AND THE THIRD ANGEL FOLLOWED THEM, SAYING WITH A LOUD VOICE, IF ANY MAN WORSHIP THE BEAST AND HIS IMAGE, AND RECEIVE HIS MARK IN HIS FOREHEAD, OR IN HIS HAND.
*** REVELATION 14:9
It seems President Obama has a continuous green light to use Georgetown University (a Jesuit university) for his political purposes. The last time he appeared there in 2009, there was controversy as the University agreed to a White House request to cover up an ancient symbol of Jesus’ name. .
After the infamous 2009 granting of an honorary doctorate to Obama that took place at Notre Dame U despite the objections of more than 80 U.S. bishops, today’s appearance at Georgetown hardly merited a headline.
Perhaps Georgetown is just so open-minded and generous that any and all comers may make use of their elaborate facilities. Perhaps that explains why:
- In 2006 the University honored the originator of the “personally opposed but” stance on abortion – Fr. Robert Drinan
- Pro-abortion Catholic Vice President Joe Biden was honored at Georgetown in 2009. -
- Earlier this year they gave a platform to the nation’s leading gay activist group Human Rights Campaign
. Oh, but wait, at times they are not so permissive. Remember in 2006 it was Georgetown again who booted various Christian groups off campus. But not all Christian groups were affected by the ban, only . conservative ones. .
And what happens when some unforeseeable error occurs and a conservative takes the stage at Georgetown? Why one of the professors of theology will march off stage in a huff, and 70 faculty members will sign a letter of protest against the speech. And that’s just what happened to Vatican Cardinal Francis Arinze when he spoke at Georgetown in 2003. .
http://to.pbs.org/idpmIW In a speech Wednesday at Georgetown University, President Obama outlined his goals for reducing American energy dependence, heavily emphasizing new technology and alternative sources in addition to "safe and responsible" offshore drilling.
The flesh of dead animals was not the original food for man. Man was permitted to eat it after the Flood because all vegetation had been destroyed. But the curse pronounced upon man and the earth and every living thing has made strange and wonderful changes. Since the Flood the human race has been shortening its period of existence. Physical, mental, and moral degeneracy is rapidly increasing in these latter days.--Manuscript 3, 1897. {
3SM 289.1} Taste in Judgment Corrupted
You know not the danger of eating meat merely because your appetite craves it. By partaking of this diet, man places in his mouth that which stimulates unholy passions. Unhallowed emotions fill the mind, and the spiritual eyesight is beclouded; for the tendency of self-gratification is to corrupt the taste and the judgment. By furnishing your table with this kind of food, you go counter to the will of God. A condition of things is brought about which will lead to a disregard of the precepts of God's law. . . . {3SM 289.2}
But it is not an easy matter to overcome hereditary and cultivated tendencies to wrong. Self is masterful, and strives for the victory. But to "him that overcometh" the promises are given. The Lord presents the right way, but He compels no one to obey. He leaves those to whom He has given the light to receive or despise it, but their course of action is followed by sure results. Cause must produce effect. . . . {3SM 289.3}
Parents have a most solemn obligation resting upon them to conform to right habits of eating and drinking. Set before your children simple, wholesome food, avoiding everything of a stimulating nature. The effect which a meat diet has upon nervous children is not to make them sweet tempered and patient, but peevish, irritable, passionate, and impatient of restraint. Virtuous practices are lost, and corruption destroys mind, soul, and body.--Manuscript 47, 1896. {3SM 290.1}
Spiritual Health Sacrificed Eating the flesh of dead animals is deleterious to the health of the body, and all who use a meat diet are increasing their animal passions and are lessening their susceptibility of the soul to realize the force of truth and the necessity of its being brought into their practical life.--Letter 54, 1896. {3SM 290.2}
Religious and Physical Life Related
Eating the flesh of dead animals has an injurious effect upon spirituality. When meat is made the staple article of food, the higher faculties are overborne by the lower passions. These things are an offense to God, and are the cause of a decline in spiritual life. . . .
Whatever we do in the line of eating and drinking should be done with the special purpose of nourishing the body, that we may serve God to His name's glory. The whole body is the property of God, and we must give strict attention to our physical well-being, for the religious life is closely related to physical habits and practices.--Letter 69, 1896.
The Lord has been teaching His people that it is for their spiritual and physical good to abstain from flesh eating. There is no need to eat the flesh of dead animals.--Letter 83, 1901. {3
SM 291.1}
The Peril of Willing Ignorance
What we eat and drink has an important bearing on our lives, and Christians should bring their habits of eating and drinking into conformity with the laws of nature. We must sense our obligations toward God in these matters. Obedience to the laws of health should be made a matter of earnest study; for willing ignorance on this subject is sin. Each one should feel a personal obligation to carry out the laws of healthful living. {3SM 291.2}
To Whom Do We Belong?
