict Megaupload for copyright infringement and related offenses raises some very thorny questions from a criminal law perspective. A few preliminaries: I'm responsible for the musings below, but I thank Robert Weisberg of Stanford Law School for taking the time to talk through the issues and giving me pointers to some relevant cases. Also, an indictment contains unproven allegations, and the facts may well turn out to be different, or to imply different things in full context.
DMCA SAFE HARBOR: BELIEVE IT AND IT WILL BECOME REAL: As a matter of criminal law, the discussion of whether Megaupload did what it needed to do to qualify for the DMCA Safe Harbor misses the point. Did they register an agent? Did they have a repeat infringer policy? These are all interesting CIVIL questions. But from a criminal law perspective, the important question is did Defendants BELIEVE they were covered by the Safe Harbor? This is because criminal infringement requires a showing of willfulness. The view of the majority of Federal Courts is that "willfulness" means a desire to violate a known legal duty, not merely the will to make copies.
In other words, for criminal liability, it doesn't really matter whether the service qualifies, so long as Defendants believed it qualified. If so, they were not intentionally violating a known legal duty, and so their conduct would not satisfy the willfulness element of the offense. For criminal liability after the DMCA safe harbor, as in horseshoes, close may be good enough.
The heart of this case is whether and when an enterprise can be held criminally liable for the conduct of its users. (For example, both copyright infringement claims (Counts 4 and 5) identify aiding and abetting as a basis for the charge.)
Aiding and abetting is something like the civil liability inducement theory the U.S. Supreme Court created in the 2005 Grokster case. Experts opine that the indictment makes out a pretty good inducement case against Megaupload. But the first question from a defense perspective has to be "Can the Grokster theory of CIVIL liability even be the basis for CRIMINAL copyright claims?" This has never been decided by any Court.
However, the pending Second Circuit case of Puerto 80 Projects v. USA ("Rojadirecta"), raises the issue squarely. There, the plaintiff is challenging the ICE seizure of its Rojadirecta domain names based on an allegation of criminal copyright infringement. For background on the case, and on the ICE domain seizures, check out Techdirt's coverage.
Rojadirecta's lawyers at Durie Tangri have challenged the U.S. Government's assertion that criminal liability arises from linking to infringing content. The lawyers argue that judge-made secondary infringement liability theories, including Grokster style inducement, cannot be the basis for a criminal copyright violation because the criminal copyright statute doesn't mention secondary liability. Congress considered and rejected statutes that would have created such liability, in COICA and PROTECT IP. In sum, due process doesn't allow incarceration under a civil legal theory that the Supreme Court dreamed up in 2005. The issues yet to be decided in Rojadirecta apply to the Megaupload case as well.
AGREEMENT + CIVIL VIOLATION = PRISON?: Count 2 is a conspiracy to commit copyright infringement claim, and references unknown parties as members of the conspiracy. Conspiracy entails an agreement to commit an offense and an overt act in furtherance of that agreement. The act in furtherance need not itself be illegal, but there must be an agreement to do an illegal act. The list of overt acts show that the object of the conspiracy was infringement by Mega users. If Defendants agreed with each other to induce others to infringe, and Rojadirecta's lawyers are correct that inducement is not a crime, there's a conspiracy only to violate a CIVIL law. If the idea is that Mega conspired with its users to infringe, those users may or may not have been criminally infringing copyright. They were located all over the world, and may or may not have acted willfully, i.e. intended to violate U.S. law. Again, the government would basically have alleged an agreement to violate a U.S. CIVIL law, including by many people who are not subject to U.S. rules.
Is it a federal crime to conspire to induce others to violate a U.S. civil law?
The answer to that is an obvious "no". The conspiracy statute itself makes clear that the object of the conspiracy must be an offense or fraud against the United States, in other words, a federal crime. 18 U.S.C. 371. It is true that Oliver North and John Poindexter were prosecuted for conspiracy to violate Boland Amendment, which prohibited Defense Department spending on the Nicaraguan Contras, but was not itself a crime. And there is a 1979 case (U.S. v. Ruffin, 613 F.2d 408 (2nd cir. 1979), where the defendant was convicted of conspiracy when he convinced an unwitting person to divert federal funds to the defendant's personal benefit. But both cases constituted fraud involving U.S.taxpayer dollars, which is also a basis for conspiracy liability. Civil violations simply are not.
For these reasons, prosecuting this case against Mega, especially if Defendants get good criminal lawyers who also understand copyright law, is going to be an uphill battle for the government.
A few other points. Some direct infringement convictions look easy, but COUNT 4 IS WEIRDLY INCOMPLETE: I agree with the copyright law experts interviewed by Ars Technica that the most damning allegations in the indictment are the claims of direct infringement, particularly for the prerelease movies. Interestingly, the indictment identifies four films that the defendants supposedly distributed before release: The Green Hornet, Thor, Bad Teacher, Twilight–Breaking Dawn Part 1. But Count 4 only charges one such act of prerelease infringement, the movie Taken. What about the other films? Why were those not also charged?
Finally, this case is extremely interesting from a JURISDICTIONAL standpoint. One of the very first issue to be litigated will be extradition to the United States. Does the United States have jurisdiction over anyone who uses a hosting provider in the Eastern District of Virginia? What about over any company that uses PayPal? That's a very broad claim of power, and I expect it will be vigorously contested.

subset: commoncrawl


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Farmers who have wondered what difference a single vote could make may have cause to reflect on that question at length over the next few months.
The defection of Vermont Sen. Jim Jeffords from the Republican Party sent shock waves not only through the Congress and the White House but also through mainstream farm organizations.
When Jeffords announced May 24 he would become an independent, it reduced the number of Republican Senate seats to 49, giving permanent control to the Democrats (who hold 50 seats) for the first time since 1994.
Most of the national attention was focused on the replacement of Majority Leader Trent Lott of Mississippi by South Dakota's Tom Daschle. But, it's the change of chairmanships of key Senate committees and subcommittees that is giving the farm organizations serious heartburn.
Unless another defection occurs, Democratic Sen. Tom Harkin of Iowa will replace Richard Lugar of Indiana as chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee. Harkin recently introduced legislation that would provide more conservation payments to farmers, reducing the emphasis on income support payments.
Harkin frequently has criticized the 1996 Federal Agricultural Improvement and Reform Act or Freedom to Farm, which Sen. Lugar, one of its principal authors, staunchly defended.
For southerners, that loss could pale in comparison with the replacement of Mississippi's Thad Cochran as chairman of the Ag Appropriations Subcommittee by Wisconsin's Herb Kohl, whose primary interest is dairy farmers.
As most farmers know, Cochran wrote most of the disaster assistance legislation of the last three years, originated the double AMTA or supplemental Agricultural Market Transition Act payment and conceived the idea for the Cottonseed Assistance Program.
"Last night was one of the worst nights of my life," said the executive director of one farm organization the day Jeffords announced his switch. "Right off the bat, I think we could lose the supplemental AMTA. But the total impact could be much greater."
A second AMTA payment, preferably made at the 1999 rate, is critically important for Sunbelt farmers because many received crop loans only after their lenders were reasonably satisfied that Congress would provide one in 2001.
Democratic Rep. Marion Berry of Arkansas has introduced supplemental AMTA legislation in the House and recently wrote President Bush asking for his support for the payment. Sen. Blanche Lincoln, D-Ark., introduced the amendment that provided $5.5 billion for a second AMTA payment in the Senate budget resolution.
Whether Harkin and Kohl and other Democratic leaders will push as hard for another AMTA remains to be seen, however. "An AMTA payment is part of Freedom to Farm, and they don't like Freedom to Farm," said another farm group leader.
Besides the AMTA payment, other budget items could be in doubt because of the shift in the Senate: increased federal funding for boll weevil eradication, funding for numerous agricultural research efforts, funding for infrastructure improvements such as the I-69 bridge at Greenville, Miss., a favorite project of Senator Lott's.
Writing these off so soon after Jeffords' bombshell may be premature. But, it will take some deft footwork by the major farm organizations and Sunbelt senatorial staffs to keep the funding from disappearing altogether.
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The Authorities of the Yaba College Of Technology, YABATECH has released her YABATECH Part Time Admission list 2014 of successful intakes in all approved programmes of the school for the 2014/2015 academic session.
The YABATECH part Time Admission List 2014 has been pasted at the University's admission office in school.
Candidates who applied for programmes other than the YABATECH Part Time programme can clock below to check;
• YABATECH Change Of Course 2014/2015
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The YABATECH Part Time Admission list 2014 has also been published online can be accessed by clicking here
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I just moved to Ventura and could use a few tennis partners. I'm about 4.0 in level. For the time being, I can play anytime in Ventura or Oxnard. Let me know if you want to hit!
- Jon
Views: 242
Replies to This Discussion
Hi Jonathan.
