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News for December 14, 2007Energy source of northern lights found Associated Press (December 14, 2007) - Scientists think they have discovered the energy source of the spectacular color displays seen in the northern lights. New data from NASA's Themis mission, a quintet of satellites launched this winter, found the energy comes from a stream of charged particles from the sun flowing like a current through twisted bundles of magnetic fields connecting Earth's upper atmosphere to the sun. The energy is then abruptly released in the form of a shimmering display of lights visible in the upper latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere, said principal investigator Vassilis Angelopoulos of the University of California, Los Angeles. Results were presented Tuesday at the American Geophysical Union meeting. In March, the satellites detected a burst of northern lights, or auroras borealis, over Alaska and Canada. During the two-hour light show, the satellites measured particle flow and magnetic fields from space. To scientists' surprise, the geomagnetic storm powering the auroras raced 400 miles in a minute across the sky. Angelopoulos estimated the storm's power was equal to the energy released by a magnitude 5.5 earthquake. "Nature was very kind to us," Angelopoulos said. Although researchers have suspected the existence of wound-up bundles of magnetic fields that provide energy for the auroras, the phenomenon was not confirmed until May, when the satellites became the first to map their structure some 40,000 miles above the Earth's surface. Scientists hope the satellites will record a geomagnetic storm next year that's now in the making, and end the debate about when the storms are triggered.
New England digs out after record snowfall
Reuters (December 14, 2007) - New England
dug out on Friday from a record-setting storm that dumped 10 inches of snow
on Boston, more than the city typically sees in the entire month of December.
Thursday's storm hit hours before the afternoon commute, snarling roadways
and leaving some travelers -- many of whom left their offices early only
to face the storm's full force on the road -- stranded for hours during
their trips home. Others had to abandon their cars or sleep in them after
running out of fuel, local media reported. More than 400 flights were canceled
at Boston Logan International Airport. The National Weather Service said
the region could expect another blast over the weekend, when a second storm
is expected to drop 6 inches of snow and sleet starting on Saturday evening. "It
is a powerful Northeaster," said Charlie Foley, a meteorologist at
the National Weather Service in Taunton, Massachusetts. "The difference
in this storm is that it is going to occur during the overnight hours and
on the weekend, so we wouldn't expect it to have the impact that this thing
yesterday did. Thursday's snowfall set a new one-day record for December
13, and was more than the 7.8 inches that typically falls during the entire
month of December. Foley said temperatures were expected to reach 40 degrees
Fahrenheit (4 C) on Friday, warm enough to melt some of the snow. Logan
Airport had returned to normal operations by Friday, with about 41 outbound
flights canceled, said spokesman Phil Orlandella. "The airlines will
have to play catch up for a couple of days," Orlandella said. "It's
not a madhouse here, things are moving pretty well." He said airport
management did not yet know how their operations would be affected by the
coming weekend storm.
Ahmadinejad invited to be pilgrim BBC News
(December 13, 2007) - It will be Mr Ahmadinejad's
third visit to Saudi Arabia, seat of the Kaaba. Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
will this week become the first sitting president of the Islamic republic
to perform the pilgrimage to Mecca, his office said. It follows
a formal invitation from King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, seat of the Islamic
holy places and a long-time regional rival of revolutionary Iran. It is
not clear if he has performed the Hajj before, or if past presidents have
been to Mecca after leaving office. An official said the invitation was
an important event in Saudi-Iranian ties. "It is the first
time in the history of relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia that the
king of this country invites a president of the Islamic republic to make
the pilgrimage to Mecca," said presidential aide Ali Akbar
Javanfekr. Relations between revolutionary, Shia Iran and the conservative,
Sunni monarchy of Saudi Arabia have been steadily improving since the first
visit to Riyadh by an Iranian president in 1999. Twelve years earlier, more
than 400 people, mostly Iranians, were killed in clashes between Iranians
and Saudi security forces during the Hajj. Earlier this month Mr Ahmadinejad
became the first Iranian president to attend the annual summit of six Arab
Gulf states - all strong US allies - in neighbouring Qatar. Iran and Mr
Ahmadinejad in particular are among Washington's most vocal critics in the
region. It will be his third visit to Saudi Arabia as president. The pilgrimage
rites, which last for five days and are performed by at least 1.5 million
Muslims, are expected to begin on 18 December.
EU leaders sign landmark treaty BBC News
(December 13, 2007) - EU leaders have signed
a treaty in the Portuguese capital, Lisbon, that is expected to greatly
alter the way the 27-nation body operates. The treaty creates an EU president
and a more powerful foreign policy chief. The document, signed at a ceremony
at the city's historic Jeronimos Monastery, also scraps veto powers
in many policy areas. It is a replacement for the EU constitution,
which was abandoned following French and Dutch opposition. EU leaders insist
that the two texts are in no way equivalent. But the Lisbon treaty incorporates
some of the draft constitution's key reforms, and several governments face
domestic pressure over the document. In a speech before the signing, European
Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso called on European leaders to use
the treaty to make freedom, prosperity and solidarity an everyday reality
for all European citizens. "From this old continent, a new Europe is
born," he said. Portuguese Prime Minister Jose Socrates, whose country
holds the rotating EU presidency, said the treaty would create a more modern,
efficient and democratic union. "The world needs a stronger Europe,"
he said. The leaders signed the treaty, translated into the EU's 23 official
languages, using specially engraved silver fountain pens as a choir sang
Beethoven's Ode to Joy. UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown signed the treaty
later in the day after missing the ceremony, citing a prior engagement in
the British parliament. Foreign Secretary David Miliband attended the signing
ceremony. The UK's opposition Conservatives accused Mr Brown of "not
having the guts" to sign the treaty, which is politically controversial
in Britain, in public. Having started this year with a celebration of its
50th birthday, the EU hopes the signing of the Lisbon treaty will end the
serious mid-life crisis brought about by the death of the constitution,
the BBC's Oana Lungescu reports. There will be a lot of relief, said a senior
European diplomat, but also some apprehension about what happens next. Ireland
is the only country planning to hold a referendum, but most voters there
seem either undecided or indifferent. Parliaments in Britain, the Netherlands
and Denmark are also expected to give a turbulent reception to the 250-page
text. However, Germany, France and Poland have pledged to be among the first
to ratify it, so that the new reforms can come into force in 2009 as planned.
The treaty is a slimmed-down version of the European constitution, with
a more modest name and without any reference to EU symbols such as the flag
and anthem. It is meant to ease decision-making, by scrapping national
vetoes in some 50 policy areas, including sensitive ones such as
police and judicial co-operation. There will also be a foreign
policy chief, controlling a big budget and thousands of diplomats and officials,
and a permanent EU president appointed for up to five years. But some already
fear that instead of giving Europe a strong single voice in the world, the
new posts will only generate more rivalry, our correspondent adds. According to Bible prophecy, this consolidation of power will continue despite opposition to it and eventually all will wonder at the beast and worship him when he declares himself god. Except those for whom the coming war on the saints will be waged. Revelation 13:4-8
Children promise to 'wipe out' Zionists WorldNet
Daily (December 13, 2007) - Two children
have made an appearance on Hamas Television's children's show called "Liberate"
to exhort a liberation of the Al-Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem,
and to promise to "wipe out" Zionists. The
new video captured from Hamas Television is being made available by
the Middle East Media Research Institute, which monitors and publicizes
media reports throughout the Middle East. MEMRI also
has a web page that is devoted to Al-Aqsa television clips. The boy,
in the Dec. 3, 2007, appearance, launches the message: "My beloved
brothers, as you know, today the Al-Aqsa Mosque is crying out: 'Where are
the people of the frontline, the Palestinian people?' Yes, my dear brothers,
that is the Al-Aqsa Mosque. The subject of our lesson today is Jerusalem,
to where your Prophet made his nocturnal journey - the Al-Aqsa Mosque,"
he says. "Yes, my beloved brothers, as you know today, and as you knew
yesterday and the day before, the Al-Aqsa Mosque has fallen into oppressing
and malicious hands, the hands of those who know nothing but injustice.
But let me tell you how the Al-Aqsa Mosque will be returned, how we shall
rescue it from the shackles of the occupation, from the shackles of the
Zionist entity. "Will it be through conferences? No, not through conferences,
but by means of force, because the Zionist entity, your enemy, the enemy
of Allah, the enemy of Islam, knows nothing but injustice and the killing
of Palestinians, the persevering people on the frontline. Indeed, the [mosque]
will be returned only by means of force," he says. He continues to
warn about "what the Zionist enemy has done," lumping Israel and
America together. "But is it too late? No, it is not too late. If we
all unite, the Al-Aqsa Mosque will not remain in the hands of the Zionist
enemy, it will not remain in the hands of your enemy, despite all their
conspiracies against the Palestinian people…" the boy says. The girl
then takes over, saying, "To Al-Aqsa, to Al-Aqsa - we shall unite our
ranks. We will wipe out the people of Zion, and will not leave a single
one of them." The mosque has been the subject of discussion in recent
weeks, as President Bush's Annapolis summit was held with the intention
of getting a focus on the issues that remain to be negotiated for a two-state
Middle East, a goal he has set to reach before his second term expires in
a little more than a year. Jerusalem and the Temple Mount have been included
in those talks, and Palestinian leaders have told WND Israeli Prime Minister
Ehud Olmert has expressed a willingness to give up control of the Temple
Mount. That is the location of the Al-Aqsa Mosque, which was built on the
location where the first and second Jewish temples, once housing the Holy
of Holies and the Ark of the Covenant, stood. The Temple Mount currently
is under Israeli control, but both Jews and Christians are barred from praying
there. It was opened to the general public until 2000, when Palestinians
launched an intifada by throwing stones at Jewish worshipers. The Israeli
government closed the Mount to non-Muslims, but reopened it in 2003. The
mosque, however, falls under control of the Waqf, which monitors and enforces
its rules against visitors. The mosque was built around A.D. 709.
Revealed: Israel agreed to forfeit Temple Mount
WorldNet Daily (December
13, 2007) - In spite of longstanding denials by top officials here,
the Israeli government in 2000 agreed to relinquish the Temple Mount – Judaism's
holiest site – to the Palestinians during U.S.-backed negotiations, according
to declassified documents made public today. The information comes as Prime
Minister Ehud Olmert earlier this month denied talks started at November's
Annapolis summit would lead to Israel giving up its sovereignty over the
Temple Mount, while chief Palestinian negotiators tell WND the Jewish state
already agreed to forfeit Judaism's holiest site to a coalition of Arab
countries. According to declassified Israeli government documents published
today by Israel's Haaretz newspaper, during U.S.-led negotiations in 2000
at Camp David, Ehud Barak, then prime minister, agreed sovereignty over
the Temple Mount would be either "ambiguous" or control would
be determined based on the bond of each party to the site. The Palestinians
would therefore control the upper sections of the Mount, which houses the
Al Aqsa Mosque and also is the site of the First and Second Jewish Temples.