Many turn away from the light, provoked because a word of caution is given, and ask, "May we not do as we please with ourselves?" Did you create yourselves? Did you pay the redemption price for your souls and bodies? If so, you belong to yourselves. But the Word of God declares, "Ye are bought with a price," "the precious blood of Christ." The Word of God tells us plainly that our natural habits are to be strictly guarded and controlled. "Abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul." Shall we do this? The Word of God is perfect, converting the soul. If we diligently heed its precepts, we shall be conformed, physically and spiritually, into the image of God.--Letter 103, 1896. {3SM 291.3}
Hindrances to Mental Improvement and Soul Sanctification
God requires continual advancement from His people. They need to learn that indulged appetite is the greatest hindrance to mental improvement and soul sanctification. As a people, with all our profession of health reform, we eat too much. Indulgence of appetite is the greatest cause of physical and mental debility, and lies largely at the foundation of feebleness and premature death. Intemperance begins at our tables when we use an unwise combination of foods. Let the individual who is seeking to possess purity of spirit bear in mind that in Christ there is power to control the appetite.--Manuscript 73, 1908. {3SM 291.4}
As we approach the close of this earth's history, selfishness, violence, and crime prevail, as in the days of Noah. And the cause is the same--the excessive indulgence of the appetites and passions. A reform in the habits of life is especially needed at this time, in order to fit a people for the coming of Christ. The Saviour Himself warns the church: "Take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares."
Hygienic reform is a subject that we need to understand in order to be prepared for the events that are close upon us. It is a branch of the Lord's work which has not received the attention it deserves, and much has been lost through neglect. It should have a prominent place; it is not a matter to be trifled with, to be passed over as non-essential, or to be treated as a jest. If the church would manifest a greater interest in this reform, their influence for good would be greatly increased. {3SM 292.2}
For those who are looking for the coming of the Lord, for those who are called to be laborers in His vineyard--for all who are fitting themselves for a place in the everlasting kingdom--how important that the brain be clear, and the body as free as possible from disease.--Undated Manuscript 9. {3SM 292.3}
This article was prepared to provide a summary of the contents of a book written in 1995 which describes an entirely new class of weapons. The weapons and their effects are described in the following pages. The United States Navy and Air Force have joined with the University of Alaska, Fairbanks, to build a prototype for a ground based "Star Wars" weapon system located in the remote bush country of Alaska.
The individuals who are demanding answers about HAARP are scattered around the planet. As well as bush dwellers in Alaska, they include: a physician in Finland; a scientist in Holland; an anti-nuclear protester in Australia; independent physicists in the United States; a grandmother in Canada, and countless others.
6When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel? .7And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power. . 8But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth. / 9And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight. f 10And while they looked stedfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel; f 11Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven. f. .
1Bless the LORD, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name. 2Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits: 3Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases; 4Who redeemeth thy life from destruction; who crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies; 5Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things; so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle's. 6The LORD executeth righteousness and judgment for all that are oppressed. 7He made known his ways unto Moses, his acts unto the children of Israel. 8The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy. 9He will not always chide: neither will he keep his anger for ever. 10He hath not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. 11For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him. 12As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us. 13Like as a father pitieth his children, so the LORD pitieth them that fear him. 14For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust. 15As for man, his days are as grass: as a flower of the field, so he flourisheth. 16For the wind passeth over it, and it is gone; and the place thereof shall know it no more. 17But the mercy of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him, and his righteousness unto children's children; 18To such as keep his covenant, and to those that remember his commandments to do them. 19The LORD hath prepared his throne in the heavens; and his kingdom ruleth over all. 20Bless the LORD, ye his angels, that excel in strength, that do his commandments, hearkening unto the voice of his word. 21Bless ye the LORD, all ye his hosts; ye ministers of his, that do his pleasure. 22Bless the LORD, all his works in all places of his dominion: bless the LORD, O my soul.
By Wayne Allyn Root, Former Libertarian Vice Presidential Nominee and Author of “The Conscience of a Libertarian”
The Middle East is in flames, we’re now fighting wars on three fronts, Japan has suffered a catastrophe, real unemployment is twenty percent, the housing market is in free fall, and the country is drowning in debt. Nero fiddled while Rome burned. Obama chooses to play golf, make Final FourMarch Madness picks, and party with his family in Rio.
This is madness. Did we elect the President, or “The Ultimate Sports Fanatic?” Will Obama choose the day there’s a massive earthquake in California, or a stock market crash, to honor the college Frisbee Champions?
As befuddled and detached as our President has proven to be, nothing compares to the sin of cooking up a war, and putting American soldiers’ lives at risk, to distract the masses from his disastrous reign. As everything Obama touches turns to disaster, has Obama’s cynical kitchen cabinet decided war is the perfect “Weapon of Mass Distraction?"
Wars tend to make Americans patriotic and rally behind the President. They tend to forget the economic tragedy building by the day and ignore the signs of Armageddon all around them. Mission Accomplished! Haven't we heard that before? It didn't work out too well the first time either.
Why should we risk American lives in Libya? Is Gadhafi any worse than all the other murdering, tin pot dictators we either support or do nothing about? Why not invade Darfur on George Clooney’s recommendation? Innocent people are dying there, too.
Before we start a third war, shouldn’t we all ask a few questions? Has Libya attacked us or any American interests of late? I know of no such attacks. And, by the way, who is Obama to tell Gadhafi to step down because he’s "lost the confidence of his people?" Sounds like Obama has been looking in the mirror again. Maybe the French should demand Obama step down?