Just moved to Camarillo from Davis, but I wouldn't mind traveling to Oxnard. There are some nice and private courts here in Camarillo also.
I'm looking to hit as much as possible and I can make time for it whenever as I work for myself.
Give me a call whenever you want to meet up. 707-365-3673
Looking for a solid 4.5/5 player to hit with. Let me know if you are interested.
Jon, I am also about a 4.0. I work in Port Hueneme and I am availalble most Monday - Wednesday afternoons around 4:00 pm, but I will have more opportunities in the next few weeks. Why don't you give me a call so we can make some firm arrangements to hit. Thanks, Dean 714-651-1122
I am about 4.0 as well Jonathan, please give me a text sometime. I live in Ventura.
805 874 2791
I can hit once or twice a week and live in Ventura. I have today off, if you'd like to hit today.
(707) 480-9936 cell
Hey Jon, I live in Ventura and am about 4.0. I am always willing to hit on weekends or after work during the week. Let me know if you want to hit. 909-292-6535.
Looking for a solid 4.5/5 player to hit with. Let me know if you are interested.
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Parking Permits & Policies
Saint Mary's College has developed parking and traffic regulations on its property to help maintain a safe campus environment.
Saint Mary's College has developed parking and traffic regulations on its property to help maintain a safe campus environment. The College requires that all vehicles operated on college property observe all college parking and traffic regulations and all applicable provisions of the California Vehicle Code. All vehicles must have a valid license plate and properly display a valid campus parking permit.
- Issuance of a permit does not guarantee availability of a parking space.
- Parking permits are required for all parked vehicles on Monday through Friday, from 5am until 10pm. Lots are controlled 6am-6pm. After 6 pm, you may park in any parking lot, except as noted by posted signs. Some lots are restricted 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year.
- All motor vehicles must display a current campus permit.
- Permits are only issued by the Public Safety Department and are property of Saint Mary's College. Permits may be revoked at any time and must be surrendered upon request.
- Parking permits are to be placed on the inside of the window, on the driver's side, lower left corner of the windshield for resident students and on the rear view mirror for faculty, staff and commuter students.
- The permit number must be visible at all times.
- Permits are not transferrable to another person.
- Cling permits are only valid for the vehicle(s) they are issued to and are not transferable to another vehicle. Hang-tag permits are only valid for the person they are issued to and may not be transferred to another person.
- Spaces are on a first come, first served basis.
- Permits are issued for specific lots.
- Replacement cost for lost permit is $3.
The responsibility for finding a legal parking space rests with the vehicle operator. Lack of space in lots designated for your permit is not a valid reason for violating parking regulations. Improperly parked vehicles are subject to campus citation, immobilization and/or towing at the owner's expense. The College assumes no liability for loss or damage to any vehicle or its contents nor liability for damage to persons or property for any parked or moving vehicle on campus. Abandoned vehicles left on campus more than 72-hours may be towed at the owner's expense. If you need to leave your vehicle on campus during a school break you must communicate this to Public Safety in writing at email@example.com.
Guest/Visitor Parking
Effective February 12, 2018 Visitors must pay to park. Please click on the following link for more information: VISITOR PARKING INFORMATION
Parking must be in full accordance with posted signs and campus regulations. Regulations are enforced 24 hours a day, seven days a week by the Public Safety Department.
- All provisions of the California Vehicle Code must be obeyed on campus including the helmet law, use of a cell phone and restrictions against passengers in the rear of uncovered pickup trucks.
- Permits are required Monday through Friday, 5am-10pm. The parking lot restrictions on campus are enforced Monday through Friday, 6am to 6pm. After 6 pm, you may park in any parking lot, except as noted by posted signs. Some lots are restricted 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year.
- Red curbs, fire lanes, handicapped stalls, blocking traffic, blocking a walkway, not in a marked stall, stop signs, and speeding are enforced 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year.
- If you are uncertain as to where you can park, refer to the campus map. The map will show you where you can and cannot park from 6am to 6pm, Monday through Friday. Not all parking lots have signs.
- The campus speed limit is 15 mph and is enforced 24 hours a day.
- You must come to a full stop at all stop signs on campus.
- Passing another moving vehicle on campus is prohibited.
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- Violation of any of the above laws and policies while on campus, can result in a citation, immobilization or the towing of the vehicle at the owner's expense.
- Employees may not park in the Filippi, Baseball and Recreation Center Student Lots, 5am to 6pm, but may park in any other student lots.
Parking is Prohibited in the Following Areas
- Any roadway, driveway, walkway, landscaped or dirt area.
- In any area prohibited by signs or markings.
- In any pedestrian crosswalk or area that impedes vehicle or pedestrian traffic.
- In any reserved space or lot without the appropriate permit.
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- In any handicapped space without the proper license plate or placard.
If you have any questions, please contact Public Safety Office at email@example.com or call (925) 631-4052.


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Home » MEET OUR CUSTOMERS: FREEDOM AS A SERVICE IN ACTION! » Telco answers call for speed with BigMemory
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Let's open our Bibles then to 1 Timothy chapter 3...1 Timothy chapter 3. This morning and next Lord's day morning we're going to be talking about a familiar subject in the church, the leadership role that the Bible identifies as deacons...deacons.
Now I grew up for the most part in Baptist churches. My father was a Baptist pastor in my years of growing up until he took an independent Bible church when I was in college. But prior to that we grew up in a Baptist church. And the standing line in the Baptist church was that the only kids worse than the preacher's kids were the deacon's kids. And if any of you have grown up with a Baptist background, perhaps you have been in the clutches of such an errant philosophy as well.
But the term "deacon" may conjure up all kinds of things to us. As I look back in my heritage on the term "deacon" I have all kinds of memories of certain rather austere men who grabbed me by the ear and marched me out of the Sundayschool class. I hate to admit that but on several occasions that indeed did occur. Deacons in my young life sort of represented authority in the church. In some churches they are the official leaders. In most of the churches in which I grew up the deacons were the spiritual leaders of the church. Very often they are the ruling body of the church and even the pastor may be employed by and work for the deacons.
In some churches the title "deacon" is something people seek to attain because with it comes a certain badge of honor and respect in the community. Though the title itself seems to signify no particular duty and no particular spiritual qualification. In other churches there are no deacons at all. They just seem to ignore the issue. In some churches deacons are identified, particularly in liturgical churches, as sort of a suborder to priests. They are a clerical order underneath the priests who carry out the duties of maintaining the facilities or administrating some tasks.
If you have in your life time been involved at all in the Masonic Lodge, you would know that in the Masonic Lodge there are also deacons. And they have a certain function in that order, as well.
We're all familiar with the word. It is not uncommon for someone who is particularly religious or spiritual or gives a Christian testimony at work or on an athletic team or among students to be called as a result of that deacon because that's sort of a byword for somebody who is really into church.
Deacon is a marvelous term. And somehow we would like to sort of suck out of that term everything that doesn't belong there and redefine it for you so you'll understand what the Bible means when it talks about the responsibility of a deacon. The term is mentioned here in 1 Timothy 3 verse 8, refers to the deacons. It mentions it again in verse 10, again in verse 12, again in verse 13. These are various forms of a Greek word, diakonos, diakonia, diakoneo being the three particular forms. One referring to servant, another to service, and another the verb to serve.
Now here in this section we're going to deal with the matter of the responsibility of the deacons in the church. And I want you to understand, this is very important, that in no sense does Paul in writing to Timothy present the deacons as an inferior group of people to the elders or overseers or pastors. In fact, you will find as we go through this the next two weeks that the qualifications for being a deacon are not in any sense inferior to the qualifications for being an elder. The function is distinct in some ways, not distinct in other ways. But the qualifications are basically the same. They both look at a man's personal life, character, home life, leadership capability and commitment to the service of the Lord in the church. There is no lessening of the spiritual standard, it is right up there alongside those in the leadership responsibility at the overseer or elder or pastoral level.
Let's look at verses 8 to 13. Let me read them to you so you have it in mind. "Likewise, or in like manner, the deacons must be serious, not doubletongued, not holding near to much wine, not greedy of filthy lucre, holding the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience. And let these also first be proven. Then let them use the office of a deacon being found blameless. Even so women...implied women deacons...must be serious, not slanderers, sober minded, faithful in all things. Let the deacons be onewoman men, ruling their children and their own houses well for they that have used the office of a deacon well purchase to themselves a good standing and great assurance in the faith which is in Christ Jesus."
Now just from an initial reading of that you can see the lofty quality of the men and women, they're mentioned also in verse 11, who serve in the role of deacon in the church. There is no diminishing of spiritual quality. There is no less a premium on spiritual maturity and moral purity in the role of deacon when compared with the role of elder.
Now let's talk a little bit about what it means when it uses the term "deacon." It's very important for us to get an understanding of this. The term used here is basically a very familiar term, diakonos. It is diakonos meaning servant, diakonia, as I said, service, diakoneo to serve. Those terms are used at least 100 times in the New Testament. Very very familiar terms.