The 2000 negotiations fell through after Palestinian President Yasser Arafat
rejected an offer of a Palestinian state in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and
eastern sections of Jerusalem. Barak at times denied he offered the Temple
Mount to the Palestinians, but he also indicated during interviews he was
willing to compromise over the site. Haaretz published excerpts from a 26-page
document it obtained, signed by Barak's negotiator Gilad Sher and said to
be summaries of Israeli-Palestinian negotiations. The document was titled "The
Status of the Diplomatic Process with the Palestinians Points to Update
the Incoming Prime Minister." Sher also wrote in his book published
after the 2000 negotiations, titled "Beyond Reach," that President
Bill Clinton floated a plan that called for the Temple Mount to become Palestinian
sovereign territory, while the Western Wall below and its complex would
fall under Israeli sovereignty. Barak was said to have initially rejected
that plan, but according to participants at the negotiations summit, he
was ultimately willing to forfeit the Temple Mount. The 26-page document
published by Haaretz also said Barak was willing to give up most of the
West Bank and split Jerusalem into two capitals, one called Jerusalem and
another Al-Quds. Negotiations would have seen Arab sections of Jerusalem
being turned over to the Palestinians. The release of the document follow's
last month's Annapolis summit at which Olmert committed to aim at creating
a Palestinian state before the end of next year, handing strategic territory
to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. In a briefing to reporters
upon returning to Israel from Annapolis, Olmert claimed Israel's sovereignty
over the Temple Mount is not up for discussion. He said negotiations started
at this week's Annapolis summit had no bearing on the situation on the Temple
Mount. But a chief Palestinian negotiator,
speaking to WND on condition of anonymity, said Olmert's denials were "false." "What
Olmert said (regarding the Mount) is absolutely false. I think he's not
yet ready to tell the Israeli public and is waiting for the right time,
and he fears his coalition with religious extremists will fall apart if
he announces it now," said the negotiator. Olmert's maintains a government
coalition with the religious Shas party and Russian Yisroel Beiteinu party,
but if those two bolt, the prime minister could create a new coalition with
leftist parties. The chief Palestinian negotiator said that in the months
leading up to Annapolis, the Palestinian team was "surprised"
by Olmert's willingness to give up the Mount. "We had intense debates
on many topics, which remain open and unsettled, but the Harem Al-Sharif
(Temple Mount) is not a sticking point. The Israelis didn't argue with us.
We were pleasantly surprised Olmert didn't debate about giving the lower
section of the [Mount] either, which was a sticking point in the past."
more... I believe the Temple Mount will be handed over in the dividing of Israel, but I also believe that the temple will be rebuilt, just the inner court, once God reveals Himself to Israel in the destruction of the Magog invaders from Russia, Turkey, Iran, Libya and others. The attitude of Israel and the world will shift dramatically, I believe, once God shows Himself in defense of Israel.
Gore: US blocking climate talks progress Associated
Press (December 13, 2007) - Nobel laureate
Al Gore accused the United States on Thursday of blocking progress at the
U.N. climate conference, and European nations threatened to boycott U.S.-led
climate talks next month unless Washington compromises on emissions reductions.
The former vice president urged delegates to take urgent action to reduce
emissions of greenhouse gases blamed for global warming, and told them that
the next U.S. president will likely be more supportive of international
caps on polluting gases. "My own country, the United States, is principally
responsible for obstructing progress here in Bali," said Gore, who
flew to Bali from Oslo, Norway, where he received the Nobel Peace Prize
for helping alert the world to the danger of climate change. Asked about
Gore's charge, Kristen Hellmer, a member of the American delegation in Bali,
said: "The U.S. is being open and working very constructively with
the other countries that are here. We are rolling our sleeves up and really
working to come up with a global post-2012 framework." Earlier, the
United Nations warned that time was running out for an agreement aimed at
launching negotiations for a successor to the Kyoto Protocol when it expires
in 2012 and the talks in Bali were in danger of "falling to pieces."
The United States, Japan and several other governments are refusing to accept
language in a draft document suggesting that industrialized nations consider
cutting emissions by 25 percent to 40 percent by 2020, saying specific targets
would limit the scope of future talks. European nations said they may boycott
a U.S.-led climate meeting next month unless Washington compromises. "No
result in Bali means no Major Economies Meeting," said Sigmar Gabriel,
top EU environment official from Germany, referring to a series of separate
climate talks initiated by President Bush in September. "This is the
clear position of the EU. I do not know what we should talk about if there
is no target." The European Union and others say the proposed emissions
caps reflect the measures scientists say are needed to rein in global warming
and head off predictions of rising sea levels, worsening floods and droughts,
and the extinction of plant and animal species. The U.S. invited 16 other
major economies, including European countries, Japan, China and India, to
discuss a program of what are expected to be nationally determined, voluntary
cutbacks in greenhouse gas emissions. more...
Russia, France, Germany, Algeria and US Training Fatah Commandos
Israel National News
(December 13, 2007) - PA Arabs belonging to
the Fatah terrorist group loyal to PA President Mahmoud Abbas are being
trained in Russia, France, Germany and Algeria for “counter-terror” operations
against Hamas. According to the New York Daily News, the PA forces are receiving
covert training at a secret Russian base in Moscow in an effort to stave
off a Hamas takeover of Judea and Samaria. The Fatah men are being trained
by Russian commandos who fought Islamist terrorists in Chechnya. The PA
force is named “al-Himaya Wal-Isnad" (defense and reinforcement) according
to the report and includes 25 PA intelligence officers. The course will
last for a month and will involve extensive weapons and combat training.
According to the Daily News report, similar training courses are being provided
in France, Germany and Algeria – with plans to send PA units to other countries
for training as well. "They are getting good training over there,"
PA official Dr. Ibrahim Khraishi told the Daily News. Meanwhile,
in Judea and Samaria, PA forces continue to receive equipment and training
from the US, with General Keith Dayton continuing to oversee the program
even after the American-supplied arms and equipment supplied to Fatah in
Gaza was inherited by Hamas with little resistance shown by Fatah forces.
Dayton even testified to Congress just a few weeks before the fall of Fatah
in Gaza, saying that the PA forces his men trained had progressed significantly.
Abu Yousuf, a Fatah terrorist from Abba's own Force 17 security forces,
told WorldNetDaily earlier this year that while some of the weapons may
be used in confrontations against Hamas, the bulk of the American
arms and training would be utilized to "hit the Zionists."
He also said if there is a major conflict with Israel, U.S. weapons provided
to Fatah may be shared with other "Palestinian resistance organizations." What side are we on? The bottom line is that Islam has a common enemy, everyone that isn't Muslim - and especially hatred for Israel. So could this conflict between Hamas and Fatah a deceptive way to get arms for their future plans to destroy the nation of Israel as foretold in the Bible? How far does this conspiracy go? Are our leaders really that ignorant? What is the goal of Islam?
Free-trade fears dog both parties in U.S. campaign
Reuters (December
13, 2007) - Democratic candidates running for president can expect
to get a question about the perils of free trade at nearly every campaign
stop. But Republicans aren't escaping fears about globalization, either. "Everything
you pick up is made in China," a voter told Republican Mitt Romney
at a recent event here in Iowa's capital. "We used to make cars, we
used to make TVs." How, the questioner wanted to know, can America
find a "secure place" in that kind of global marketplace? Romney,
a front-runner in the early presidential nominating state of Iowa, spent
a minute telling the man what he wanted to hear before explaining why it
couldn't be done. It's tempting to "build a wall around this country
and keep those foreign goods from coming in," the former Massachusetts
governor said. "That sounds good for a while but think about what happens
down the road." Explaining the benefits of free trade has become a
tough task for candidates ahead of the November 2008 presidential election,
as rising fears about unsafe imports and a backlash against illegal immigrants
make any mention of foreign goods or labor a flash point for voter anger.
Echoing the stand of most of his Republican colleagues, Romney told the
concerned voter that fair trade conditions must be in place, before going
on to chastise China for manipulating its currency to give itself a trade
advantage. Whether the question to candidates is about foreign-made goods,
job losses overseas or illegal immigrants taking American jobs, prevailing
sentiment against globalization has become a feature of the U.S. campaign
trail. While the Republican Party used to be a bastion of free-market believers
-- and Democrats embraced free trade under former President Bill Clinton
-- an October poll by the Wall Street Journal found even 59 percent of Republicans
now believe foreign trade has been bad for the United States. more...
Colorado Church Gunman Left Twisted Trail ABC
News (December 13, 2007) - Matthew
Murray's world was haunted by demons. Somehow, a child of a prominent doctor,
someone who was home schooled in a comfortable Denver suburb, evolved from
would-be Christian missionary to a killer trying to rain Columbine down
on the Christian world. A family spokesman said Murray grew up in a loving
home. But other interviews and what appear to be Murray's own online ramblings
portray a disturbed individual who resented his sheltered upbringing, had
problems with his mother, heard voices in his head, felt rejected and abused
and yet appeared to be searching for a place to belong. He sought refuge
in everything from an online forum for recovering Pentecostals to an occult
group. Those volatile ingredients combined Sunday morning when the 24-year-old
Murray killed five people, including himself, and injured several others
in a rampage that spanned 70 miles, from a missionary training center that
expelled Murray to Colorado Springs' New Life Church, a symbol of the Pentecostal
and charismatic Christianity he so despised. Murray, as promised on the
Web, came "armed to the teeth" with an assault rifle, handguns
and 1,000 rounds of ammunition. An armed church security guard, a new Christian
believer, cut him down in a spray of bullets before he could carry out even
more violence. An autopsy showed Murray delivered the final, fatal shot
to himself. By all accounts, Matthew Murray grew up in a deeply Christian
home. His father, Ronald, is a well-known neurologist who helped develop
a tissue bank used by researchers fighting multiple sclerosis. His mother,
Loretta, worked as a physical therapist before devoting herself to raising
and home-schooling her two boys, Matthew and his brother, Chris. "Matthew
Murray was surrounded by love and support," Casey Nikoloric, a family
friend and patient of Ronald Murray's, told The Associated Press on Wednesday. "His
family is heartbroken, devastated and simply lost in grief." Most information
about Murray has become known in recent days through ranting Internet posts
that appear to be the shooter's words. On one, a poster called Chrstnghtmr
complained of not being able to "socialize normally" after being
home schooled and described being an outcast who was always left out of
everything. Children reach a village with the Gospel in India Mission Network News (December 13, 2007) - A church planter in India's Assam State was struggling to launch a Bible-based Adult Literacy class. Elian had trained through Grand Rapids, Michigan-based Mission India. Many times, he tried approaching homes in the area and offered to pray with the residents. But most people slammed the door in Elian's face. Hoping to share the Gospel as he developed a relationship with people, he tried to generate an adult literacy class, but again, as most of the adults were tired after a long day in the fields, Elian got discouraging response. Although he couldn't get the adults interested in coming, he noticed the children in the villages were unattended during the day. There wasn't a school in the area, but Elian was there. Since his church planting materials included information on how to start a Children's Bible Club, he decided to try it. According to Mission India, the day he decided to start it, he stood at the roadside where he knew the children would pass by him, and he began to sing. Soon, he had a crowd of children around him, singing and dancing to worship songs. Since that day, Elian's ministry in the northeastern state of Assam has grown. Just as he hoped, the children shared the songs and Bible stories with their parents at night. At least 10 families are now following Jesus. If you want to provide training for a church planter like Elian, click here.