Last I checked, Gadhafi is a bad guy -- a murdering thug. But he’s been a bad guy for forty years. Why now? Worse, the rebels fighting Gadhafi are supported by al Qaeda. So now we’re fighting on the same side as al Qaeda -- the terrorist murderers of American soldiers, women, children, and the elderly.
What’s our goal? Does anyone have any idea? Clearly our President doesn’t. Who takes over after Gadhafi? I assume radical Muslim friends of al Queda. Is that why we’re risking American soldiers’ lives?
Who is in charge? The French. Are you kidding? It’s rumored that Patton once said “I’d rather have a German division in front of me, than a French division behind me.” And, have you heard about the rules of engagement? No ground troops allowed. Funny, but I’ve never heard of a war won by only bombers from the air. What happens when Gadhafi digs in? He’s now arming a million citizens to defend him. The Arab League is condemning our bombing. What now? Mr. Obama, you’ve just created another fine mess.
Do we get dragged into a third ground war? What defines winning? Charlie Sheen? And other than the French, who is in charge -- the United Nations, a bunch of lawyers, and a President whose major concern is his golf game? Are you kidding? I’ve been a patriot my entire life, but you won’t find me supporting this war.
It’s past time to get out of Iraq and Afghanistan, and Obama is adding a third war? Is he mentally unstable, or just totally incompetent? And by the way, who declared war? Congress? Doesn’t that pesky document, the U.S. Constitution, say that only Congress can declare war?
There’s one more little problem with a third war. We’re broke. The USA can no longer afford to be the world’s policeman. We have a $14 trillionnational debt and unfunded liabilities of $60 to $80 trillion more. Cities, counties and states are insolvent and Obama is starting a third war where we don’t belong, in the hope it will help him get re-elected by distracting the masses from the financial disaster destroying the country.
Look at Obama’s record. Two wars he promised to end, but never did. Guantanamo he promised to close, but never did. The Patriot Act he criticized, but then extended. How about the torture Obama condemned? Yet now under President Obama we torture a U.S. soldier named Bradley Manning (of Wikileaks fame), even though he’s been convicted of nothing. Twenty-three hours a day of sitting shackled, naked and freezing in his cell…and this is how we treat an American soldier who is innocent until proven guilty under Obama?
Mr. Obama, you’ve already won a Nobel Peace Prize for doing nothing. Are you now trying to win an Oscar for impersonating George W. Bush? Your hypocrisy knows no bounds.
Obama is deliberately trying to ruin this great country (and doing a good job of it), is completely and utterly incompetent, or is having a nervous breakdown in reaction to the nonstop crises exploding under his leadership (or lack thereof).
Now he’s got us in a war in which we don’t belong, based on no threat to America, with no clear definition of victory, spending billions more we do not have. It is time to ask an important question -- Can this nation survive until 2012?
Wayne Allyn Root is a former Libertarian Vice Presidential nominee. He now serves as Chairman of the Libertarian National Congressional Committee. He is the best-selling author of "The Conscience of a Libertarian: Empowering the Citizen Revolution with God, Guns, Gold & Tax Cuts." His web site: www.ROOTforAmerica.com
Advances in Tesla Technology by Jeanne Manning and Dr. Nick Begich
The U.S. Government has a new ground-based "Star Wars" weapon which is being tested in the remote bush country of Alaska. This new system manipulates the environment in a way which can:
Disrupt human mental processes. Jam all global communications systems. Change weather patterns over large areas. Interfere with wildlife migration patterns. Negatively affect your health. Unnaturally impact the Earth's upper atmosphere. The U.S. military calls its zapper HAARP (High-frequency Active Auroral Research Program). But this skybuster is not about the Northern Lights. The device will turn on lights never intended to be artifically manipulated.
The following is a selection from the book and video.
MESSING WITH 'MOTHER EARTH' AND HER KIDS ELECTROMAGNETICALLY!
A BRIEF HISTORY OF EVENTS & DISCOVERIES
1886-8: Nikola Tesla invents system of Alternating Current power source and transmission system. As 60-pulse-per-second (hertz) AC power grids spread over the land, Mom Earth will eventually dance to a different beat than her usual 7-8 hertz frequency.
1900: Tesla applies for patent on a device to transmit Electrical Energy Through the Natural Mediums".
1905: U.S. Patent #787,412 issued for above.
1924: Confirmation that radio waves bounce off ionosphere (electrically-charged layer starting at altitude of 50 kilometers).
1938: Scientist proposes to light up night sky by electron gyrotron heating from a powerful transmitter.
1940: Tesla announces "death ray" invention.
1945: Atomic bomb tests begin 40,000 electromagnetic pulses to follow.
1952: W.O. Schumann identifies 7.83 hertz resonant frequency of the earth.
1958: Van Allen radiation belts discovered (zones of charged particles trapped in earths magnetic field) 2,000+ miles up. Violently disrupted in the same year.
1958: Project Argus, U.S. Navy explodes 3 nuclear bombs in Van Allen belt.
1958: White House advisor on weather modification says Defense Dept. studying ways to manipulate charges "of earth and sky, and so affect the weather
1960: Series of weather disasters begin.