Now the original sense of those terms had to do with serving, very general...any kind of service would be in mind. In our text the word are transliterated rather than translated. Only two places in the New Testament did the translators of the Authorized King James version choose to translate those terms...or rather choose to transliterate those terms into deacon rather than just translate them. The word diakonos or diakonia means servant or service, that's its translation. To take diakonos and make it deacon is to create a word. To make diakonia translate into the office of deacon is again to transliterate it. It doesn't really translate it, it just takes the word and gives English letters to it. The words here really are simply the word servant...servant. And in its original meaning it had the idea of primarily serving tables. It probably was the basic word for waiter, someone who serves a table. But through usage it came to broaden until it meant any kind of service at all...any kind. It didn't matter what kind...wide, wide range of service.
Now it is nonspecific for the most part until it gets to 1 Timothy 3. And then the word becomes specific and that is why the translators chose for really only the second time in Scripture, the other being Philippians 1:1 where they must have believed it was specific also, referring there to the bishops and deacons of Philippi. Only in those cases, those two passages, Philippians 1:1 and here, do they transliterate it as if to set it apart so that we understand it is not now being used in a general sense but in a more specific sense to refer to a group of chosen and select people called to be the leaders of the serving of the church. But it is a very broad term in its general usage and only becomes specifically identified with a certain individual and certain qualifications right here in 1 Timothy 3. Until we get to 1 Timothy 3, with the exception only of Philippians 1:1 which may be an allusion to the office, every other use of these terms is general...non specific and doesn't necessarily refer to any specific office in the church.
In fact, the word diakonos, diakonia, diakoneo, are to us like the words servant, serve, serves, service. Very general, we go to a gas station and get service. We play tennis and serve. We serve our employer. We serve our nation. I mean, the words are very very general. And that is exactly the way they're used in the New Testament. And so, to get a little bit of an insight into them, I want to do a little bit of a word study so we have a bit of a grasp on what we have arrived at in 1 Timothy 3. And this, I said to my wife Patricia this morning, I said I think this is going to be more like a Sundayschool lesson than a sermon but I want to cover this ground so your understanding is clear.
For the most part, at least 100 usages of this term are always translated serve, or minister...servant or minister. There are a few exceptions. For example, there are some places where the word is translated administration because of the context. Some places, I'm thinking of Acts 11:29, it is translated relief because the service was giving some resources to people who were in a famine and they use it for the word relief and so that's the way they translated it. It does have a few other translations, but for the most part any of these three Greek words would come up with serving or ministering as their basic translation. But whatever you translate it, whether you want to give it a little nuance in the context that helps you to understand what it means or not basically is very very general in terms of meaning.
Now as I said, the root idea is that of serving food. And we perhaps need to grasp that for a moment. The original and limited meaning of it in its beginning comes through in John 2. Jesus, you know, is at the wedding of Cana. And His mother comes and His mother said to the servants, John 2:5, and by the way the servants is diakonos, His mother said to the waiters, the people serving the food, and the drinks and getting the water and all of that, whatever He says to you, do it. And when the head waiter tasted the water which had become wine and did not know where it came from but the diakonos who had drawn the water knew, the head waiter called the bridegroom.
So here you have diakonos used for a group of waiters at a wedding, the people serving the food, serving the drink, and so forth and so on. That's its very root meaning.
And then there's a wonderful passage in Luke 4 that tells us a lot about a Jewish mother. Peter's motherinlaw, you remember, was very ill. In Luke 4:39 Jesus healed Peter's motherinlaw and it says immediately she arose and began to wait on them. And the word there is diakoneo. She began to serve a meal. Typical fashion, she's been very ill, extremely ill. She's instantly healed and does what every good Jewish mother does, starts to cook lunch. I mean, that was the first reaction that she had. She served them. So again it's the idea of serving a meal.
You find three other texts at least in the gospel where the term diakonos refers to serving at a meal. John 12:2; Luke 10:40 and Luke 17:8. The word then started as a word related to serving a meal. It broadened to all kinds of general service. For example, in Romans 13:4, a soldier or a policeman is called a diakonos, a deacon, a servant. They serve the government. They serve justice. They serve law and order. They punish evil doers and reward those who do well.
In a general sense in John 12:26 Jesus said, "If anyone serves Me, let him follow Me." And what He said by that was anything you do to follow Jesus constitutes diakonia, service or ministry. So in this sense it's very very broad.
That leads me to say that as the gospel writers and the epistle writers adapt the term, they use it in a broad sense for all kinds of spiritual service. In other words, they took their cue from Jesus and when He said if anyone serves Me, let him follow Me, they pick up the idea that life for the one who follows Christ is service to Him. And they talk about spiritual service as a part of the Christian's life...in fact, the major part. Anything we do in obedience to God's Word is service...anything.
So in that sense, just to juggle words a little bit, we're all in the ministry, right? We're all in the diakonia, we're all in the service. And that's the first level you must understand because I wouldn't want for a minute that we should come up with some idea that deacons serve and everybody else watches. I don't want us to think for a moment that there is a leadership level, elders and pastors, there is a service level, deacons, and then there is a spectator level. There is no spectator level. There is no audience in the church really. We are all in the ministry. We are all in the service. We've all been called to submit ourselves in obedience to serving the Lord Jesus Christ. He says, "Where I am there shall My servant also be. And of anyone serves Me the Father will honor him." Again that's from John 12:26. So we're all His servants, we're all serving Him. That's the way of life for all of us. And we have to keep that in mind. And for the most part, the uses of the terms in the Greek relate to that broad category of spiritual service that every believer is engaged in. All of us are serving...serving the Lord.
Now having started at that point, we remind ourselves of 1 Corinthians 12:5 that within this broad range of service, 1 Corinthians says there are varieties of gifts and manifestations and also varieties of diakonia. There are varieties of service. All Christians are in some form of spiritual service. All are ministers. All are deacons in that general sense because we all are to serve in a variety of ways. Paul refers in 2 Corinthians 4:1 to his service. He refers in 2 Corinthians 9:1 again to the serving that anyone does in behalf of the saints.
In 2 Corinthians 9:1 I just want to read it to you, I think it's well put. "For as touching the ministering to the saints..." he says. In other words, I want to speak for a moment about the serving of the saints that we're all engaged in. We serve God, Paul says in Acts 20 serving the Lord. Here he says we serve the saints. We're all engaged in service. We serve God...mark this...we serve God every time we obey His Word and every time we obey His Spirit, we are serving God. Every time I do that which is right, I'm offering service to Him. We serve one another in the meeting of needs. But we're all engaged in that kind of spiritual service. In fact, Ephesians 4:12 says that there were given to the church evangelists, and teaching pastors for the perfecting of the saints for the work of the service, the work of the diakonia.
In other words, our job as elders and pastors is to perfect the saints so they can do their service. All of us are called then as servants of Christ. That means we're under orders. He is our Lord. He is our master. We've been called into spiritual service. We serve Him, as I said, by obeying the Word of God. We serve Him by following the promptings of the Spirit of God, by coming under the authority of the church, by meeting the needs of those around us. We are primarily engaged in spiritual service.
It would be one thing to say, "I'm proud to be able to serve my country," or "I'm proud to have served this great cause," nothing even comes close to being able to say "I have been called into service unto the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, Jesus Christ Himself." That is our high and holy calling. That is the vocation, as Paul calls it in Ephesians 4, to which we are called. That is our high calling. That is our walk as servants.
Now having said that, that we are all involved in service, let me step up a bit from that to a second level. Look at Romans chapter 12. And here we find these terms used of something a bit more specific. In Romans chapter 12 there is a list here of varying gifts given to the body of Christ. We all know about the spiritual gifts, we've taught much about that through the years. It says in verse 6 that...verse 4 says we're all in one body but we don't all have the same function. We are many and we have differing gifts. They differ according to the grace, that is God's grace, God has graciously given us differing gifts.
Then he goes on to discuss...prophecy and those who have that gift should operate according to the proportion of faith given for the use of that gift. And then he says, if the gift of ministry, then we need to be concentrating on our ministry. Now the ministry and ministering in verse 7 is again this same word group, diakonia, diakonos, diakoneo, it's the same thing. So he's saying here that there are special gifts of service, special gifts of serving. It would be parallel to his mention of the gifts of helps in 1 Corinthians. There are some people who are just a...I guess you could say a cut above everybody else because they are uniquely designed by God to serve. So you start with that broad level, everybody is in the service of Christ. There are some, however, who are specially gifted to function in that way. It doesn't mean the rest of us don't do it, it just means that they do it in a unique sense. They serve as a special way of life, energized by the Spirit of God.