Russia-Iran trade doubles to $2.2 bln in 9M07 - official
Russian News & Information Agency
(December 12, 2007) - Trade between Russia
and Iran more than doubled in January-September 2007 to $2.2 billion, the
Russian co-chairman of the bilateral inter-governmental commission said
on Thursday. Sergei Kiriyenko, who was yesterday appointed by the Russian
president to head state-controlled nuclear power corporation Rosatom, and
Iran's Foreign Minister Manuchehr Mottaki chaired on Thursday a session
of the inter-governmental commission. Iran has proposed that both countries
should establish consortiums in electric power, energy and other spheres
and set up an investment fund for the implementation of joint projects,
Mottaki said. "The establishment of a gas company could become another
area of mutual cooperation," Mottaki said. The Iranian diplomat also
said the drafts of Russian-Iranian agreements on air transport and investment
were almost ready and could be signed soon.
Gold & Mortgage Failure Avalanche Financial
Sense (December 12, 2007) - An avalanche
comes in 2008. Its wreckage will hit both the USEconomy and banking world.
The greatest deception in the bank sector this year has been the misrepresentation
of the mortgage debacle as a subprime problem. That is akin to calling
an iceberg only a problem for what one can see, when 90% of its mass lies
below water. Ice is lighter than water. Most mortgage bonds are like acidic
stones weighing down bank and investor balance sheets. Wall Street and the
USGovt con artists, using tools are fraud and distortion, prefer the public
and investment community to think of the ‘Subprime Problem’ as the source
of distress. On mortgage bonds, collateralized debt obligation derivatives,
structured investment vehicles, all dominant in the news, reports constantly
stress how the problem is traced to subprime mortgages to all those unworthy
home loan borrowers who never should have been given such loans, even at
higher mortgage rates. The systemic threat, both to the US banking system
and USEconomy, has entered a new stage. The remedy addressed is sure to
force the USDollar lower and the gold price higher, to occur in the next
gear. Breakouts are coming which will seem to lose control, like what was
seen in September and October. Official policy in reaction to the USEconomic
threat of recession will spill money into every corner and crevice. Gold
and mining stocks will benefit. My forecast stated all summer long is that
the USGovt maestros will gradually introduce increasingly broader rescue
elements, since everything they try at early stages will fail. The USFed
remains badly behind the curve, as yesterday they cut the official Fed Funds
target rate, but did not sufficiently cut the Discount Window rate that
imposes a Stigma Tax. Today, the USFed announced a much broader bank liquidity
policy, focused upon more auctions at set rates and a swap line with the
Euro Central Bank. They have announced more coordination with the Bank of
England, the Bank of Canada, the Swiss National Bank, and the US Federal
Reserve. This is part of my forecast. They must have been working all night
long. By summertime 2008, the requirements for a grandiose Resolution Trust
platform will be etched more clearly. The key to the gold price lies
in two spots: 1) massive monetary inflation to treat the banking problems
and prevent recession, 2) realized price inflation in a manner lacking disguise.
John Mauldin uses the metaphor of fire trucks being called to the scene.
The USFed has been amazingly shamefully slow in recognizing the problems.
Stuck in their stupid “inflation versus growth” framework mindset, they
miss both the interbank system seizures and home mortgage avalanche coming
outside the prime mortgage corral. The threat to the banking system will
be staggering. The threat to the economic system will be broad and deep.
The avalanche will expose the combined system as insolvent, broken, in need
to total rescue. The damage will necessitate rescue platforms to undermine
the entire US$-based monetary system, certainly sufficient to lift gold
well past the $1000 level. By the time 2009 approaches, the system will
be recognized as totally broken. The new question will be whether that system
can indeed be repaired. As measures put in place and debated for consensus
approval, the urgently demanded movement should be the particulars on the
new Resolution Trust Corporation. The desperation no longer hidden (like
on Bernanke’s face) will lift gold well past the $1000 mark. The impetus
behind the gold price will turn to inflation much more than the US$ counter-lever.
All major currencies will be inflating heavily, as seen in recent central
bank decisions either to cut official interest rates or to hold steady.
Major currencies will begin to be compared in a manner to judge which ones
are weaker as they are undermined during stimulus to discourage economic
recession and credit flow interruptions. more... Bible prophecy speaks of a global system of monetary control where a mark of the authority of the antichrist will be the only way to buy and sell, the mark of the beast. It also tells us that the center of power in the end-times will be Europe, the revived Roman Empire. I believe we are heading toward a global economic collapse where the implementation of a cashless and global system implementing RFID tattoo ink to make a mark on the hand or forehead will be the method of regulating buying and selling while implementing a global cashless society the excludes those who don't pledge allegiance to the power in control of that system. This would create global currency without needing physical currency, allowing quick implementation. Since the international banks that control the Federal Reserve and IRS are already in control, those needing a bailing out would be beholden to those providing the bucket with which to bail, Europe. Coincidence or design?
Central Banks Pumping Billions into World Financial System
International Herald Tribune
(December 12, 2007) - Central banks in Europe
and North America moved Wednesday to increase the amount of money they could
lend to banks and to make it more readily available in an attempt to ease
the credit squeeze. It was the first time since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist
attacks in New York and on the Pentagon that these central banks have coordinated
their support of financial markets. Stock markets rose in Europe and the
Americas after the announcement by the U.S. Federal Reserve, the Bank of
Canada, the European Central Bank, the Bank of England and the Swiss National
Bank. In the United States, the Standard & Poor's 500-stock index made
up nearly half of its losses from Tuesday, when stocks fell after the Fed
cut interest rates modestly, but then dipped, closing up 8.94 points at
1,486.59. The Dow Jones Stoxx 600, a broad measure of European markets,
rose 1.20 points to close at 374.75. Fed officials said the united move
was an effort to improve financial markets, not a response to problems at
any individual bank. "This is not about particular financial institutions
with particular problems," a senior Fed official said in a background
briefing for reporters. "It is about market functioning." Economists
and market specialists welcomed the Fed's intervention but expressed some
skepticism whether it would be enough to allay the biggest problems in the
credit markets related to the sharp drop in the value of U.S. mortgage securities. "We
have a Fed now that seems to understand the liquidity problem of the marketplace,"
said William Gross, the chief investment officer of Pacific Investment Management,
the bond management firm. "These measures, while limited in size and
with limitations in acceptance of collateral, should certainly instill a
measure of confidence to the private market." Gross added, "Now
it's up to the private market to gain a little confidence and turn a little
macho and start performing on its own." more...
Vladimir Putin the President cleared to become Prime Minister of Russia
Times Online (December
12, 2007) - Vladimir Putin completed his plan yesterday to retain
power in Russia, without the involvement of a single voter. Dmitri Medvedev
repaid the compliment of being chosen as his successor in the Kremlin by
declaring that Mr Putin should serve as Prime Minister after he leaves the
presidency. The development clears the way for Mr Putin to rule Russia
as premier while his protégé Mr Medvedev acts as a figurehead leader.
The announcement settled within 24 hours the two key questions that have
dominated Russian politics for months ahead of the presidential election
next March: the identity of Mr Putin's successor and his own future role.
Mr Medvedev, 42, is Russia's first deputy prime minister but has never run
for elected office and is reliant on Mr Putin's support. The backing
of the Kremlin will reduce the election to little more than an invitation
for voters to endorse yesterday's arrangement. In a televised address,
Mr Medvedev declared that Mr Putin had saved Russia from economic collapse
and civil war after the chaos of the 1990s. His policies had restored Russia's
“overpowering position in the world community” and brought economic success.
“To follow this course it is not enough to elect a new president who agrees
with this ideology. It is no less important to keep the unity of the team
formed by the current president,” Mr Medvedev said. “I appeal to
him to give his agreement in principle to head the government of Russia
after a new president of our country has been chosen.” The invitation
has not yet been accepted but it is unthinkable that Mr Medvedev would have
announced it without Mr Putin's approval. Mr Putin has ruled since 2000
but is barred by the constitution from a third successive term. Mr Medvedev
will now run as “Putin's candidate” with a clear pledge that a vote for
him will be a vote to restore Mr Putin to real power. The initiative is
not without risk for Mr Putin, however, since the Prime Minister is subservient
to the President under the Constitution.
U.S. says homegrown attack poses biggest risk
Reuters (December
12, 2007) - The United States faces a heightened threat of terrorist
attack "for the foreseeable future" but any attack will likely
be homegrown, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said on Wednesday.
Chertoff, who said over the summer that he had a "gut feeling"
that the country faced a heightened risk of attack, said that assessment
still stands. "It's not something that's going to evaporate in a week
or two. I think it's something that's going to be with us for a while,"
he told a small group of reporters in a phone call. Chertoff, who is in
charge of ensuring that the country does not face another attack like that
of September 11, 2001, said the heightened risk was not based on any intelligence
predicting a specific, imminent attack. "I said we were beginning to
enter into a period like this. And that didn't mean it was going to be a
week, it meant it's for the foreseeable future," he said. "There's
probably a greater risk in terms of likelihood from a homegrown attack than
from a massive international attack," he added. Chertoff described
that sort of "homegrown" attack as a single person or small group
of people living in the United States who were "recruited" on
the Internet and had pledged allegiance to al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden. "I
think the consequence of that kind of attack is likely to be less cataclysmic
than the kind of attack that would be launched from outside like the London
plot of 2006 against the airlines," he said, referring to a thwarted
plot to bomb transatlantic airliners using liquid explosives.