1961?: Copper needles dumped into ionosphere as "telecommunications shield".
1961: Scientists propose artificial ion cloud experiments. In 1960's the dumping of chemicals (barium powder etc.) from satellites/rockets began.
1961-62: Soviets and USA blast many EMPs in atmosphere, 300 megatons of nuclear devices deplete ozone layer by about 4%.
1962: Launch of Canadian satellites & start of stimulating plasma resonances by antennas within the space plasma.6
1966: Gordon J. F. MacDonald publishes military ideas on environmental engineering.
1960's: In Wisconsin, US Navy Project Sanguine lays ELF antennae.
1968: Moscow scientists tell the West that Soviets pinpointed which pulsed magnetic field frequencies help mental & physiological functions and which do harm.
1972: First reports on "ionospheric heater" experiments with high frequency radio waves, at Arecibo. 100-megawatt heater in Norway built later in decade; can change conductivity of auroral ionosphere.
1973: Documentation that launch of Skylab `'halved the total electron content of the ionosphere for three hours"(by rocket exhaust gases).
1973: Recommendations for study of Project Sanguine's biological effects denied by Navy.
1974: United Nations General Assembly bans environmental warfare.
1974: High-frequency experiments at Plattesville, Colorado; Arecibo, Puerto Rico; and, Armidale, New South Wales heat "bottom side of ionosphere".
1974: Experiments airglow brightened by hitting oxygen atoms in ionosphere with accelerated electrons.
1975: Stanford professor Robert Helliwell reports that VLF from power lines is altering the ionosphere.
1975: U. S. Senator Gaylord Nelson forces Navy to release research showing that ELF transmissions can alter human blood chemistry.
1975: Pell Senate Subcommittee urges that weather & climate modification work be overseen by civilian agency answerable to U.S. Congress. Didn't happen.
1975: Soviets begin pulsing "Woodpecker" ELF waves, at key brainwave rhythms. Eugene, Oregon, one of locations where people were particularly affected.
1976: Drs. Susan Bawin & W. Ross Adey show nerve cells affected by ELF fields.'s
1979: Launch of NASA's third High-Energy Astrophysical Observatory causes large-scale, artificially-induced depletion in the ionosphere. Plasma hole caused by "rapid chemical processes" between rocket exhaust and ozone layer." "ionosphere was significantly depleted over a horizontal distance of 300 km for some hours."
1985: Bernard J. Eastiund applies for patent "Method and Apparatus for Altering a Region in the Earth's Atmosphere, ionosphere and/or Magnetosphere,'' (First of 3 Eastiund patents assigned to ARCO Power Technologies Inc.)
1986: US Navy Project Henhouse duplicates Delgado (Madrid) experiment -- very low-level, very-low-frequency pulsed magnetic fields harm chick embryos. 20
1980's: In the later part of the decade the U.S. begins network of Ground Wave Emergency Network (GWEN) towers, each to generate Very Low Frequency (VLF) waves for defense purposes .
1987-92: Other APTI scientists build on Eastiund patents for development of new weapon capabilities.
I1994: Military contractor E-Systems buys APTI, holder of Eastiund patents and contract to build biggest ionospheric heater in world (HAARP).
1994: Congress freezes funding on HAARP until planners increase emphasis on earth-penetrating tomography uses, for nuclear counter proliferation efforts.
1995: Raytheon buys E-Systems and old APTI patents. The technology is now hidden among thousands of patents within one of the largest defense contractor portfolios.
1995: Congress budgets $10 million for 1996 under "nuclear counterproliferation" efforts for HAARP project.
1995: HAARP planners to test patent number 5,041,834 in September.
1994-6: Testing of first-stage HAARP (euphemistically named High frequency Active Auroral Research Program) equipment continues, although funding was frozen.
1996: HAARP planners to test the earth-penetrating tomography applications by modulating the electroject at Extremely Low Frequencies
1998: Projected date for fully-operating HAARP system.
Benjamin Fulford reports from Tokyo on a mysterious plasma weapon seen prior to the Niigata earthquake in July, 2007 and red, white and blue lights seen prior to the recent earthquake in China. Both quakes targeted nuclear facilities...coincidence?
President Obama was awarded a Pulitzer Peace Prize barely after assuming the office of CEO of the United States Corporation. It was to say the least unwarranted since he had not had any time in office to exercise any tangible Peace while president.
However, after the past two years have lapsed with no visible progress in Iraq or Afghanistan (two wars he inherited) we can see a seasoned actor in our midst; Yet, there's No Peace in sight.
Mr. Obama has recently embarked on an undeclared war against Libya, a sovereign nation. Because of the manner in which he has manifested political duplicity on this major military campaign, I believe he deserves an Oscar for his performance. He said the U.S. would not lead on this attack, then that the U.S. will allow our ALLIES to take over the leadership role of Operation Odyssey Dawn... Only a top-notch actor can start a war while he is on a multi-national personal public relations campaign/exotic vacation on another continent.
Bravo! Dazzling show!
It's a Richard Burton - Elizabeth Taylor type of performance.
I say give the President an Oscar; He's a natural. He's so convincing!