For example, to meet such a person, or more than one, look at 1 Corinthians 16. This is an interesting characterization. It says in 1 Corinthians 16:15, just a rather incidental thought here but it's germane to our point, at the end of this great epistle he speaks of a very specific family. "I beseech you, brethren, you know the house of Stephanas, that it is the firstfruits of Achaia," that is the first converts in the province of Achaia. And look at this, "And that they have devoted themselves to the diakonia of the saints."
Now it just may well be that here is a family in which are all are serving and perhaps some are uniquely gifted. And so their whole family is characterized as those who serve the saints. So, beloved, then all of us are serving, some of us are uniquely gifted for that. We all are called to that. You can't say, "Ah, look, I'm not responsible, I'm not...I'm not anything special, I'm just a normal Christian, I don't have any obligation." You can't do that. You are obligated to serve as a way of life. Some of you are specially gifted for that. And that must be recognized as well.
So, the term can be used generally. It can be used a bit more specifically to refer to those who in the exercise of their spiritual gifts are placed in positions of faithful service assisting and helping others in menial and common areas of responsibility. Now that's really...that's really the sweep of everything that dominates the New Testament relative to the area of service. It's just very general and then especially those that are gifted.
But what about deacons? Well, deacons don't even appear in my judgment in any definition until 1 Timothy 3 and only in 1 Timothy 3. It is the only discussion of the specific office. So we would say then there's a third category. Everybody is serving on this level. Some people on the next step up are uniquely gifted and then the next step up would be those who are in the office of a servant in the church and we know them as deacons, though they well could be called Servants, with a capital S. So you have three levels of service in the church: that which is rendered by everyone, that which is rendered by those uniquely gifted by the Spirit for it, and that which is done by those who are officially placed in an office of service and become the leaders and the models of service for everybody else in the church.
Now it is important to recognize that those people are deacons not because they're to do all the work but because they're to model the proper kind of service for everyone else. You see, as I've been saying all along and I want to say it again, the reason you have elders is not to set them apart as the more holy, and then some people believe, "Well, the deacons are less holy." I've heard people actually say, "Well he couldn't be an elder, he doesn't have his life together, let's make him a deacon." No, no, no, no...no, you don't say, "Well, this guy might be an elder but, boy, he's got so many problems we better make him a deacon and let him prove himself." Nono. And then you have people in group three who say, "You can't expect anything from me, I'm not an elder or a deacon. I just go here." See. "Don't...what do you want out of me? I just go here." Wait a minute. The reason you have elders is not to say, "Well, here's a spiritual standard, they're different," but to say, "Here's a spiritual standard, we're to all be like that." Same is true with deacons. Deacons are the models of spiritual virtue. They stand in that sense alongside the elders, there's no diminishing. You don't have elders here and deacons here spiritually. The elders have the authority because they carry the power of the Word of God in their teaching emphasis. But the deacons from the standpoint of spiritual modeling are equal. In fact, there's no difference between the spiritual qualifications of the two.
So, these are to be equally godly men. But men whose strength is not in the teaching area, that's the difference. That's where a pastor and an elder and an overseer steps apart. His overall responsibility is in the ruling of the church through the authority of the understanding and proclamation of the Word of God. But right along side him come those who implement what he teaches, who implement the ministry and whose lives are no less godly than his. And the reason is to pull the whole congregation to that level, not to set those people apart and say, "Well they're the abnormal pious ones, none of us could ever be expected to live that like." Quite the contrary. The message of what a deacon is to be is a message of what you and I are to be because they're there to model that for us.
So the first time you really even confront the idea of the office of deacon as such is 1 Timothy 3. Philippians 1:1 says that this letter is written to those at Philippi, including the overseers and diakonos. It may well be there that those are official deacons, we can't be dogmatic. It could be just the leaders and the followers in a general sense. But when you come to 1 Timothy 3, it is definitely specific.
Now let me say something that's a very important point for understanding this. I don't believe that until you get to 1 Timothy 3 you meet anything specific about deacons at all. In fact, I don't think there are any deacons named as such in the Scripture. Some people have wanted to say that Paul was a deacon. In fact, that's been a major point with some who want to advocate that deacon rulership, that Paul was a deacon. Paul was not a deacon. The best explanation of that would come from Romans 11. And I could give you a lot of Scriptures that emphasize his apostleship, but I think this one is perhaps as good as any. Romans 11:13, he says, "I speak to you Gentiles," and then he tells us who he is, "inasmuch as I am the Apostle of the Gentiles." Now if you want to know who he is, then ask him and he'll tell you. He's not a deacon, he is the Apostle of the Gentiles. Now watch this, "I magnify my office." Interesting, the word "office" here is diakonia. I magnify my ministry. I magnify my service. Yes he is a deacon in the general non specific sense that all of us whatever our ministry involvement is a service to God. But his office is that of an Apostle. So he is only a nonspecific deacon and a specific Apostle. He makes that very very clear. He talks about his ministry, his service many times and uses the word diakonia but always clear to say his office is the office of an Apostle. So, Paul was not a deacon. In fact in 2 Corinthians 10,11 and 12 it clearly lays out the fact that he is defending there his Apostleship.
Now some people also feel that Timothy was a deacon. In 1 Timothy, where you are, you'll look at verse 6 of chapter 4. First Timothy 4:6 Paul says to Timothy, "If you put the brethren in remembrance of these things, you'll be a good diakonos." So some have said, "You see, Timothy was a deacon. He was even a good deacon." Which is even better than being just a plain deacon. He was a good deacon nourished up in the words of faith and good doctrine to which he attained. But the point here again is we know that Timothy was not a deacon in the traditional sense, obviously. In fact, in 2 Timothy 4:5 Paul says to him, "Do the work of an evangelist and then make full proof of your diakonia." In other words, his diakonia generally was the role of an evangelist, his office was an evangelist, his office was a proclaimer, a preacher in many ways distinct from the office of a deacon.
Some feel that Tychicus in Ephesians 6:21 who is called faithful diakonos must have been a deacon. But not so. In Ephesians the word diakonos is used three times and never in a technical way, always of general service. Some people feel Epaphras, Colossians 1:7, called faithful diakonos was a formal deacon, it's very unlikely that he was. We have no reason to assume that. So we don't have any specifics about the office of deacon at all until we get to 1 Timothy.
Now somebody immediately is going to say, "What about Acts 6?" So let's turn to Acts 6. This is a fascinating account. And most people who have advocated the diakonate in the church have felt that Acts 6 is where it was born and that you have in Acts 6 the first deacons. But there are several things to note. The one thing I want you to remember here is this. In Acts 6, the seven men chosen by the church for the work here are never called deacons. They are never called deacons. Let's start at verse 1. "In those days, the days of the early church," and frankly, it was actually the Passover time, the number of the disciples was multiplied in excess of 20 thousand people now believed, many of them are pilgrims, they've come into the city. They've believed in Christ. The church has been born. They've stayed. So they've got a lot of foreigners on their hands, Hellinistic Jews. There were two kinds of Jews, Jerusalem Jews and nonJerusalem Jews...I mean, Palestinian Jews and non Palestinian Jews. There were the Jews who lived in the land of Palestine an those who had been scattered in the dias(?) fora(?) who lived out in the Greek world. But at Passover the pilgrims all came in so you had both the Palestine Jews and the Hellinists, as they were called from the Greek term meaning Greek. So they were all together there.
So what happened was, as they were all there, this huge group of Christians now in the multiplying church, there is a murmuring, and that's an problem, being surfaced by the talk of people. It's comforting to know they did it even in the early church. So there arose a murmuring. And the griping, basically, came from the Grecians, or the Hellenistics, the nonPalestinian Jews, against the Palestinian Jews because their widows were neglected in the daily ministration.
Now they were trying to serve all these widows that there were, there might have been several hundred widows who had come from the outside and others who were from Palestine and widows were the care of the church. The church, by the way, had inherited that from the Jews. The Jews had a very very strong commitment to the care of the poor and the needy. They had gotten that, of course, from God's instruction in the Old Testament. And, in fact, they had very very sophisticated means for doing this. To put it into a little pattern, every Friday in every Jewish community some men went around the marketplace and around the houses and they collected money from everybody to give to the poor and the needy. They got all the donations they could get. This was then distributed to those in need by committees of no less than two people, for obvious reasons, they didn't want anybody stealing the money. And when they went to the poor of the community, they would only give them enough for fourteen meals, that's two meals a day for seven days. And if they already possessed a week's food in the house, they couldn't get anything. This distribution was called the koopa(?), which means the basket. They would disseminate it out of typically a basket.
In addition to this, there was a daily collection of food from house to house for those who were in an emergency situation and needed food for that very day and this was called the tamwi(?) or the tray. And they went around offering this to people in need.
Well, the church coming out of Judaism picked up on this. The Jews didn't even emphasize one person giving to another in need, they emphasized giving it to the synagogue, let the synagogue disseminate it so that the responsibility is in the hands of wise men who were doing it properly. So here they've got this responsibility. And there's an argument going on in the church because the Hellenistic Jewish widows don't feel they're getting a fair shake in the provision of food that is being distributed, the church obviously having picked up this wonderful ministry from their Jewish roots.