Tropical Storm Olga kills at least eight in Caribbean
Breitbart (December
12, 2007) - In the Dominican Republic, rescuers found numerous people
clinging to trees or perched on their rooftops as floodwaters rose, according
to the governor of Santiago province, Jose Izquierdo. The northern city
of Santiago, the country's second largest, was the worst hit as waters gushing
from a dam further swelled an already overflowing river. "Officially
there are seven people dead in this city and 24,500 people displaced by
evacuations across the country, because of rivers bursting their banks and
landslides, said Juan Manuel Mendez, who heads the Emergency Operations
Center. In addition, dozens of communities were cut off from the rest of
the country, he said. An estimated 5,000 homes were affected, many of them
completely destroyed, officials said. "We are facing a very difficult
situation," said provincial senator Francisco Dominguez Brito. In Puerto
Rico, one man was killed Wednesday when his car was buried under a landslide
near San Juan, police said. In Haiti, which shares the island of Hispaniola
with the Dominican Republic, officials said the storm left serious damage,
though there were no immediate reports of fatalities. Olga slammed the Caribbean
country on Tuesday, almost two weeks after the Atlantic hurricane season
officially ended. The storm weakened on Wednesday as it swirled over open
water, but it continued to dump rain that could cause more "life-threatening
flash floods and mud slides in Hispaniola," the Miami-based National
Hurricane Center said. At 1500 GMT Wednesday, maximum sustained winds were
recorded at 64 kilometers (40 miles) and the center of the storm was 120
kilometers (75 miles) south of Guantanamo, Cuba. The six-month Atlantic
hurricane season officially ended on November 30, and it is rare for tropical
storms to form after that. The Dominican Republic already had been hit hard
by Tropical Storm Noel, which slammed the country in late October, killing
at least 85 people. Olga is the 15th named storm to form in the Atlantic
this year. In all six of the storms became hurricanes, including two that
hit land with rare fury, reaching the topmost intensity five with maximum
sustained winds of more than 249 kilometers (155 miles) per hour. In August,
Hurricane Dean killed at least 29 people in a rampage through the Caribbean
and Mexico. The following month, Hurricane Felix killed about 150 people
and wrought a trail of devastation along Nicaragua's impoverished Caribbean
coast. Nobel laureates
propose global CO2 tax EU Observer
(December 12, 2007) - While the international
community struggles to reach agreement on how to further tackle climate
change at a meeting in Bali, former US vice president Al Gore and the UN's
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) have received the Nobel
Peace Prize for their efforts to increase knowledge about the effects of
human activities on global warming. "We have a window of nearly seven
years, said IPCC chairman Rajendra Pachauri, who accepted the prize on behalf
of the panel in the Norwegian capital of Oslo. "The time to doubt science
is over", he said, adding that by 2015 at the latest green house gasses
must start declining if the world is to escape a climate catastrophe. Thousands
of scientific experts have worked on the panel since 1988 and brought forward
more and more evidence of human activities causing climate change. Experts
estimate that 20 percent of greenhouse gases alone comes from raising animals
for human consumption. When asked what he does on a personal level to fight
climate change, Mr Pachauri said he wears warm clothing, is a vegetarian
and takes care to limit his use of electricity. Meanwhile, Mr Gore said
that "the threat of climate crises is real, rising, imminent and universal"
in his acceptance speech before over 400 prominent Norwegians and leading
members of the climate panel. Mr Gore and Mr Pachauri, an Indian scientist,
are going directly from the celebrations in Oslo to join the Bali conference. "We
need to complete a bold mandate there next Friday [14 December] that calls
for a visionary treaty to be completed, ratified and brought into effect
everywhere in the world by the beginning of 2010 – more than two years sooner
than presently contemplated" Mr Gore said. He said that world leaders
must meet every three months until such a new treaty is completed. The 2007
Nobel laureates also suggested a price on CO2 pollution "so that the
markets can help us make rational decisions about how to sharply reduce
it". "The problem with CO2 is it is completely invisible to the
economy", Mr Gore said. "I'm strong in favour of a CO2 tax - a
large one, with the money raised given back in a progressive repay. If you
want to cut your tax, you cut your pollution," he said. But he said
he did not think the UN would be "capable" of managing such a
tax. more... So I would like to know how taxing the population is going to cool the sun down and increase the magnetic field of the earth, which has been steadily degrading since first measured. If Mars is also heating up, do our emissions really cause that too? How is taking money from the population going to fix or change anything outside of our control? The facts are too obvious to be missed by those pushing the blame humanity agenda and so I smell a conspiracy. What can be accomplished in the long run is that by uniting the world to save the earth with the idea that we are the cause of global warming, a uniting consciousness can be developed based on fear and lack of understanding so that as the global "all worship the same God" plans progress, the combination of it all will lead to the acceptance of the antichrist as a god to be worshipped when he is revealed with lying signs and wonders. In the meantime, the wealth can be redistributed to whatever methods those controlling taxes decide. The facts of what is causing global warming on Earth, Mars and throughout the solar system cannot be fixed by more money because these factors are completely out of the control of humanity, even the self-glorifying scientific humanists can't fix what is about to happen. See History Repeating: Mankind's Fall of Pride There is another side to this as well from those who see the futility, but these scientists probably aren't in on the agenda. While I don't believe global warming is a "non-problem," I do believe there is nothing that can be done to change it. The globe IS warming, but the cause may not be our physical pollution - rather our spiritual pollution. Global Warming and the Day of the Lord: Skeptical Scientists Urge World To ‘Have the Courage to Do Nothing' At UN Conference excerpt: "The UN conference is a complete waste of our time and your money and we should no longer pay the slightest attention to the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change,)" Monckton added. (LINK) Monckton also noted that the UN has not been overly welcoming to the group of skeptical scientists. "UN organizers refused my credentials and appeared desperate that I should not come to this conference. They have also made several attempts to interfere with our public meetings," Monckton explained. "It is a circus here," agreed Australian scientist Dr. David Evans. Evans is making scientific presentations to delegates and journalists at the conference revealing the latest peer-reviewed studies that refute the UN's climate claims. "This is the most lavish conference I have ever been to, but I am only a scientist and I actually only go to the science conferences," Evans said, noting the luxury of the tropical resort. (Note: An analysis by Bloomberg News on December 6 found: "Government officials and activists flying to Bali, Indonesia, for the United Nations meeting on climate change will cause as much pollution as 20,000 cars in a year." - LINK) Evans, a mathematician who did carbon accounting for the Australian government, recently converted to a skeptical scientist about man-made global warming after reviewing the new scientific studies. (LINK) "We now have quite a lot of evidence that carbon emissions definitely don't cause global warming. We have the missing [human] signature [in the atmosphere], we have the IPCC models being wrong and we have the lack of a temperature going up the last 5 years," Evans said in an interview with the Inhofe EPW Press Blog. Evans authored a November 28 2007 paper "Carbon Emissions Don't Cause Global Warming." (LINK) more...
Israel and Palestinians launch peace talks in discord
Reuters (December
12, 2007) - The first peace talks in seven years between Israel and
the Palestinians opened in discord on Wednesday with the Palestinians demanding
a halt to settlement building and Israel calling for a crackdown on militants.
The tensions, coming just two weeks after a U.S.-sponsored peace conference
in Annapolis, Maryland, highlighted the difficulties ahead for negotiators
trying to reach agreement on a Palestinian state before U.S. President George
W. Bush leaves office in January 2009. Wednesday's negotiating session was
supposed to lay the ground for detailed talks on final-status issues, including
borders and the future of Jerusalem and Palestinian refugees. Instead, the
first round was dominated by Palestinian demands Israel halt plans to build
new houses on occupied land near Jerusalem and concerns about Israeli military
activity in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, officials on both sides said.
The Palestinians said future negotiating sessions depended on Israel's response
on the settlement issue, but they stopped short of threatening to pull out
of the talks. "We want to hear a reply to our demands," said chief
negotiator Ahmed Qurie. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's spokesman,
Mark Regev, said both sides raised concerns during the 90-minute session. "This
process does not have a quick fix," he said. "It's clear the issues
on the table will demand ongoing diplomatic efforts." The United States,
which pushed for the talks, said it was important not to make snap judgments
after one meeting. "There will be ups, there will be downs," State
Department spokesman Sean McCormack said. "What is important is that
they continue to move forward and that the overall trend line is positive."
The talks came one day after Israel carried out one of its biggest raids
into Gaza since the Islamist group seized control of the coastal territory
in June. Five militants were killed. Israel's army chief, Lt. Gen. Gabi
Ashkenazi, told a security conference in Tel Aviv that a big offensive in
Gaza may be inevitable, although he said smaller Israeli strikes were having
an impact on militants firing rockets into Israel. The mayor of Israel's
border town of Sderot resigned in protest over the government's failure
to halt the rockets. more...
Saudi king invites Ahmadinejad for haj-media
Reuters (December
12, 2007) - The king of U.S.-allied Saudi Arabia has invited Iranian
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to attend this year's haj in the Muslim holy
city of Mecca, Iranian media reported on Wednesday. It would be the first
time an Iranian president was officially invited to take part in the annual
pilgrimage, starting later this month, the official IRNA news agency said.
Like other Gulf Arab states, Sunni Muslim Saudi Arabia has long been wary
of its large Shi'ite Muslim neighbor and shares Western concerns about Tehran's
nuclear ambitions. "Saudi King Abdullah has formally invited President
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to take part in this year's haj ceremony," Iran's
ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Mohammad Hosseini, was quoted as saying by state
television. The five-day rites are expected to begin on December 18. On
Tuesday Ahmadinejad said he would take part in the haj if formally invited.
Last week he became the first Iranian president to attend a summit of Saudi
Arabia and five other Gulf Arab states. It was not clear whether the 51-year-old
had attended the haj before. A duty for every Muslim at least once in a
lifetime, the grueling ritual is one of the world's biggest displays of
mass religious devotion and is held under tight security. At least 1.5 million
people are expected to arrive from abroad in Mecca where pilgrims follow
a route around the mountains in line with a tradition established by the
Prophet Muhammad. In 1987, more than 400 people, mostly Iranians, died in
clashes with Saudi security forces at an anti-U.S. and anti-Israel rally
in Mecca.
FBI may have been warned about rampage Reuters
(December 12, 2007) - Federal authorities
were alerted to anti-Christian postings apparently written by Matthew Murray
only hours after he opened fire on a missionary center and just before his
deadly rampage at a Colorado megachurch, the Web site's administrator said.