Les Christie, staff writer, On Friday March 18, 2011, 4:14 pm EDT
It's not always easy to feel sorry for sunny Florida. But it just got hit with another blow.
On Thursday, the Census Bureau revealed that 18% -- or 1.6 million -- of the Sunshine State's homes are sitting vacant. That's a rise of more than 63% over the past 10 years.
Having this amount of oversupply on the market will keep home prices depressed and slow any recovery.
During the housing boom, Florida was among the hottest real estate markets in the nation. Homes were snapped up by the state's growing population as well as hordes of investors confident that prices would continue to soar.
"You'd drive through downtown Miami and see 30 or 40 cranes sticking up in the air," said Michael Larson, a housing market analyst for Weiss Research.
The bust brought an end to that. Development ground to a halt. Retirees stopped relocating. And prices started falling and vacancies rising.
"Housing went from being the preeminent investment of choice to toxic waste," added Richard DeKaser, an economist with the Parthenon Group.
The vacancy problem is more dire in Florida than in any other bubble market: In California, only 8% of units were vacant, while Nevada, the state with the nation's highest foreclosure rate, had about 14% sitting empty. Arizona had a vacancy rate of about 16%.
In Florida, the worst-hit county is Collier -- home of Naples -- with a whopping 32% of homes empty. In Sarasota County, 23% of the housing stock sits vacant, while Lee County (Cape Coral) has a 30% vacancy rate. And Miami-Dade County has a vacancy rate of about 12%.
The housing recovery will take years, perhaps many years, to complete, according to Ingo Winzer, a housing market analyst and founder of Local Market Monitor.
Not helping is the the fact that the state's rate of population growth slowed in the second half of the last decade to just 5.7%. Still, the 2000s saw the state population grow overall by nearly 18%, the Census Bureau reported. I
"It will take about eight years just to put the vacancy numbers back into the single digits," said DeKaser.
The inventory overhang has sent home prices plunging. The median price for homes sold in January was just $122,000, according to the Florida Association of Realtors. That was down 7% from 12 months earlier and less than half the price at the peak of the market.
Winzer thinks prices in Florida will drop even more, another 5% in 2011 and 3% in 2012. "Even after that, they're not going to rebound, they'll just sit on the bottom," he said.
Celia Chen, a housing market analyst for Moody's Analytics, is also downbeat in her forecasts for Florida. Not only will prices fall another 11%, she said, but the bottom won't hit until mid-2012, about a year later than the nation as a whole. Some metro areas won't get back to their pre-recession peaks until long after the present owners are old and gray.
She doesn't expect Naples, for example, to come all the way back until the late 2030s. Other Florida metro areas with a 20-year wait or longer include Punta Gorda, Palm Bay and North Port.
"If you're buying in Florida for retirement," said Winzer, "maybe you buy next year when prices will be near the bottom. If you're buying for investment -- don't."
NEW YORK -- A new lawsuit charges that New York City discriminates against transgendered people by making it difficult to amend their birth certificates, the New York Post reported Monday.
While the New York City Health Code states that a "new birth certificate shall be filed when ... the name of the person has been changed pursuant to court order and proof satisfactory to the department has been submitted that such person has undergone convertive surgery," Louis Leonard Birney said that is actually not good enough for the city Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH).
Birney, a 70-year-old who underwent female to male convertive surgery in May of 2009, turned over a detailed affidavit from his doctor outlining the procedure, but said the DOHMH also demanded that he turn over his complete surgical record and undergo a psychiatric evaluation.
The suit says the requirements, which are not posted on the agency's website, "not only exceed the relevant legal requirements, but infringe petitioner's constitutional rights by requiring him to disclose confidential information regarding his medical history without just cause."
"It's really outrageous," said Birney's lawyer, Yetta Kurland. "Why do they need a psychiatric evaluation? For what purpose? It's bizarre."
She noted that other agencies, including the state Department of Motor Vehicles and the US State Department, amend genders with a single form.
AP – U.S. President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama attend their official state dinner offered
Jim Kuhnhenn, Associated Press – Tue Mar 22, 3:10 am ET
SANTIAGO, Chile – After days of promoting the international ties that bind, President Barack Obama shifts his Latin American tour to a closer neighbor and the more sensitive U.S. policy interests of immigration, narcotics wars and gun trafficking.
The president pivots Tuesday from stops in Brazil and Chile for El Salvador, where he will meet with President Mauricio Funes. Washington is growing increasingly concerned about rising crime south of the U.S. border, and El Salvador is hardly immune. It has seen murder rates rise amid an influx of drugs and displaced traffickers from crackdowns in Colombia and Mexico.
El Salvador also has one of Central America's highest rates of emigration, especially to the United States. About 2.8 million Salvadoran immigrants living in the United States sent home $3.5 billion last year, so laws that crack down on immigrants can significantly affect the Salvadoran economy.
Obama can offer little to fix El Salvador's devastating crime and fragile economy. Fiscal pressures have limited the amount of money the federal government can provide as part of its drug-fighting efforts, and congressional politics have made it difficult to restart talks about overhauling the nation's immigration laws.