How they going to solve it? Verse 3, pardon me, verse 2, "The twelve called the multitude of the disciples to them and said, It's not right or fitting, proper, that we should leave the Word of God and serve tables." Now here is a line of demarcation. Some people in the church need to be doing the Word of God and other people need to be taking care of the business. That line of demarcation does stand when you get to the pastoral epistles. We've got to do what we've got to do and we've got to find somebody to do the rest. It was not the Apostles' priority to leave the Word to serve food. They've got thousands upon thousands of people. Remember this, they're all brand new converts. They're from all over the world and these twelve men are trying to get them all discipled before they leave.
They had a tremendous task on their hand. And they really didn't want to get stuck trying to figure out how to bring equity and parody to the matter of food distribution. So they wanted to get somebody else to do that, verse 3, "Wherefore, brethren, look among you and find seven men who are honest." Obviously they're going to have a lot of money on their hands. "Full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom." Why do they need the Spirit and wisdom? Because they're going to have to discern where real need exists. "And we'll appoint them over this task...over this task." Notice that they were appointed for a specific task. There's no office here. There's no ongoing function here. We're going to get them to figure out how to do this task. This, may I be so bold?, one task. "And we," verse 4, "will continue to give ourselves to prayer and the diakonia of the Word."
The only use of the term diakonia here is in reference to the Apostles. And then back in verse 1 in reference to the daily diakonia of serving the widows. Nowhere does it call these men deacons. The Apostles were doing their deaconing, their serving and the people passing out food were doing their serving, too. But these are not called deacons specifically. It is interesting to note that in the early church in Rome, I shouldn't say the early church, the postapostolic church of Rome only allowed seven deacons. They picked up on this and made it the standard. And they had seven deacons in the church at Rome for the purpose of passing out goods to the poor. But I don't believe that this is intended by the Spirit of God to establish some kind of ongoing order. I don't think these seven men chosen were deacons. Look at verse 5, "This saying pleased the whole multitude and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit," that was the qualification. "Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas and Nicolas a proselyte of Antioch."
So, they chose seven men. "They set them before the apostles, when they had prayed, they put their hands on them and ordained them to the ministry." What ministry? This service, this task, this business of carrying for the widows and their food.
Now with that in mind I want you to kind of grasp the thought. It isn't a major issue but just so you have it in your mind. The reason I don't think these are actual deacons is number one, the term is general and it it's just a general speaking here of service. The only reference to actual diakonia connected with the certain individuals is in verse 4 and the diakonia there is connected with the apostles. The New Testament, watch this, never again refers to these seven as diakonate, as a group of deacons. In fact, the book of Acts never ever mentions the word deacon. They never appear again. If this was some kind of new order of deacons, they should have popped up again and again, particularly in chapter 11 when the famine went on and when they wanted the food to be cared for in the famine it says they were to give it to the elders, Acts 11:29, not the deacons cause there were no deacons.
You say, "Well if they aren't deacons, what are they?" They're just some men chosen for a specific task. Honest so they could handle money, full of the Spirit and wisdom so they could discern where the needs were. They were seven men chosen for a onetime crisis, not necessarily installed into a fulltime office. If they were being instituted as deacons here, you could be sure they would have appeared later on in the book of Acts someplace...and probably, as I said, in Acts 11 in dealing with the famine.
Another interesting thing is all seven of them have Greek names. If they were an ongoing group of deacons for the church at Jerusalem, it would have been a little bit strange that they would have all been Greek Jews. But if they are appointed for one specific task to relieve Greek Jewish widows, then it makes sense that they would choose Greeks to do that. That would move toward equity.
So, special task...but keep this in mind. There is a preliminary sense here in which we're getting a look at what deacons will be like because you have Apostles here whose thing is the Word and prayer and deacons who take care of implementation of certain tasks. And that kind of structure does carry into the church. The elders of 1 Timothy do emphasize the Word and the oversight and the deacons do emphasize the implementation and application. So that kind of...that kind of relationship continues to exist.
The comparison of these things then shows us that deacons did have I guess what you could say a historic precedent in Acts 6 but that they were not in specific actual deacons. In fact, in many ways they were more like elders. Let me show you why. Look at verse 6. They prayed, laid hands on them, then verse 7, "And the Word of God increased." Now why did it increase? Well first of all I think it increased because the Apostles were free from serving tables to make it increase, right? The Apostles were free to do what they felt they had to do and that was spend their time in the Word and prayer. The number of disciples multiplied in Jerusalem greatly, a great number of the priests were obedient to the faith. But another reason why it multiplied was not just the work of the Apostles, but look at this, "And Stephen who may well be representative of the other six, full of faith and power did great wonders and miracles among the people." Now could it well be that the other six did the same? Could it be that these were anything but deacons in the traditional sense, these were holy Spirit empowered evangelists who went out into that city doing signs and wonders and mighty deeds, teaching, preaching, evangelizing, full of faith, full of the Spirit, full of power, performing wonders. Now we know that at least one other of them was a powerful wonderworking preacher and that one was Philip, for he's mentioned as such as you come over to chapter 8. Two of the seven we know were powerful preachers. It may well be that the other five were involved in such a ministry also. So they would be more like apostles, more like evangelists then they would be like the actual role of deacon as we understand it in the pastoral epistles.
So having touched all those bases, let's go back to 1 Timothy chapter 3 and just briefly touch that chapter in our thought. When you come to 1 Timothy 3 it's about 64 A.D. in the church. The church has been around long enough. Christ has been crucified just after 30 A.D. The church has been around for 30 years. Its grown, its developed. Paul's had his effective ministry. Others have ministered. And the church at Ephesus to which Paul is writing this letter really to them through Timothy, Timothy is there trying to set things order in the church...but the church at Ephesus has grown, its developed, it's had its leadership trained by Paul for three years, according to Acts 20. It's a well developed church. It had become very apparent in that church that they needed not only teachers of the Word who were the overseers and elders, leaders of the church, those with the authority, but they also needed implementors, and administrators and workers to carry that out. And so by now there is a growing number of people who rise to places of official service. And what Paul is saying to Timothy here is, "Look, you can't just let anybody do that."
There is a level of service we're all engaged in, there is a level of service for those with spiritual gifts. But there is a level of service in representation of the church which carries the authority of the elders and the authority of the pastors for which people must be properly qualified. And so here, and it's really obscure as to when the actual transition took place in history, we don't know, but by the time you come to 1 Timothy there has developed the recognition that a church must have a group of servers who are recognized as models of spiritual virtue in the role of a servant. And again I go back to what I said at the beginning that the purpose of servants at this level is to be examples. They set the spiritual standard of what service ought to be that all the rest of us are to follow.
And again, there's nothing said here about specific duties. No duty of a deacon is given here. It doesn't say anything. All it talks about is characteristics. You say, "Well what did deacons do?" Well they did whatever the pastors directed them to do. It's a pretty simple task. I mean, if you want to ask me how to define my task I could sum it up, I guess, very simply in this, win, teach, train, send...win, teach, train, send. You just keep cycling people through that all the time. Nobody needs to work very hard at figuring out what we're supposed to do, we teach the Word of God. Why? To win people to Christ. Why? So they can grow in the faith. Why? So they can be trained to do that very same thing and we send them out to do it. Very simple, it's just that constant cycle. We know the task very well.
Well what do the deacons do? Well the deacons help you implement the task. That's the function of serving...of serving. So the Bible doesn't really specify the task because the task is simple. If we're going to evangelize the world, and the elders and pastors give some direction as to how that's to go, the deacons implement. The distinction is their primary emphasis is not in teaching. Now let me say this. That doesn't mean they can't teach or don't teach. Quite the contrary. They may teach and they perhaps should teach...they should certainly be strong in sound doctrine. And if they're doing any kind of spiritual service, that service ought to be controlled within the parameters of their understanding of sound doctrine. And their interface with people ought to be controlled by their understanding of sound doctrine. They ought to be as those men were in Acts 6, full of faith, full of the Spirit, full of power. They ought to be honest people. They ought to have integrity of life and all of that. To say that they are not the primary teachers of the church doesn't mean that they are ignorant theologically. Not at all. Verse 9 says, "They hold the mystery of the faith, not only holding it right but holding it in a pure conscience." Which means they not only know the truth but they live the truth.
So the issue again here is the character of the person's life. Now let me sum up what we've said. Everybody in the church serves. Some people serve with very unique gifts and some people serve in an office. That can be men or as verse 11 indicates also it can be women. In Grace Church we have hundreds of deacons and deaconesses. I'd be interested, how many of you this morning are deacon or deaconess at Grace Church, put your hand up. You look around, you see them everywhere. Okay, and it was equally so in the first service. I don't know exactly but my guess would be between four and five hundred, would that be close? I think so...deacons and deaconesses. And just each year we have a list of them that we believe are qualified to serve in those areas. They are not the only people at Grace Church who serve, if they were they couldn't accomplish their goals. In many cases they are trying to network the service responsibility through the whole congregation, that has been laid down by the elders under the Spirit's direction. But everybody serves. Everybody serves. These people become the models.