Joe Istre, president of the Association of Former Pentecostals, which operates
the site, told The Associated Press on Tuesday that he and other forum participants
had grown familiar with the frequent and disturbingly dark poetry and obsessions
of one participant, whose nickname was nghtmrchld26. But when that same
author — believed to be Murray — left at least 11 posts on the day of the
twin shootings warning that he wanted to kill Christians, a forum participant
immediately contacted the FBI, Istre said. "I'm coming for EVERYONE
soon and I WILL be armed to the @#%$ teeth and I WILL shoot to kill,"
one threat posted by nghtmrchld26 said. Istre said he received a message
from a board member who claimed to have contacted the FBI about a half-hour
before the bloodshed at New Life Church in Colorado Springs. "My reaction
was disbelief, but then almost horror," Istre said of Murray's violence. "This
guy was posting on our forums, and we are a support group out to help people,
to try to get them to calm their fears and get them into a productive life.
And here we are conversing with a dude who was a killer." Denver FBI
spokeswoman Rene Vonder Haar said the agency began an investigation immediately
after receiving a phone call at 10:30 a.m. Sunday, but she refused to discuss
the nature of the call. Vonder Haar said the information was passed on to
police in Arvada, where two members of Youth With A Mission had been killed
earlier Sunday, and Colorado Springs. But Colorado Springs police Sgt. Scott
Schwall said police there didn't learn the Murray family home's address
in Englewood until after the church shootings. On Wednesday, two services
were planned to remember the four victims killed Sunday. Members of Youth
With A Mission and members of New Life Church were to gather to worship,
pray and mourn. Arvada police spokeswoman Susan Medina said police cannot
say with certainty who nghtmrchld26 is. Istre also said his forum agreed
to turn over all relevant information, and provided the FBI the Internet
Protocol address of nghtmrchld26 to help confirm the poster's identity.
The Denver Post reported Wednesday that Murray also was apparently posting
to a different forum under the name DyingChild_65, and may have foretold
of his rampage there, too. In one posting, he references the one of the
Columbine killers and the gunman who opened fire at Virginia Tech. He also
mentioned Ricky Rodriguez, who stabbed a prominent member of a church once
known as the Children of God, then shot himself in the head in 2005. The
group had been accused of sexually and physically abusing child members
during the 1970s and 1980s. "Like Cho, Eric Harris, Ricky Rodriguez
and others, I'm going out to make a stand for the weak and the defenseless
this is for all those young people still caught in the Nightmare of Christianity
for all those people who've been abused and mistreated and taken advantage
of by this evil sick religion Christian America this is YOUR Columbine,"
the newspaper quoted the post as saying. The Gazette of Colorado Springs
reported Murray also posted rants under the name "Chrstnghtmr."
Ultimately, Istre said he believes the ex-Pentecostal forum helped the man,
and he doesn't know what more the group could have done to prevent the bloodshed.
more... France
scores symbolic victory against Turkish EU membership
EU Observer (December
12, 2007) - France has scored a symbolic victory in its battle against
Turkey joining the European Union by succeeding in removing the word 'accession'
from an EU document on the state of negotiations. A statement on the EU's
enlargement strategy, agreed by foreign ministers in Brussels on Monday
(11 December), refers only to an intergovernmental conference with Turkey
and Croatia later this month, rather than to accession or membership negotiations.
The normal phrasing for these meeting to discuss progress on membership
negotiations is "accession conferences." But France, strongly
opposed to Turkey joining the EU, got its way yesterday after putting diplomatic
pressure on for around two weeks before the meeting. Britain and Sweden
were amongst the countries that were against the French move. "We do
not see any rationale for backtracking either on the Treaty of Rome or on
these commitments," Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt said before
the meeting, according to Reuters. French president Nicolas Sarkozy has
made no secret of his staunch opposition to Ankara's membership bid. It
featured during his presidential campaign in the first half of 2007 while
after his election Mr Sarkozy suggested Turkey become a member of a Mediterranean
Union he wants to set up and that the EU's final borders are discussed in
a wise committee - both suggestions are seen as part of an overall aim to
derail Turkey's bid. Germany is also against Turkish EU membership, but
has been less vocal at the European level on the issue than France. It prefers
instead a privileged partnership - essentially granting Ankara closer ties
with the EU but no decision-making powers. Turkey opened membership talks
with the EU in 2005. But it has only made small progress so far. Talks have
been blocked in a number of areas because of Ankara's position on Cyprus
- it refuses to trade with it - while France has blocked the opening of
talks in areas that smack too much of leading to EU membership. Turkey itself
has also been slow to undertake internal democratic reforms, which has led
to criticism from the EU side. more... With rejection by Europe, who will Turkey turn to? Most likely, and according to Bible prophecy, Turkey will align with the Islamic side and participate in the attack on Israel. Keep watching!
Study says humans not heating up the planet
One News Now (December 11, 2007) -
A new peer-reviewed study disputes the claim of former Vice President Al
Gore and other green activists that global warming is caused by human activity
and constitutes a "planetary emergency." The study -- conducted
by climate scientists at the University of Rochester, the University of
Alabama, and the University of Virginia -- finds that atmospheric warming
patterns, or "fingerprints," over the last 30 years are not caused
by greenhouse gas emissions. The report is published in the December issue
of the International Journal of Climatology. Results from the
study greatly contradict the findings of the United Nations Intergovernmental
Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Dr. S. Fred Singer, professor
emeritus of environmental science at the University of Virginia -- and president
of the Science and Environmental Policy Project -- says he is "fairly"
sure that the current warming trend is due to changes in the activities
of the sun. "The sun is constantly active, emitting particle streams
that carry magnetic fields; and they in turn have an influence on the climate
of the earth," he says. Singer says he and other global warming skeptics
have grown accustomed to claims that they are beholden to the oil and gas
industry. "Of course that's not only untrue, but it's completely immaterial,"
says Singer. "In other words, we are using the data that is furnished
by the IPCC. They are published, we use only published work. What we are
basically doing is to make a comparison of model results and observations."
The report concludes that carbon dioxide is not a pollutant and therefore "attempts
to control CO2 emissions are ineffective and pointless -- but very costly."
Honda Robots Pair Up to Lend a Hand Associated
Press (December 11, 2007) - As if the
idea of having one robot to serve you wasn't unusual enough, Honda says
its humanoids are now ready to work in pairs—and they can even serve drinks.
At a demonstration Tuesday at its Tokyo headquarters, automaker Honda Motor
Co. showed off two of the child-sized Asimo robots serving tea and performing
other tasks in coordination with one another. The bubble-headed robots seemed
to pick their steps carefully as they made their way around the room, picking
up and putting down drink trays and pushing around a refreshments cart.
Honda said it has developed a system to link its robots together so they
can share information about where each one is and what each is doing. The
51-inch tall Asimo is "smarter" now, thanks to upgrades that allow
it to do more tasks without human help, the company said. The robot can,
for example, recognize drink choices and carry a tray with the requested
drink to the person who placed the order. The Asimo, which looks like a
child in a white spacesuit, also does a better job of moving around people
because of technology that allows it to better predict people's movements
so it doesn't get in the way. The robot can even automatically head off
to the nearest charging station when its batteries fall below a certain
level. Honda has been working on robots since 1986. Rival Toyota Motor Corp.
has been aggressively beefing up its own robotics team, showing off last
week a robot that could play the violin. The Japanese government has been
pushing companies and researchers to make robotics a pillar of this nation's
business. Other companies, including Hitachi Ltd., Fujitsu Ltd. and NEC
Corp., are also developing robots. Asimo—which stands for Advanced Step
in Innovative Mobility and is play on the Japanese word for "legs"—first
became available for rental in 2000. It's considered one of the world's
most advanced humanoids. It can walk, even jog, wave, avoid obstacles and
carry on simple conversations. "By the end of 2010s, we'd like to see
these robots working at every street corner of the city," said Tomohiko
Kawanabe of Honda's Fundamental Technology Research Center.
Medvedev: Putin should be prime minister Associated
Press (December 11, 2007) - The man
tapped by President Vladimir Putin as his successor called Tuesday for the
popular president to return as prime minister after the March 2 election
— a shuffling of Kremlin duties that would keep the main levers of power
in Putin's hands. The brief announcement by Dmitry Medvedev, almost certainly
approved in advance by Putin, was the second major development from the
Kremlin in as many days. On Monday, Putin endorsed Medvedev for president.
In this way, Putin and his longtime aide appear to answer a question that
has long been the subject of conjecture and anxiety: whether the two-term
president would relinquish power, and if so to whom. The emerging scenario
— one that Putin himself hinted at months ago — would see the popular president
wielding considerable and possibly ultimate power from a beefed-up prime
minister's position. Putin, who took over from Boris Yeltsin about eight
years ago, is barred by the constitution from a third consecutive term.
In a three-minute televised speech, Medvedev said Putin "prevented
the collapse of the economy and social sphere in our country, a course that
prevented civil war." It was vital to retain Putin's team, he said. "Therefore,
I think that is principally important for our country that we keep in the
most important post in government — the position of chairman of the Russian
government - Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin," he said. "Having expressed
my readiness to run for president of Russia, I appeal to him with a request
to give his principal agreement to head the Russian government after the
election of the new president of our country," Medvedev said. Putin
clearly wants to retain a powerful role once he steps down. Medvedev's proposal
would provide such a role, especially if the constitution is amended to
increase the prime minister's powers — which could be done readily with
the new parliament dominated by pro-Putin politicians. more... Security Guard Who Stopped Shooter Credits God CNN (December 10, 2007) - "It seemed like it was me, the gunman, and God," said Jeanne Assam, describing her feelings as she confronted a man who charged into her Colorado Springs church Sunday firing a weapon. Assam, a church security guard with law enforcement experience, fired her own weapon at the invader and stopped his attack, police say. Police on Monday identified the gunman as Matthew Murray and said he was also responsible for an attack earlier Sunday at a missionary center some 80 miles away. The two incidents left four people dead, in addition to the gunman, and five wounded. Police said forensic evidence showed a positive match between a handgun found at the church and shell casings found at the missionary center in Arvada, a suburb of Denver. Officials from the Colorado Springs and Arvada police departments appeared at a joint news conference to brief reporters on what they had pieced together about Sunday's events. The first incident took place Sunday at about 12:30 a.m. at Youth With a Mission in Arvada. Police said a man with a beard, wearing a dark jacket, glasses, and skullcap, entered the facility, got into a dispute with a staff member about whether he could stay there for the night, and then opened fire. Two staff members, Tiffany Johnson, 26, and Philip Crouse, 24, died later Sunday from their injuries, Youth With a Mission co-founder Peter Warren said. Two other staff members were injured, and one was in critical condition. Investigators tried to track the gunman through fresh snow with the help of dogs, but lost his trail in a heavily walked area, Deputy Chief Gary Creager of Arvada police said. About 12 hours later, police say, Murray showed up at New Life Church as a service was letting out. Police said Monday he had an assault rifle and two handguns, and may have had as many as 1,000 rounds of ammunition. He fired on a family who were in or near their car. Two sisters, identified by police as Rachael Works, 16, and Stephanie Works, 18, were killed, and their father, David Works, 51, was also shot and is hospitalized in fair condition with two gunshot wounds. Murray then entered the church, police say, where Assam was one of several volunteer security guards on duty. "I saw him coming through the doors," she told reporters on Monday. "I took cover, and I waited for him to get closer, and I came out of cover and identified myself, and engaged him, and took him down. And that's pretty much it." more...