Before leaving Chile, Obama will have one more face-to-face session with President Sebastian Pinera.
In a broad-ranging speech that spelled out his policy in Latin America, Obama called on the region's rising economies to take more responsibility and play a larger role both in the region and around the globe.
He also described U.S. initiatives in Latin America to help curb the proliferation of drugs. Congress approved $1.8 billion for the so-called Merida Initiative to fight drugs in Mexico. After complaints that Central America was shortchanged, Congress created a separate Central America Regional Security Initiative with a total of $248 million so far. Central American leaders say that has not been enough.
Obama also prodded the region to fight poverty, lauding countries that have pushed more of their population into the middle class.
"We'll never break the grip of the cartels and the gangs unless we also address the social and economic forces that fuel criminality," he said Monday.
Funes, who despite being elected with support from former Marxist guerillas has charted a moderate course in El Salvador, agrees with Obama that all countries in the region need to contribute to a solution.
Some Central American leaders have expressed annoyance that Obama chose to meet with Funes instead of a broader group of Central American leaders. But Latin America policy experts said it was important for Obama to endorse Funes' pragmatic approach despite the leftist inclinations of his party.
Funes said he would raise the issue of security with Obama in regional terms. "Security cannot be seen as exclusively an issue in El Salvador, or Guatemala or Nicaragua," he said recently. "Central American countries all suffer from the same problem."
Obama conceded Monday that the United States also bears a burden when it comes to gun trafficking.
"Every gun or gunrunner that we take off the streets is one less threat to the families and communities of the Americas," he said.
But Obama, in calling for a new discussion on guns, recently declined to endorse the very gun control measures he had supported in the past.
Posted: 03/4/2011 12:14 PM Last Modified: 03/4/2011 1:32 PM
PHILADELPHIA - Charlie Sheen brought his winning ways to Philadelphia's airwaves after a radio station flew a banner over his Beverly Hills home with an invitation to call them.
Sheen called into Wired 96.5 on Thursday evening, comparing the station to "Vatican assassins" hours after the station flew a heart-emblazoned banner over his home.
Sheen has given a constant stream of interviews and media appearances in the last several weeks mixed in with a halt in the production of his show, "Two and a Half Men" and custody battle with his estranged wife that saw the couple's twin toddlers removed from his home Tuesday night.
During an encore appearance Friday morning, he told host Chio he feels positive about his job situation, saying "it feels like the hot springs of Middle Earth is finally ready to explode outward."
This morning Zbigniew Brzezinski said on NPR's Diane Remh Show that "we mean business", when referring to the goal of Operation Odyssey Dawn in Kaddaffi's Lybia. The former Jimmy Carter administration National Security Advisor, Bilderberg participant, member of the Council On Foreign Relations, and co-founder (with David Rockefeller) of the Trilateral Commission; Brzezinski is also a college professor, and an expert in geo-political matters...
What a resume?
What a line-up Diane Remh had on this morning's first hour segment? Along with Zbigniew Brzezinski, she also had Madeleine(coxxnes) Albright (Bill Clinton's Secretary of State), and Rhodes ScholarRichard Haass, the current president of the Council of Foreign Relations. The usual operatives were present on today's program; they faithfully represented the Vatican New World Order agenda (as quiet as it's kept).
No, NPR doesn't have a myopic bias when it comes to poli-tricks? Of course not they're consistent in always providing the Vatican's perspective: Ordo Ab Chao. Something that was missing from today's format was a representative from Georgetown University (a staple on the programs) or a guest from the Brookings Institution. Actually, if you have a president of the CFR, another guest who is a member of the same organization and a founder of the Trilateral Commission, plus a serving professor at Georgetown University since '82; You've covered the whole gamut of common good Cannon Law - Catholic Agenda. My mistake, I didn't consider that Ms. Albright(always wears esoteric lapel broaches)was also now a Jesuit coadjutor (represents the Jesuit/Catholic world-view).
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Note:Richard Haass was a former VP, and Director of the Brookings Institution.
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And yes folks, these people do mean business. Business as usual! For the greater good, of course.
You Call This An Economic Recovery? 44 Million Americans On Food Stamps and 10 Other Reasons Why The Economy Is Simply Not Getting Better
When Barack Obama, the Federal Reserve and the mainstream media tell us that we are in the middle of an economic recovery, is that supposed to be some kind of sick joke? According to newly released numbers, over 44 million Americans are now on food stamps. That is a new all-time record and that number is 13.1% higher than it was just one year ago. So how many Americans have to go on food stamps before we can all finally agree that the U.S. economy is dying? 50 million? 60 million? All of us? The food stamp program is the modern equivalent of the old bread lines. More than one out of every seven Americans now depends on the federal government for food. Oh, but haven't you heard? The economy is showing dramatic improvement. Corporate profits are up. The stock market is soaring. Happy days are here again.
It just seems inconceivable that anyone can claim that the economy is improving when the number of Americans on food stamps continues to set a brand new record every single month. But the food stamp program is not the only indicator that the economy is still having massive problems. The following are 10 more reasons why the U.S. economy is simply not getting any better....