And as I said, you don't look at it and say, "Well, there's a guy with a messed up life we better not make him an elder, we'll make him a deacon." That isn't it at all. The people from the spiritual standpoint are at the same level. The qualifications are the same. It is that they carry out the function that is designed by and led by the overseers in the church. It's a beautiful beautiful way that God has designed their leadership. And may I hasten to say that I believe with all my heart that deacons have to be and whether they're male or female, considered as leaders in the church. They are leaders. They lead by example. They lead by function. They are leaders in the church. Every church needs not only the pastoral leadership but the servant leadership. We couldn't get anything done if it weren't for these marvelous deacons, men and women, who carry out the administration, the implementation, and the application.
I believe, for example, that you can have a group of elders who spend all their time studying the Word of God and under them all the administrators of the church can be deacons. It is our custom and policy as a church that anyone who serves on the church staff in any capacity be qualified by these standards as a deacon or deaconess. We use the term deaconess though there's no Greek term for that. Anyone who is employed at Grace Church in any function of ministry where they serve under the direction of the elders must qualify as a deacon or deaconess because that is the group of people that set the standard for spiritual service. It is a premium standard. And the only issue in the text here is not their function, it's not their duties, it's their character. As always, and you can boil it down to this, as always the whole thing in the church is example, godly examples for the rest to follow.
Well next Lord's day we're going to look specifically starting at verse 8 digging into the characteristics of deacons. Let's bow together in prayer.
Thank You, Lord, for calling us into Your service. We think of the words of Paul who said that he was a blasphemer, and injurious, but You were gracious and merciful and put him into the diakonia. You put him in Your service. O what a joy to be in Your service. We bless Your name for such a holy privilege. Father, help us all, everyone of us, to know the accountability that we all have to serve You. Lord, bless those who specifically have the gifts of serving, the gifts of helps. And Lord God, bless those who are deacons, deaconesses who stand as the examples to the whole church of what a spiritual servant is to be like. Help us, Lord, not to be content to say, "Well, I'm just on the edge, I'm on the fringe. Not much is required of me." But, Lord God, help us to follow the spiritual pattern of those who set the example that the church may be all that You would have it to be which is to be like Jesus Christ. We pray in His name. Amen.
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turbinedude wrote:Shadow Cliffs Recreational Area:
*Snack Bar Alert
Super difficult launch especially if you a sporting a 12 due to asphalt launch pad with large oak tree obstacles and wind shadows. Launch difficulty reduced to 3 if you have a friend to place you kite out on the water for a water relaunch. Once out on the water smooth sailing ahead with nothing but glass. There exists aluminum boat docks suitable for grinding purposes. Friendly people and even a snack bar. Must not enter designated swim zone, dump a kite in adjacent mining plant, or have any motorized vehicles of any type on the lake
University Marina:
*Dog Alert
Very Dangerous water approach. Requires climbing down rocks to access water with kite in the air. If wind prevails you may take a 1 km journey to Golden Gate Fields "Racetrack" to land kite or water land kite prior to climbing back up rocks. West facing waters showcase concrete wall riding surfaces. For all levels of kiters it is extremely easy to launch your kites due to launch well kept grassy fields. This makes this ideal for teaching people how to fly kites. There are trails traversing a multitude of directions enabling beginners to take static flying to a dynamic level by hopping onto an all terrain mountainboard. Watch out for dog dungs, neighboring paraglider beginners, RC pilot airspace, and endangered CA Tiger salamanders.
*Inverse Moat Alert
Requires launching your kite from another location and sailing to the rock perimeter surrounding the smoothest patch of isolated water in East Bay post-shadowed by castle ruins. To access water one must possess aerial clearance abilities to pass 3 feet of vertical height and 7 feet horizontal distance.
Duuuuuude. What are you on?


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Testimony Before the Subcommittee on Capital Markets, Insurance, and Government Sponsored Enterprises
Interim CEO
Committee on Financial Services
U.S. House of Representatives
Chairman Kanjorski, Ranking Member Garrett and Members of the Subcommittee:
I am Steve Luparello and I currently serve as Interim CEO of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, or FINRA. On behalf of FINRA, I would like to thank you for the opportunity to testify today.
Unfortunately, we are all here today because the fraud that Bernard Madoff orchestrated has had tragic results for investors large and small who entrusted their money to him. Investors are disillusioned and angry, and are rightfully asking what happened to the system that was meant to protect them. It certainly appears that Madoff knew well the seams in that system that separated functional lines of regulation, and perhaps that knowledge assisted him in avoiding detection and defrauding so many unsuspecting individuals and institutions. By all accounts, it appears that Mr. Madoff engaged in deceptive and manipulative conduct for an extended period of time during which he defrauded the customers who invested with him and misled those who had the responsibility to regulate him.
Even so, Mr. Madoff's alleged fraud highlights how our current fragmented regulatory system can allow bad actors to engage in misconduct outside the view and reach of some regulators. It is undeniable that, in this instance, the system failed to protect investors. Investor protection is the core of FINRA's mission, and we share your commitment to identifying the regulatory gaps and weaknesses that allowed this fraud to go undetected, as well as potential changes to the regulatory framework that could prevent it from happening in the future.
FINRA is the largest non-governmental regulator for securities brokerage firms doing business in the United States. Congress mandated the creation of FINRA's predecessor, NASD, in 1938. Congress limited our authority to the enforcement of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the rules of the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board and FINRA rules. Under our fragmented system, broker-dealers are regulated under the Securities Exchange Act and investment advisers are regulated under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940. FINRA is not authorized to enforce compliance with the Investment Advisers Act. Authority to enforce that Act is granted solely to the SEC and to the states.
FINRA registers and educates industry participants, examines broker-dealers and writes rules that those broker-dealers must follow; enforces those rules and the federal securities laws; and informs and educates the investing public. All told, FINRA oversees approximately 5,000 brokerage firms, about 172,000 branch offices and almost 665,000 registered securities representatives.
FINRA has a robust examination program with dedicated resources, including more than 1,000 employees. In administering our exam program, FINRA conducts both routine and cause examinations. Routine examinations are conducted on a regular schedule that is established based on a risk-profile model. This risk-profile model is very important: It permits us to focus our resources on the sources of most likely harm to average investors, and allows us to conduct our examinations more efficiently. We apply our risk-profile model according to the risks presented by each firm, and it is tailored according to the business that a particular firm conducts. Cause examinations are based on information that we receive, including investor complaints, referrals generated by our market surveillance systems, terminations of brokerage employees for cause, arbitrations and referrals from other regulators. FINRA consults with the SEC and state regulators about examination priorities and frequently conducts special "sweep" examinations with respect to issues of particular concern. In 2008, FINRA conducted over 2,500 routine examinations and nearly 7,000 cause examinations.
FINRA brings disciplinary actions against broker-dealers and their employees that may result in sanctions, including fines, suspensions from the business and, in egregious cases, expulsion from the industry. FINRA frequently requires broker-dealers to provide restitution to harmed investors and often imposes other conditions on a firm's business to prevent repeated wrongdoing. In 2008, FINRA instituted disciplinary action in 1,060 cases. FINRA collected over $28 million in fines, either ordered or secured agreements in principle for restitution in excess of $1.8 billion, expelled or suspended 20 firms, barred 363 individuals from the industry and suspended 325 others.
FINRA Oversight of Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities' Broker-Dealer Operations
Bernard Madoff's broker-dealer was registered with FINRA, and its predecessor organization, NASD, since 1960.
In its regulatory filings and FINRA examinations, the Madoff broker-dealer has consistently held itself out as a wholesale market-making firm; that means it was a firm that was in the business of executing, as a market maker, order flow that other broker-dealers directed to it for execution and otherwise trading securities for the risk of its own proprietary accounts. These relationships with other broker-dealers are treated under regulatory rules as counter-party rather than customer relationships. The Madoff broker-dealer consistently reported that 90 percent of its revenue was generated by market making and 10 percent by proprietary trading. The broker-dealer consistently represented to FINRA that it had no retail or institutional customer accounts, a position that would be consistent with the business model of a wholesale market-maker.
During the last 20 years, FINRA (or its predecessor, NASD) conducted regular exams of Madoff's broker-dealer operations at least every other year. Madoff's broker-dealer was on a two-year examination cycle because it engaged in market making and was self-clearing. Based on this business model, our examinations tended to focus on areas such as the firm's financial and operational condition, supervisory system, supervisory and internal controls, AML compliance, internal communications and business continuity plans. In addition, in 1996 we began a separate market regulation exam program for broker-dealers, and we have conducted that exam of the Madoff broker-dealer on an annual basis since 1997. The Trading and Market Making Examination Program (TMMS) focuses on trading-related issues and is designed to complement FINRA's automated surveillance programs, as well as FINRA's examination programs for sales practice and financial and operational rules. TMMS exams focus on trade reporting, order handling and supervision.