Fourteen dead as ice storm sweeps Plains Reuters
(December 10, 2007) - A vicious ice storm
sweeping through the U.S. Plains left more than 600,000 people without power
as frigid temperatures plunged and contributed to at least 14 deaths, authorities
said on Monday. The icy blast downed tree limbs and power lines, leaving
more than 500,000 people without power in Oklahoma, where shelters opened
throughout the region for those driven from cold and dark homes, and national
guardsmen and volunteers were transporting food and water to hard-hit areas. "This
particular storm is now the worst in company history in terms of customers
affected," said Brian Alford, spokesman for Oklahoma Gas and Electric.
Crews were sent from Texas, Louisiana, Indiana and Mississippi to help repair
power lines, which snapped seemingly as quickly as they could be repaired.
The storm also shut down electricity service to more than 102,000 people
in Missouri, more than 11,000 people in Illinois and about 5,000 in Kansas.
In all, ice storm warnings were issued from Texas up through Oklahoma and
Kansas and east across Missouri into Illinois, with up to an inch of ice
accumulation possible in some areas. Iowa and Arkansas were also affected.
Missouri Gov. Matt Blunt declared a state of emergency, calling out the
state National Guard to aid communities hit by the storm. "We are only
just beginning to see the devastation from this series of storms,"
he said. Ice-slicked roads contributed to the deaths of 12 people in Oklahoma
during the weekend, state officials said. One Oklahoma man died of hypothermia.
A Missouri motorist died when he stopped to help another driver and was
hit by a car skidding on ice. Parts of several highways and interstates
were closed and hundreds of flights were canceled at major airports in Chicago,
Kansas City, St. Louis and Oklahoma City. The National Weather Service office
predicted another icy blast on Tuesday night, with more significant ice
accumulations possible. Colo. police search home after attacks Associated Press (December 10, 2007) - Authorities searched a home in suburban Englewood early Monday, seeking any link between two deadly shooting sprees at Christian religious centers that left both communities stunned on a day of worship. Five people, including a gunman, died in the attacks Sunday at a megachurch in Colorado Springs and at the Youth With a Mission missionary center in the Denver suburb of Arvada. Five others were wounded. "Violent crimes of any sort are tragic enough, but when innocent people are killed in a religious facility or a place of worship, we must voice a collective sense of outrage and demonstrate a renewed commitment to keeping our communities safe," said Gov. Bill Ritter. Police in Arvada said they believed the shootings — which occurred 12 hours and about 65 miles apart — were probably linked, though they had nothing conclusive to back up the theory. "Given the circumstances, I think it is a good possibility that the two are linked," Arvada Deputy Police Chief Gary Creagor told The Associated Press early Monday. "But we have to prove that they are." At a news conference Sunday, Colorado Springs Police Chief Don Wick said that there was "reason to believe" the shootings were connected, though he declined to elaborate. Early Monday, authorities were searching a home in suburban Englewood, about 15 miles south of Denver, that they said could be related to the Colorado Springs shooting case. Authorities could be seen coming and going from the home, and at one point searching the bushes in front. The violence began about 12:30 a.m. Sunday, when a man opened fire at the Youth With a Mission office after he had been denied a request to spend the night there. Witnesses told police that the gunman was a 20-year-old white male, wearing a dark jacket and skull cap, who had a handgun. More than 12 hours later, at New Life Church in Colorado Springs, a gunman with a high-powered rifle entered the church's main foyer and opened fire, Colorado Springs Police Chief Richard Myers said. One church member was killed, and another who was badly wounded died later Sunday at Penrose Community Hospital in Colorado Springs, said hospital spokeswoman Amy Sufak. Their identities were not released. The church planned a news conference for Monday. The gunman was killed by a member of the church's armed security staff before police arrived, Myers said. His name was not released. Officers also found several smoke-generating devices on the church campus; their intended purpose wasn't clear. more...
Russian 'bear' who loves Black Sabbath set to succeed Putin
RIA Novosti (December
10, 2007) - The man backed by Vladimir Putin for next year's presidential
election is a heavy-metal loving 42-year-old whose surname comes from the
Russian word for 'bear'. First Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev
was nominated by the ruling United Russia party and three other smaller
pro-Kremlin parties on Monday afternoon. President Putin later said on national
television: "I have known Dmitry Medvedev well for over 17 years, and
I completely and fully support his candidature." In view of Putin's
high popularity rating and full support of most of the legislature, his
backing of the nomination is likely to guarantee Medvedev the presidency.
Medvedev's surname comes from the Russian word 'medved', meaning bear, an
animal which has long been associated with the country. The bear is also
the symbol of United Russia, and Bear bombers have contributed to increasing
tension between the West and Russia of late with their strategic long-range
patrols. In a recent interview with the Russian magazine Itogi, Medvedev
revealed his passion for rock music, saying that, "vinyl really
sounds better than CDs." The man who may well become leader of the
largest nation on Earth said he had spent much of his youth compiling
cassettes of popular Western groups, "Endlessly making copies of Black
Sabbath, Led Zeppelin and Deep Purple." All these groups were on
state-issued blacklists during Medvedev's Soviet-era schooldays. "The
quality was awful, but my interest colossal," he said. Medvedev went
on to boast of his collection of Deep Purple LPs, saying that he had searched
for the albums for many years. "Not reissues, but the original albums,"
he added, concluding that, "If you set yourself a goal you can achieve
it." Medvedev, seen as a pro-business moderate, chairs the board of
Russia's state-controlled natural gas monopoly Gazprom and is overseeing
an ambitious multi-billion-dollar "national project" to improve
living standards in the country. That Putin backs him, Russia's prophetic role in the Middle East and his choice in music given the video They Sold Their Souls For Rock N' Roll, all points me to him indeed of the same ilk of Putin in aligning with the anti-Israel Middle East both politically and spiritually. Keep watching. Bringing Ancient Human Viruses Back to Life: A Jurassic Park or Salvation? Daily Galaxy (December 10, 2007) - When the mapping of the human genome was completed in 2003, researchers discovered a shocking fact: our bodies are littered with the shards of retroviruses, fragments of the chemical code from which all genetic material is made. This discovery has created a new discipline, paleovirology, which seeks to better understand the impact of modern diseases by studying the genetic history of ancient viruses. Highly infectious viral diseases -including the Plague, yellow fever, measles, smallpox and he Spanish Flu, which killed 50 million people at the end of the First World War, moving from one cell to the next, transforming each new host into a factory that makes even more virus. In this way, one infected cell soon becomes billion -that die when the host dies. Endogenous retroviruses, however, once they infect the DNA of a species they become part of that species: they reside within each of us, carrying a record that goes back millions of years. Molecular battles of endogenous retroviruses that raged for thousands of generations, have been defeated by evolution. These viral fragments are fossils that reside within each of us, carrying a record that goes back millions of years. Because they no longer seem to serve a purpose or cause harm, these remnants have often been referred to as “junk DNA.” Although many of these evolutionary relics still manage to generate proteins, scientists have never found one that functions properly in humans or that could make us sick. That is until Thierry Heidmann who runs the laboratory at the Institut Gustave Roussy, on the southern edge of Paris, brought one to life. Heidmann long suspected that if a retrovirus happens to infect a human sperm cell or egg, which is rare, and if that embryo survives—which is rarer still—the retrovirus could have the evolutionary power to influence humans as a species becoming part of the genetic blueprint, passed from mother to child, and from one generation to the next, much like a gene for eye color or asthma. In a brilliant essay if The New Yorker, author Michael Specter brings Heidmann's discovery to life, showing how by "combining the tools of genomics, virology, and evolutionary biology, he and his colleagues took a virus that had been extinct for hundreds of thousands of years, figured out how the broken parts were originally aligned, and then pieced them together. After resurrecting the virus, the team placed it in human cells and found that their creation did indeed insert itself into the DNA of those cells. They also mixed the virus with cells taken from hamsters and cats. It quickly infected them all, offering the first evidence that the broken parts could once again be made infectious. The experiment could provide vital clues about how viruses like H.I.V. work. Inevitably, though, it also conjures images of Frankenstein’s monster and Jurassic Park." more... ‘America
has abandoned us’ Jerusalem Watchman
(December 9, 2007) - The newspapers here in
Israel made for sobering reading this weekend. In the words of a visiting
compatriot in the cause of Christian Zionism, it is as if, after years of
moving towards a cliff in Israel-US relations, we have suddenly arrived,
and tipped over the edge. The United States has betrayed the trust of its
once “faithful friend” in the Middle East, and things are spiraling at an
alarming speed - seemingly out of control. Israelis today believe that Washington
successfully worked to lure them to Annapolis by promising to stand shoulder-to-shoulder
with the Jewish state against Iran’s fevered efforts to obtain, deploy and
possibly use nuclear weapons. Largely as a result of this “guaranteed” alliance,
the Olmert government went to Annapolis despite the refusal of the Palestinian
Arabs to, among other things, recognize Israel as a Jewish state. Once there,
believing that America truly has Israel’s best interests at heart, Prime
Minister Ehud Olmert agreed to work towards the creation of a Palestinian
state by the end of the Bush presidency, and gave the US the right to judge
whether or not Jerusalem is complying with its commitments under the Road
Map. And then, with this Israeli commitment in its pocket, and before the
news crews had barely departed the US Naval Academy, Washington suddenly
lifted its threat to use force against Iran, issuing a report whose heading
announced that the genocidal mullahs had in fact halted their nuclear weapons
program in 2003 and therefore no longer posed a serious threat to Israel
or anyone else within reach of their long range, surface-to-surface missiles.
The fact that the body of the National Intelligence Estimate report soundly
contradicts its headline has done little if anything to alleviate the fallout
from its release. For Israelis, the announcement means that America has
left it dangling before the diabolical designs of the Islamic world - and
particularly of holocaust-threatening Tehran. This was the consensus of
understanding, at least on the staff of The Jerusalem Post, Israel’s
biggest-circulation English-language daily, who expressed their sense of
shock and disbelief: We have been
“bushwacked” exclaimed disbelieving editor-in-chief David Horowitz.