#1 Some recent statistics actually indicate that the number of unemployed Americans is still going up. According to Gallup, unemployment in the United States rose to 10.3% at the end of February. That is the highest number Gallup has reported since early last year.
#2 The housing industry is still a complete and total disaster. In fact, new home sales in the U.S. in January were 11.2% lower than they were in December. Not only that, the number of new home sales in January was 18.6% lower than the number of new home sales in January 2010. That is not a sign of improvement.
#3 There wouldn't even be much of a housing industry at all at this point if it was not for the U.S. government. Right now the U.S. government is either writing or guaranteeing well over 90 percent of all mortgages in the United States. So what would the housing market look like in 2011 if the government was not in the picture?
#4 In 2010, more than a million U.S. families lost their homes to foreclosure for the first time ever, and that number is expected to go even higher in 2011.
#5 Due to rampant economic decay and record numbers of foreclosures there are areas in most of our major cities that now look like "war zones". For example, the Huffington Post is reporting that there are now approximately 15,000 vacant buildings in the city of Chicago and there are approximately 60,000 vacant houses and apartments in the city of Las Vegas.
#6 According to the Oil Price Information Service, U.S. drivers spent an average of $347 on gasoline during the month of February, which was 30 percent more than a year earlier. This represented 8.5% of median monthly income. So what is going to happen when gas prices go even higher? Sadly, the average price of gasoline in the U.S. has risen another 4 cents since yesterday and it is likely to go much higher from here.
#7 The U.S. trade deficit continues to grow. The trade deficit was about 33 percent larger in 2010 than it was in 2009, and the 2011 trade deficit is expected to be even bigger.
#8 The CredAbility Consumer Distress Index, which measures the average financial condition of U.S. households, declined in every single quarter in 2010.
#9 The number of Americans that have become so discouraged that they have given up searching for work completely now stands at an all-time high.
#10 The U.S. national debt is growing faster than ever. The Obama administration is projecting that the federal budget deficit for this fiscal year will be a new all-time record 1.65 trillion dollars. It is hard to even imagine how much money that is. If you went out today and started spending one dollar every single second, it would take you over 31,000 years to spend one trillion dollars. Long ago the U.S. government should have been getting these deficits under control, but instead they are just getting even larger.
So in light of the statistics above, can anyone really claim that we are in the middle of an economic recovery?
The truth is that there is no sign that any of the long-term trends that are destroying the U.S. economy are even slowing down.
Millions of jobs continue to be shipped overseas.
The U.S. dollar continues to be devalued.
The federal government continues to go into more debt.
State and local governments continue to go into more debt.
Our trade deficit continues to grow.
Our cities continue to be transformed into wastelands as they are being systematically deindustrialized.
The number of Americans that are dependent on the government continues to soar.
The U.S. middle class continues to shrink.
I know that I harp on these themes over and over, but it is vitally important that everyone understands that the mainstream media is lying to us.
The U.S. economy is dying a very painful death and there is no hope on the horizon.
Things are not going to be getting better. Well, they may get a bit better for the boys down on Wall Street, but for the rest of us our standards of living are going to continue to decline.
The best days for the U.S. economy are already behind us. What lies ahead is a whole lot of pain.
We are going to pay the price for decades of corruption and incompetence.
An economic collapse is coming and you had better get ready.
Published: Sunday, Mar. 20, 2011 / Updated: Sunday, Mar. 20, 2011 09:14 PM
Chile protests seek Obama apology for CIA meddling
The Associated Press
AP Photo - President Barack Obama with first lady Michelle Obama waves before there departure on Air Force One from Andrews Air Force Base, Friday, March, 18, 2011. Obama is traveling to Latin America and will be visiting Brazil, Chile and El Salvador.
SANTIAGO, Chile --Several hundred people have protested in the Chilean capital ahead of Monday's visit by President Barack Obama.
Communist Party leader Guillermo Teillier says political, cultural and social representatives have signed a letter to Obama. It asks him to apologize for U.S. intervention that destabilized Salvador Allende's socialist government in Chile before the 1973 coup that began Gen. Augusto Pinochet's dictatorship.
Protesters are also criticizing a new nuclear energy accord between the U.S. and Chile that focuses on U.S. training of Chilean nuclear engineers.
Senate opposition leader Carolina Toha said Sunday that the deal makes no sense in light of Japan's ongoing nuclear crisis.
Again, I think of Yogi Berra's famous line: It's dejavu all over again!
As if it wasn't enough to have a current occupation/war in Afghanistan, a mop-up operation in Iraq, and a proxy-drone based-undeclared war in Pakistan? The administration, the Pentagon, and the UN'sgroup of seven, have jumped in - feet first into another war. Perhaps, this operation would be more aptly titled "Dawn of World War Three",notOdyssey Dawn.
While our president visits Brazil and other nations in Latin America - just in time to kick-off his re-election bid (until now he has totally ignored Latin America); While Obama points out the positive changes that have taken place in Brazil, our nation descends into the doldrums of the worst "recession in history". Are we better off now than we were 2 years ago? Yet, Obama gallivants around, while the price of gasoline is 76 cents higher than it was last year at this time. Our president fills out his "brackets" for the March Madness College Basketball competitions. With all the unrest and natural disasters all around the world? Talk about arrested development? Talk about (trickle down)dumbing down of the masses? And this sports fetish was covered as a televised news conference?