FINRA rules require any broker-dealer, including wholesale market makers such as Madoff, to comply with best execution and order-protection requirements for customer orders routed there by other broker-dealers, even though the executing broker-dealer does not have the direct customer relationship. The firm was also required to comply with recordkeeping and trade reporting requirements. The anti-fraud provisions of the federal securities laws and FINRA rules applied to the Madoff broker-dealer's trading with other broker-dealer counterparties.
In the course of FINRA's broker-dealer exams, we found no evidence of the fraud that Bernard Madoff carried out through its investment advisory business. While there have been some reports that victims of the fraud received statements from the Madoff broker-dealer, our examinations did not reveal the existence of customer relationships that the broker-dealer would have had in providing execution or custody of advisory assets, and they did not reveal that the Madoff broker-dealer in fact held client assets other than in a small number of inactive employee accounts. Also, FINRA did not receive customer complaints that might have alerted us to the existence of the alleged accounts.
It is worth noting that in 2006, when the SEC examined Madoff's advisory business, the only violation that it apparently found was the firm's failure to register. Our subsequent examination of the firm in 2007 was tailored to its wholesale market making operations, which resided in the broker-dealer.
Disciplinary Actions Related to Madoff
As discussed previously, the Madoff broker-dealer was subject to oversight by FINRA through, among other things, routine and cause examinations as well as more trading-focused exams. In addition, their trading was subject to oversight by our Market Regulation department. As a result, over the past ten years, the Madoff broker-dealer was subject to both formal and informal (non-public) discipline, including:
- censure and a $7,000 fine in July 2005 for limit-order display violations;
- censure and an $8,500 fine in February 2007 for limit-order display and Manning violations;
- censure and a $25,000 fine in August 2008 for violations relating to blue sheets; and
- 14 Cautionary Letters for technical trading and/or reporting violations.
Complaints Related to Madoff
FINRA has received and investigated 19 complaints against the Madoff broker-dealer since 1999. The complaints generally related to trade execution quality issues; none related to the investment advisory issues involved in the allegations against Bernard Madoff.
FINRA did not receive any whistleblower complaints alleging either frontrunning or Ponzi schemes at the Madoff money management business, nor did the SEC share the tip it received or alert FINRA to any concern that it may have had with the firm.
Issues Raised by the Madoff Fraud
Custody and Feeder Funds
FINRA's role as a regulator requires us to be mindful of changes in the markets, market structure and new products in designing our examinations and the focus of our regulatory programs. We also adapt our programs to information that we learn through implementing those programs, conversations with other market regulators or from the experiences of other regulators when there is a significant breakdown in the regulatory scheme as is the case in the Madoff situation.
Since learning of Mr. Madoff's arrest, FINRA has launched two broad reviews—one involving custody issues in joint broker-dealer/investment advisers and the other involving the role of broker-dealers as feeders or finders to money managers such as Madoff.
On the latter issue, FINRA launched an investigation to review the type of activity evident in the Madoff incident, in which finders or feeder funds referred business to a money manager or investment adviser. We are reviewing broker-dealers whose registered representatives may have referred clients to Madoff's advisory business. However, many of these finders and feeders are registered as investment advisers, not as broker-dealers, again compromising FINRA's reach in this important area.
Need for Greater Information Sharing and Oversight of Dual Registrants
Since the SEC has broad jurisdiction to examine both the broker-dealer and investment adviser lines of business, we would propose a more formalized information sharing process between the SEC and FINRA to identify potential problems with dually registered firms. This could include notifications of when the Commission requires an existing broker-dealer to register as an investment adviser, as well as sharing statements or representations made to the SEC by an investment adviser that may be pertinent to an exam of the broker-dealer.
Disparate Regulatory Oversight of Broker-Dealers and Investment Advisers
The Madoff affair illustrates how our fractured regulatory system can fail to protect investors. FINRA regulates broker-dealers, but not investment advisers, even though they provide services that are virtually indistinguishable to the average consumer. FINRA's authority, as noted above, does not extend to writing rules for, examining for or enforcing compliance with the Investment Advisers Act of 1940. That authority was granted to the SEC and the states. The limits of FINRA's jurisdiction have been recognized by the SEC, the Treasury Department in last year's Blueprint for Financial Markets, and by the investment adviser industry, which has always opposed the idea of FINRA or a FINRA-like organization to examine and enforce rules for registered advisers.
For years, FINRA has argued for regulatory reform, so that consumers can be protected no matter what type of financial professional they hire. NASD issued public statements as far back as the late 1980s on this subject. We've submitted public comments to the SEC and Treasury on this disparity. In 2008, FINRA's former CEO, Mary Schapiro, personally raised these issues with then-SEC Chairman Cox.
The absence of FINRA-type oversight of the investment adviser industry leaves their customers without an important layer of protection inherent in a vigorous examination and enforcement program and the imposition of specific rules and requirements. It simply makes no sense to deprive investment adviser customers of the same level of oversight that broker-dealer customers receive.
Broker-dealer regulation is subject to a very detailed set of rules established and enforced by FINRA that pertain to the conduct of advertising, customer account conduct and selling practices, limitations on compensation, financial responsibility, trading practices and reporting to FINRA of various statistical information used in the examination and enforcement practice. The investment advisory business is not subject to this level of regulation—even though many advisory services are virtually indistinguishable from the services of a broker-dealer.
According to the SEC, the population of registered investment advisers has increased by more than 40 percent in recent years. (In 2001, there were 7,400 advisers; there were almost 11,000 as of March 2008.) As the SEC's Director of the Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations stated last year, during this increase in the adviser population, "our examiner staffing levels have not increased. Given this fact, we came to the conclusion that our limited resources would best be used in examining those firms and issues that have the greatest potential to pose harm to investors." While the SEC has attempted to use risk assessment to focus its resources on the areas of greatest risk, the fact remains that the number and frequency of exams relative to the population of investment advisers has dwindled.
Need for Consistent Investor Protection Across Financial Services Channels
The type of investor protection gap inherent in the disparate treatment of broker-dealers and investment advisers is not isolated to that area. Unfortunately, our current fragmented system of financial regulation—where no single regulator has the full picture—leads to an environment where systemic and other risks may be left unchecked or go unnoticed, and investors are left without consistent and effective protections when dealing with financial professionals. Further, some products and services are completely outside the U.S. regulatory system.
FINRA believes that it should be simpler for investors to know exactly what product they're buying, the legal protections they are entitled to and the qualifications of the person selling it. We believe that the solution to this problem is through greater regulatory harmonization—creating a regulatory system that gives retail investors the same protections and rights no matter what product they buy. At the very least, investors should be able to enter into any transaction knowing that:
- every person selling a financial product is tested, qualified and licensed;
- the product's advertising is not misleading;
- every product sold is appropriate for them; and
- there is full, comprehensive disclosure for all products being sold.
Unfortunately, not all financial products come with these simple guarantees or protections.
Establishing consistency among these four areas of investor protection would be a key first step in harmonizing the financial regulatory system. And equally as important in order to be effective, strong oversight and enforcement programs must accompany these investor protection obligations.
As I stated at the outset, what has happened to Madoff's investors is tragic. Investigations are ongoing and more information, no doubt, will emerge to assist all of us in analyzing exactly how this alleged fraud was executed. But some facts are already clear: the structure of our current regulatory structure keeps some activities out of the sight of some regulators, and those gaps and inconsistencies leave investors without the protections they believe they are receiving.
When Americans are being asked to take on more of the responsibility to manage their own retirement funds and to save and invest for college tuition and mortgage down payments, they need a forward-thinking regulatory system to help them meet this growing responsibility. The individual investor is the most important player in the financial markets. Unfortunately, our system has not always sufficiently protected these individuals.
A point made earlier, but one which bears repeating, is that investors deserve a consistent level of protection no matter which financial professionals or products they choose. Creating a system of consistent standards and vigorous oversight of financial professionals—no matter which license they hold—would enhance investor protection and help restore trust in our markets.
FINRA is committed to working with other regulators and this Subcommittee as you consider how best to restructure the U.S. financial regulatory system.


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Main Content
welcome to the media studies department
Media is everywhere, and its influence is profound.
It shapes the world you live in. It shapes the way you live in the world.
It shapes who you are.
In the Department of Media Studies, you will earn your B.A. while you learn how to analyze media from the inside out. Explore how it changes your culture and the cultures of others.
You will learn to approach media with fresh eyes and new tools for critical analysis from economic, historical, social, aesthetic, psychological, political, and ethical perspectives.