America has
“dropped a bomb on Israel” said reporter Ya’akov Katz. An American guest
columnist, Jonathan Tobin, said the “intelligence bombshell [had left] Bush’s
approach to Middle East peacemaking in ruins and Jerusalem isolated.” And
Post deputy managing editor and columnist Caroline Glick wrote
a requiem for Israel-US relations in her “Column One” piece hauntingly headlined:
“The abandonment of the Jews.” Elsewhere, in a
Ynetnews report Sunday Shas Party Minister Yitzhak Cohen slammed “the
manner in which the Americans relate to the intelligence report on Iran
[as] similar to the way in which they viewed those reports they received
during the Holocaust on railways transporting hundreds of thousands of Jews
to their death at Auschwitz. more... Pray for Israel. World politics are lined up against Israel as prophesied. The powers behind America have a secret agenda that falls in line with Bible prophecy as the whole world is coming against Israel. Zechariah 12:1-3 I'm learning that the world we are told of is not the world that is. Our perceptions are shaped by the powerful people who have consolidated their influence over media and politics to blind the population so they can carry out their dark plans. “We are grateful to the Washington Post, the New York Times, Time Magazine and other publications whose directors have attended our meetings and respected the promises of discretion for almost forty years. It would have been impossible for us to develop our plan for the world if we had been subject to the bright lights of publicity during those years. But, the world is now more sophisticated and prepared to march towards a world-government. The supranational sovereignty of an intellectual elite and world bankers is surely preferable to the National auto-determination practiced in past centuries” | David Rockefeller in an address to Trilateral Commission meeting, 1991 “For more than a century, ideological extremists at either end of the political spectrum have seized upon well-publicized incidents to attack the Rockefeller family for the inordinate influence they claim we wield over American political and economic institutions. Some even believe we are part of a secret cabal working against the best interests of the United States, characterizing my family and me as 'internationalists' and of conspiring with others around the world to build a more integrated global political and economic structure - one world, if you will. If that's the charge, I stand guilty, and I am proud of it." | David Rockefeller, Memoirs , 2002 (Random House, New York, 2002) Chapter 27, page 405 “Today, America would be outraged if UN troops entered Los Angeles to restore order. Tomorrow they will be grateful! This is especially true if they were told that there was an outside threat from beyond, whether real or promulgated, that threatened our very existence. It is then that all people of the world will plead to deliver them from this evil. The one thing every man fears is the unknown. When presented with this scenario, individual rights will be willingly relinquished for the guarantee of their well-being granted to them by the world government.” | Henry Kissinger (Bilderberg Conference 1991 Evians, France)
Jerusalem To Be Divided, Declares Israeli Official
WorldNet Daily (December
9, 2007) - A top member of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's government
today announced Israel "must" give up sections of Jerusalem for
a future Palestinian state, even conceding the Palestinians can rename Jerusalem "to
whatever they want." "We must come today and say, friends, the
Jewish neighborhoods, including Har Homa, will remain under Israeli sovereignty,
and the Arab neighborhoods will be the Palestinian capital, which they will
call Jerusalem or whatever they want," said Israeli Vice Premier Haim
Ramon. Positions held by Ramon, a ranking member of Olmert's Kadima party,
are largely considered to be reflective of Israeli government policy. Ramon's
statements follow last month's U.S.-sponsored Annapolis summit at which
Olmert committed to aim at completing negotiations by next year to create
a Palestinian state, with Israel expected to evacuate swaths of Jerusalem
and the strategic West Bank. Ramon said due to the city's demographics,
Arab neighborhoods of Jerusalem "should not be under Israeli sovereignty,
because they pose a threat to Jerusalem being the capital of a Jewish Israel."
About 231,000 Arabs live in Jerusalem, mostly in eastern neighborhoods.
The city has an estimated total population of 724,000. Ramon listed population
statistics as the reason Olmert's government finds it necessary to split
Jerusalem. But
WND broke the story last week that according to Jerusalem municipal
employees, during 10 years as mayor of Jerusalem, Olmert instructed city
workers not to take action against hundreds of illicit Arab building projects
throughout eastern sections of Jerusalem housing over 100,000 Arabs squatting
in the city illegally. The workers and some former employees claim Olmert
even instructed city officials to delete files documenting illegal Arab
construction of housing units in eastern Jerusalem. Olmert was Jerusalem
mayor from 1993 to 2003. As mayor he made repeated public statements calling
Jerusalem the "eternal and undivided capital" of Israel. Jerusalem
municipal employees and former workers, though, paint a starkly contrasting
picture of the prime minister. "He did nothing about rampant illegal
Arab construction in Jerusalem while the government cracked down on illegal
Jewish construction in the West Bank," said one municipal employee
who worked under Olmert. She spoke on condition of anonymity because she
still works at the municipality. One former municipal worker during Olmert's
mayoral tenure told WND he was moved in 1999 to a new government posting
after he tried to highlight the illegal Arab construction in Jerusalem.
He also spoke on condition of anonymity, fearing for his current job.
more...
EU to agree Kosovo talks over Reuters
(December 9, 2007) - EU leaders are expected
to agree this week that efforts to reach a negotiated solution to the Kosovo
problem are exhausted, and offer to take responsibility for security and
justice in the breakaway Serbian province. But Russian Foreign Minister
Sergei Lavrov said on Sunday "artificial deadlines" for finding
a solution to Kosovo's status were not binding and could raise risks to
stability. EU negotiator Wolfgang Ischinger will brief European Union
foreign ministers on Monday on the results of four months of mediation efforts
and urge them to help stabilize the Balkan territory by sending
in police and justice officials soon. Leaders of the 27-nation
bloc are expected to declare in a statement at a summit on Friday that negotiations
are at an end and that the future of both Serbia and Kosovo lies
in the European Union, diplomats said. They are also likely
to confirm they are willing to dispatch police and justice missions and
appoint a high representative to oversee Kosovo if asked by the Kosovo Albanian
government and the United Nations Secretary-General. "It
is clear that the future of Serbia and Kosovo lies in the European Union.
That's something that both sides agree on," EU foreign policy
chief Javier Solana said in an interview with Germany's
Welt am Sonntag newspaper. A troika of EU, U.S. and Russian mediators told
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in a report on Friday that their mission
failed because neither side was willing to give way on the fundamental question
of sovereignty over Kosovo. The troika had been given a December 10 deadline
to complete its report. "We were given 120 days but if we had been
given 1,200 days the outcome would have been the same," an aide quoted
Ischinger as telling Solana. more...
7.6 quake hits South Pacific Disaster News
Network (December 9, 2007) - A powerful
7.6-magnitude earthquake struck Sunday deep in the South Pacific, the U.S.
Geological Survey reported. The Japan Meteorological Agency measured the
quake at 7.9. Both agencies said no tsunami warning was issued. "This
earthquake is too deep inside the earth to generate a significant tsunami,"
the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said. The USGS noted that the temblor
occurred in a remote area and that no damage or casualties were expected.
The quake was felt across a wide area of New Zealand's North Island. The
quake struck at 7:28 p.m. Sunday local time (2:28 a.m. Sunday EST). It was
centered about 215 miles north of Raoul Island, the largest island in the
Kermadec Islands. The location was also 370 miles from Tonga and 870 miles
northeast of Auckland, New Zealand. It occurred at a depth of 116 miles,
the USGS said. The location of the quake was in a highly active seismic
area where large temblors occur on a regular basis. Other than a few conservation
officials on Raoul Island, the Kermadec Islands are uninhabited. A 7.4 quake
in May 2006 in the same region was also widely felt throughout New Zealand.
Iran
Drops the US Dollar Short News
(December 9, 2007) - Oil Minister Gholam Hossein
Nozari announced that "At the moment selling oil in dollars has been
completely halted, in line with the policy of selling crude in non-dollar
currencies." Sales of crude oil will now be priced in euros. OPEC member
nations exporting oil in USDs have been hard-hit by the decline in value
and have been urged by Iran, the fourth largest producer of crude, to follow
their lead. Recently, Iranian banks have also been blacklisted by the US
Government for supporting terrorism, and pursuing nuclear weapons.
Canada openly proclaims NAFTA Superhighway
WorldNet Daily (December 8, 2007) -
A Newsweek story
critical of Rep. Ron Paul and labeling the NAFTA Superhighway a baseless
conspiracy theory has generated approximately
250 adverse reader responses on the "comments" section of Newsweek's
website, many citing hard evidence that the proposed transcontinental
trade corridor is quite real. "There is a broad coalition of Americans
developing across the United States who are opposed to a North American
Union and know that Ron Paul is right and we need to take action now before
it is too late," Jesse Benton, national press secretary for the Ron
Paul Presidential Campaign 08 told WND. Particularly interesting among Newsweek's
reader comments were citations of Canadian government websites that openly
discuss and declare plans to create a NAFTA Superhighway. Several readers
pointed to a Canadian government video clip gaining wide circulation on
the Internet. It involves a Nov. 20
"Speech
from the Throne," in which John Harvard, lieutenant-governor of
the Province of Manitoba, Canada, opened the second session of the 39th
assembly of the provincial legislature with comments proclaiming support
for the development of a "Mid-Continent Trade Corridor." "Manitoba
is also taking a major role in the development of a Mid-Continent Trade
Corridor, connecting our northern Port of Churchill with trade markets throughout
the central United States and Mexico," Harvard told the legislature. "To
advance the concept," Harvard continued, "an alliance has been
built with business leaders and state and city governments spanning the
entire length of the Corridor. When fully developed, the trade route will
incorporate an 'inland port' in Winnipeg with pre-clearance for international
shipping." A
video
posted on YouTube shows excerpts from Harvard's speech juxtaposed with
clips of President Bush and Canada's Prime Minister Stephen Harper at the
press conference of the third summit of the Security and Prosperity Partnership
in Montebello, Quebec, on Aug. 21, ridiculing the North American Union and
the NAFTA Superhighway as baseless conspiracy theories. A
Destination-Winnipeg
trade group website identifies the Mid-Continent Trade Corridor as "the
northern gateway of this vast Corridor, a network of highways and railways
linking the business community with cities to the south, through the U.S.
and into Mexico." The Canadian government's
Canada Transport website describes the Mid-Continent International Trade
Corridor as a rail and highway network which stretches from Manitoba to
Mexico. Other Newsweek readers provided links to an Alberta government website.
The Ministry of Infrastructure and Transportation in Alberta, Canada, has
posted on its website a trade corridor map that shows a NAFTA Superhighway
clearly designated in the same route, including Interstate Highways 35,
29 and 94, that the
North America's SuperCorridor Coalition, or NASCO, designates as the
I-35 NAFTA Superhighway.
Craig Offman of the National Post writes that this Alberta map of the
NAFTA Superhighway on the
Alberta Government website is currently Number Two on the popular U.S. web
site Digg.com. "Well, now, Mr. Paul might think he has some real
fodder," Offman writes. "The Ministry of Infrastructure and Transportation
website uses the exact phrase, showing a thoroughfare that begins in Manitoba
and drops all the way down to West Texas." "Why would the Canadian
government web page in Alberta show a NAFTA Superhighway if the highway
doesn't exist?" asks a Newsweek reader linking to the Alberta site. "Keep
on lying to the people, Newsweek, it is what you do best." "We
have had that map with the NAFTA Superhighway on our website for 5 years
or more," Jerry Bellikka, director of communications for the Alberta
Ministry of Infrastructure and Transportation told WND in a telephone interview. "The
website is a site for truckers," Bellikka explained. "We try to
harmonize our trucking regulations with Canada and the United States so
truckers can log on and see where they fit on our requirements when they
are traveling along these North American corridors." WND asked Bellikka
if the Alberta Ministry of Infrastructure and Transportation had any intention
of changing the NAFTA Superhighway map on its website. "No," Bellinkka
answered directly. "We have no plan to change the designation of NAFTA
Superhighway on our website."
NJ parents try to block vaccine mandate Associated
Press (December 7, 2007) - Parents
concerned about possible vaccine dangers and government intrusion are trying
to block New Jersey from becoming the first state to require flu shots for
preschoolers. The Public Health Council on Monday is set to consider whether
New Jersey should require flu shots as well as three additional vaccines.
If approved, New Jersey would become the first state to require annual flu
shots for children attending licensed preschool or day care centers. State
health department officials also want to require a pneumococcal vaccine
for preschoolers, a booster shot to fight whooping cough for sixth-graders,
and meningitis shots for school children as young as 11. According to deputy
health commissioner Dr. Eddy Bresnitz, the new requirements already have
been approved by the state health department and Gov. Jon S. Corzine; they
are expected to be rubber-stamped by the Council on Monday. Bresnitz said
the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention supports the new
requirements and that public health officials in other states are watching
and likely to follow suit. Bresnitz said he's convinced the vaccines will
reduce the incidence of the diseases, preventable hospitalizations, and
the need for parents to stay home with sick children. "It's a great
day for public health in New Jersey," he said. But some parents say
there is inadequate proof the vaccines are safe and effective. At a Statehouse
news conference Friday, about a dozen parents protested the new requirements
and urged people to call the governor's office to ask him to stop Monday's
vote. "This will be the first jurisdiction anywhere in the world to
make the flu shot mandatory" for school attendance, said Jon Gilmore,
a board member of Advocates for Children's Health Affected by Mercury Poisoning,
or ACHAMP. He blames his 7-year-old son's autism on vaccines. Bresnitz said
he didn't know whether jurisdictions outside this country have required
flu shots for school kids. Parents on Friday also urged support for a bill
that would give parents a right to "philosophical objection" to
vaccine mandates. The bill has been sitting in a committee for four years
without action. "It is not right for the government and unelected councils
to dictate what we put into our children," said Sue Collins, co-founder
of the New Jersey Alliance for Informed Choice in Vaccination. more...
Strong quake jolts Indonesia Associated Press
(December 7, 2007) - An earthquake on Friday
rattled Indonesia's resort island of Bali, where thousands of people
were gathering for a U.N. climate change conference. There were no
immediate reports of damage or injuries. The 5.4-magnitude tremor was centered
150 miles southwest of Bali, the U.S. Geological Survey said on its Web
site. It struck around 6 miles beneath the ocean floor. The quake could
be felt in Bali, where more than 10,000 people were attending a two-week
conference about rising global temperatures, which scientists say could
lead to severe droughts and flooding, melting ice caps and rising seas,
and the extinction of animals. The walls and floors of massive tents set
up in a sprawling complex of five-star hotels shook for around 10 seconds,
but officials said they did not have any reports of injuries or damage.
The quake was not strong enough to trigger a tsunami warning. Indonesia,
the world's largest archipelago, is prone to seismic upheavals due to its
location on the so-called Pacific "Ring of Fire," an arc of volcanos
and fault lines encircling the Pacific Basin. In December 2004, a massive
earthquake struck off Sumatra island, triggering a tsunami that killed more
than 230,000 people in a dozen countries, including 160,000 people in Indonesia's
westernmost province of Aceh. Treaty amending the treaty on European Union and the treaty establishing the European community The "Lisbon Treaty" WEU Assembly Documents (December 3, 2007) - The following are excerpts from the document linked above. The purpose is to show in the documentation how power consolidation is being made such that all resources will be available to the High Representative over the military and civilian forces of the EU and UN: Article 9e page 9
Article 13 page 9
Article 19 page 11 - With the LISBON TREATY Solana has a foot in the UN security Council and has the EU countries there work for his interests:
Article 9e page 12
from A/WEU [2007] DG 7 3 December 2007 FIFTY-THIRD SESSION Please read the Coming War on the Saints post to see how this connects to all power being given to the man of sin over the world in the coming years. According
to the Scriptures The Berean Call
(December 1, 2007) - The Bible makes uncompromisingly
clear to all mankind its claim to be the infallible, inerrant Word of the
only true and living God. It denounces all other gods and scriptures as
false, as well as the religions they represent. Of Jesus, God's Word declares, "He
that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: he that believeth not the
Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him"
(John 3:36). Peter told Jewish religious leaders (and was beaten, imprisoned,
and killed for testifying to Christ's resurrection): "There
is none other name...given among men whereby we must be saved"
(Acts 4:12). Such unequivocal statements cannot be misunderstood. Jews would
not have been persecuted and killed had they presented Yahweh as just one
more god to be added to the Roman Pantheon. Christians were considered an
even greater threat because in obedience to Christ they preached the gospel
everywhere and thereby "turned the world
upside down" (Acts 17:6). Even they would not have been persecuted
and killed had they presented Jesus Christ as merely one of many possible
saviors. It was their firm proclamation of Christ's claim, "I
am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but
by me" (John 14:6), that threatened Caesar and aroused such
vicious hatred. Today, however, to avoid the objectionable exclusivity of
their faith, "Christians" often compromise and many ecumenically
deny the biblical gospel. Christianity is a biblical faith, and the Bible
is not an "ecumenical" book. It makes no compromise with any of
the world's religions. Those who support ecumenism to any extent, no matter
how loudly they defend their orthodoxy, are not Bible-believing Christians.
At worst they are deliberate frauds; at best they are confused into simultaneously
professing two contradictory beliefs (syncretism). Which do they really
believe? Speaking out of both sides of their mouths is a popular ploy today
of both political and "Christian" leaders. Anyone is free to invent
any new religion-but not free to call it Christianity. That faith is founded
upon facts: Scripture, history, and prophecy, all of which are a matter
of clear record and none of which can be changed. These facts cannot honestly
be denied. What must we say of "Christian" leaders and even entire
denominations that do not follow Christ and His Word? We have exposed many
by name and have documented in these pages their inexcusable hypocrisy and
deceit, which must be summarily rejected. Away with all duplicity! Whoever
(Bush, Rice, et al.) insists that Islam is a "religion of peace"
and that Allah is the God of the Bible is either deceived or lying. Islam
has its founding prophet, Muhammad, who began his career with numerous murders,
attacked peaceful villages and caravans, and beheaded hundreds who surrendered
in exchange for his sworn promise of peace and safety. Islam has its scriptures
(the Qur'an and Hadith) and 1,350 years of the bloodiest and most violent
history of any religion ever known, including the merciless slaughter of
millions (more millions in the take-over of India than Hitler killed in
all of Eastern and Western Europe). We fully document the truth about Islam
in Judgment Day , which every Berean ought to donate to his or her local
public library. One can only say that all those (from Bush and Rice on down)
who turn a blind eye to the indisputable truth about Islam and call this
violent religion "peaceful" are engaged in a cover-up. It is indisputable
that today's Islamic terrorism may not honestly be blamed upon "extremists."
This is true Islam as it always has been from the beginning! Terrorists
are sincere Muslims following both the teaching and example of Muhammad,
the obedient example set by his loyal followers, and Islam's scriptures,
which command the take-over of the entire world and death to all who will
not convert. True, not every Muslim is a terrorist, but nearly every terrorist
is a Muslim! more...
North American Union 'a couple years away'
WorldNet Daily (November 19, 2007)
- Bilderberg author who 1st exposed plot in 1996 sees EU replication as
imminent. The next giant step toward world government will be integration
of the U.S., Canada and Mexico in European Union-style merger in the next
few years, says the author of a best-selling book on the power of shadowy
international organizations promoting the move. "I would say [it's
just] a couple of years away," reports Daniel Estulin, author of "The
True Story of the Bilderberg Group." Estulin, a Canadian now living
in Europe, says the original plans for a North American Union involved the
U.S. and Canada as the prime participants. It was motivated primarily by
the desire to harvest Canada's abundant natural resources. In his new book,
Estulin reveals the first efforts in this plan date back to 1996 when the
elite Bilderberg Group first discussed plans for the dismantlement of Canada
as an independent nation and proposed its merger – minus Quebec – with the
United States into a Greater North America. "Actually, the North
American Union, or rather a Canada-U.S. merger, was initially discussed
shortly after the Reagan-Bush candidacy won the White House," he
says in an interview with WND. "Upon taking over the reins of the country,
George Bush and Ronald Reagan called in the presidents of the key trans-national
companies and asked them for the real picture. The money people told them
that if the United States were a corporation it would have to be shut down
immediately. It was bankrupt." The solution proposed then, according
to Estulin, was merger between the U.S. and Canada. "Canada is virgin
country with a multitude of natural resources, water, mines, oil, gas, etc.,"
he explains. "They decided that it was going to take 14 or 15 years
to put the whole project together. In the interval, the economies, social
programs and laws of the two countries would be quietly harmonized as much
as possible." Back then, part of that harmonization plan involved the
separation of Quebec as an independent state, he says. "Actually, when
all is said and done, it all comes down to money," Estulin says. "Money
makes its own rules. If your goal is to make the most money possible using
Canada's natural resources, what would you ask for? Number one, give me
control over the sun. Number two, give me control over the air. Number three,
give me control over water. Now, we know we cannot control the sun, nor
can we control the air. But we can control water. Water, after all, is the
most important element that can be controlled." But the plot for a
North American Union, as exposed in detail in Jerome Corsi's new bestselling
book,
"The
Late Great USA," is but a prelude, Estulin says, to the ultimate
merger – one-world government. more... |
“Be not overcome
of evil, but overcome evil with good.” Romans 12:21 In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, any copyrighted work herein is archived under fair use without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior interest in reviewing the included information for personal use, non-profit research and educational purposes only. Ref. |