And you will prepare for graduate study, and professional work in media-related fields.


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A couple of weeks ago, a memorial Mass for Michael was held here in Birmingham at the Cathedral. The bishop presided and offered a very nice, even charming homily in which he first focused on the Scripture readings of the day, and then turned to Michael, whom he remembered, among other things, as one who continually encouraged him, among other things, to keep his preaching rooted in the Scriptures.
I blogged about that before, and once the archives have moved over here, I will guide you there, if you are interested.
(Update: It's this post.)
The Responsorial Psalm at the Mass was Psalm 23.
The Lord is my Shepherd. There is nothing I shall want.
As I sat there listening and attempting to join my weak, unenthusiastic voice to the others, a question came to me.
There is nothing I shall want.
Really? I thought. Do I really believe that right now?
Why am I the only person I know..or even "know" in the Internet sense of "knowing" – who didn't hate it?
I didn't love it, either. There was a lot wrong with it. Weak
characterization. Miscasting. Anvil-wielding mentally ill prophets.
But here's the thing.
Whether or not Yates' original novel intended it, whether or not Mendes intended it in his adaptation, the movie did not come off to me like a blanket condemnation of late 50's soulless suburbia.
As I said to Michael as we left the theater, it very much felt to me like an expose of life – a person's life – without God.
No, I'm not going to ask you about your Lenten reading lists…although I might.
Not today, though. This post is about giving books to others. For Lent, and a long time after that.
How about….because I'm lame and hate thinking up titles to things?
Okay…how about…St. Benedict?


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Measuring Cisco's Ascendance in the Mobile Market
There is now dramatic evidence that Cisco's focus on intelligent, efficient, end-to-end services via the IP network is transforming the mobile vendor landscape. As mobile operators shift more of their expenditures from the RAN to the packet core to unleash innovative new services and to IP backhaul to more efficiently and economically offload data traffic, Cisco is becoming the vendor of choice.
Numbers Tell the Story
According to the Q3 2011 Worldwide Mobile IP Infrastructure report just published by ACG Research, mobile operators in large numbers are embracing the shift from radio-centric to IP-centric investments. That conclusion is based on these findings:
- Quarterly segment revenue has nearly doubled in three years: Since 2008, the worldwide mobile IP infrastructure market (mobile IP backbone, mobile IP backhaul, and packet core) has gone from $550 million in the first quarter of 2008 to more than $1 billion in the third quarter of 2011
- Brisk year-over-year growth: The total mobile IP infrastructure market grew 14% year over year – Q3 2011 vs. Q3 2010. This includes 10% growth in infrastructure for mobile IP backbone, 10% growth in infrastructure for mobile IP backhaul routing and switching, and 20% growth in infrastructure for packet core (which includes Mobile Packet Core covering 2G and 3G and Evolved Packet Core covering 4G)
Winners and Losers
The ACG study also shows where mobile operators are going for new infrastructure. With the Cisco Unified Computing System, Nexus switches, ASRs, Unified RAN Backhaul, Mobile Videoscape, Service Provider Wi-Fi, and much more―Cisco is not only capturing market share, we're displacing long-time mobile equipment vendors in the process.
We're just inches away from overtaking Ericsson in mobile packet core infrastructure with cumulative quarter/quarter gains. In other categories, Cisco is significantly ahead of historically dominant mobile vendors including Alcatel-Lucent, Huawei, Juniper, Ericsson, and Tellabs.
Why is Cisco gaining ground in the mobile market? Because Cisco is not perceived as a legacy radio vendor but as a transformational partner with its DNA in IP. We're helping operators turn their infrastructures into intelligent service creation vehicles, handle major capacity challenges, integrate cloud-based and third-party services, and do it all cost- and resource-efficiently.
See recent representative wins at Bell Mobility, Portugal Telecom, and Shaw Communications. These and other operators see that solving their challenges with Cisco solutions can lead to competitive advantages, lower TCO, and higher ARPU.
In an effort to keep conversations fresh, Cisco Blogs closes comments after 60 days. Please visit the Cisco Blogs hub page for the latest content.


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Goldfish crackers seem to be present wherever toddlers are found. The little goldfish crackers seem to be the perfect mate for little fingers. Myles is not quite toddling yet, but just as I've done advance reading to know what to expect, I also thought some advanced baking might be in order to learn the secret behind the goldfish goldmine. Are goldfish crackers something that I could easily make myself using a cheddar of my choosing? YES!
The hardest part of making goldfish crackers, as it turns out, is the time it takes to cut them out. Because the goldfish crackers are so tiny, a little dough goes a long way and you'll feel like the cookie cutter stage is never-ending. That being said, nothing is stopping you from making giant goldfish crackers if you so choose!
I found the goldfish cracker recipe on YumSugar and they got the recipe from Country Living.
Goldfish Crackers Made From Scratch
- 1 C all-purpose flour
- 4 T cold unsalted butter cut into small pieces
- 8 oz cheddar cheese This is the fun part! Pick out whatever type of cheddar that you like! I used orange cheddar for half of the fish, as shown above, and white cheddar for the other half, as shown below. Both cheddars that I used were extra sharp because that's how I like it!
- 1/2 t salt
- 1/2 t fresh-ground pepper
- A fish cookie cutter. I got mine from CopperGifts.
- Pulse the flour, butter, cheese, salt, and pepper together using a food processor until the mixture resembles coarse meal.
- Pulse in 3 to 4 tablespoons of water, one tablespoon at a time, and only enough so that the dough forms a ball and rides the blade.
- Remove, wrap in plastic, and chill for 20 minutes or up to 24 hours.
- Line 2 baking pans with parchment paper and set aside.
- Roll the dough out to 1/8-inch thickness. (If you roll it thicker, it will still work, but the crackers won't be quite as crunchy. This dough rolled out so easily; you'll wish that you always worked with cheddar!)
- Cut out as many crackers as possible.
- Place them 1 inch apart on the prepared baking pans.
- Bake at 350 F until golden and crisp - 15 to 20 minutes.


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This year's State of Homelessness report from the National Alliance to End Homelessness (NAEH) presents, in some ways, a rosier picture than last year's.
Big headline is that homelessness decreased between 2009 and 2011 — not only the overall rate, but the rates for people in families, veterans and the chronically homeless, i.e., individuals with disabilities, including mental illness and/or substance abuse disorders, who've been homeless for a long time or recurrently.
As I noted last year, NAEH relies, for want of an alternative, on the point-in-time counts conducted by communities that receive homelessness grants from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Its raw figures, therefore, understate the extent of homelessness. Gross changes, however, probably mean something, since the PIT flaws are relatively constant from year to year.
The greater limit in the headlined news is that the nationwide trends mask wide variations among states.
Figures for the District of Columbia are a good case in point. All but one buck the nationwide trends NAEH reports. This is moderately good news in one case. Bad in the rest.
Overall homelessness. In 2011, as compared to 2009, the overall nationwide homeless rate decreased 1.1%. But in the District, it increased 5.11%. Nearly half the states also experienced increases.
Homelessness among people in families. Homelessness in this population, i.e., adults and children who were together when counted, decreased 3.39% nationwide. In the District, it increased 17.8%. There were also increases in 20 states.
Chronic homelessness. The chronic homelessness rate decreased 3.39% nationwide. In the District, it increased 8.84%. Rates also went up in 18 states.
Veterans homelessness. By far and away the biggest progress here — undoubtedly due to the big push at the federal level. Nationwide, the veterans homelessness rate decreased 10.73%. Rates also decreased in 35 states.
Here the District follows the national trend, with a drop of 19.78%. But no state wound up in 2011 with nearly as high a percentage of homeless veterans in its population.
Unsheltered homelessness. Nationwide, the unsheltered homelessness rate, i.e., the percent of homeless people found on the streets or "in other places not meant for human habitation," rose 1.64%.
But it was 4.98% lower in the District. Rates were also lower in 22 states. As with the District, however, the percentages generally reflect very small numerical changes.
So what do we make of all of this?
For NAEH, the big message is that the temporary Homelessness Prevention and Rapid Re-Housing Program created by the Recovery Act worked.
Though nationwide homelessness rates didn't decline much, they would surely have risen, it says, without the funds communities got for a variety of short-shot types of assistance, e.g., payment of overdue rent or a utilities bill, funds for a security deposit and/or first month's rent.
So now that communities have exhausted their HPRP funds — or soon will — Congress should put more money into the regular homelessness grants program.
No argument from me about that.
But the state of homelessness in the District — and elsewhere — suggests that funds targeted to people who've lost their housing or soon will won't be enough to end homelessness in our lifetime.
The NAEH report, in fact, indicates as much in two very interesting chapters on risk factors for future homelessness.
Too interesting to cram into this post. So I'll leave them for another.
But without giving the plot away, I'll say here that the risk factors point to the need for a range of investments, including funds for lots more affordable housing.
Photo credit: SamPac