Under these perplexing conditions our nation escalates hostilities with yet another Muslim nation. FYI: Islam is not the problem, Muslims are not the problem. The real problems are the secret terrorists that are fomenting many of the uprisings, the religious attacks, and the disasters around the planet. Can you guess who these nefarious characters are? I'll give you three guesses: Ordo Ab Chao. And here's another one: Their motto is "The end Justifies the means". If you still don't know who I'm referring to? Well, let's then continue with the 'story' of Odyssey Dawn -
The guided-missile destroyer USS Barry launches a Tomahawk missile in support of Operation Odyssey Dawn from the Mediterranean Sea. Fireman Roderick Eubanks/ U.S, Navy/AP
The first major attack of "Odyssey Dawn" came as 112 Tomahawk cruise missiles struck surface-to-air missiles, early warning sites, and key communication modes. It's the first step in enforcing a no-fly zone.
By Brad Knickerbocker, Staff writer / March 19, 2011
As the situation in Libya escalated toward international war, the Obama administration was careful to portray US involvement as “supportive” with other countries in the lead. But on day one of the multinational conflict, it was the United States that provided most of the firepower and command direction for "Operation Odyssey Dawn."
Just hours – perhaps minutes – after an emergency summit in Paris on implementing the UN Security Council resolution authorizing military action in Libya, French and British fighters were probing Libyan airspace...
These persons overlook the testimony of the Scriptures concerning the wonders wrought by Satan and his agents. It was by satanic aid that Pharaoh’s magicians were enabled to counterfeit the work of God. Paul testifies that before the second advent of Christ there will be similar manifestations of satanic power. The coming of the Lord is to be preceded by “the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness.” 2 Thessalonians 2:9, 10. And the apostle John, describing the miracle-working power that will be manifested in the last days, declares: “He doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men, and deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do.” Revelation 13:13, 14. No mere impostures are here foretold. Men are deceived by the miracles which Satan’s agents have power to do, not which they pretend to do.the miracle-working power that will be manifested in the last days, declares: “He doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men, and deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do.” Revelation 13:13, 14. No mere impostures are here foretold. Men are deceived by the miracles which Satan’s agents have power to do, not which they pretend to do.
We do not go deep enough in our search for truth. Every soul who believes present truth will be brought where he will be required to give a reason of the hope that is in him. The people of God will be called upon to stand before kings, princes, rulers, and great men of the earth, and they must know that they do know what is truth. They must be converted men and women. God can teach you more in one moment by His Holy Spirit than you could learn from the great men of the earth. The universe is looking upon the controversy that is going on upon the earth. At an infinite cost, God has provided for every man an opportunity to know that which will make him wise unto salvation. How eagerly do angels look to see who will avail himself of this opportunity! When a message is presented to God's people, they should not rise up in opposition to it; they should go to the Bible, comparing it with the law and the testimony, and if it does not bear this test, it is not true. God wants our minds to expand. He desires to put His grace upon us. We may have a feast of good things every day, for God can open the whole treasure of heaven to us.--Review and Herald, February 18, 1890.
Testimonies to Ministers and Gospel Workers (1923), p.119.
Jonathan Ernst/Reuters Senator Jon Kyl of Arizona, the No. 2 Republican in the Senate, praised the spending measure and said that over 10 years, $10 billion in cuts over all would amount to $140 billion in savings.
House Votes to End Money for NPR, and Senate Passes Spending Bill
By JENNIFER STEINHAUER Published: March 17, 2011
WASHINGTON — The House voted Thursday to cut off financing for National Public Radio, with Democrats and Republican fiercely divided over both the content of the bill and how it was brought to the floor.
Across the Rotunda, the Senate approved a short-term spending measure passed earlier in the week by the House that would keep the government financed through April 8. Members of both parties and chambers said the move, which once again averted a government shutdown, should be the last of its kind. The measure, which cut spending by $6 billion for this fiscal year, passed the Senate 87 to 13, with nine Republicans, three Democrats and an independent voting in dissent.
As in the House, some of the Senate’s more conservative members voted against the spending measure, known as a continuing resolution, arguing that its cuts were insufficient. Senator Rand Paul, Republican of Kentucky, offered his own plan, which he said would balance the federal budget in five years by eliminating the departments of education and energy, among other measures.
Senate Republican leaders backed the stopgap measure, praising the $6 billion in cuts that came on top of $4 billion in reductions contained in the current budget bill, which expires Friday. Jon Kyl of Arizona, the No. 2 Republican in the Senate, said that over 10 years, the $10 billion in cuts would amount to $140 billion in savings. “All in all, a good day’s work,” he said.
But Senator Daniel K. Inouye, the Hawaii Democrat who is chairman of the Appropriations Committee, said the continued cutting was bound to harm federal agencies. “How much more can we cut before we have no funds to pay employees to monitor our borders and ports?” he asked. “How much more before we have to cancel the construction of dams, bridges, highways, levees, sewers and transit projects and throw thousands of private sector workers onto the street?”
The NPR bill, sponsored by Representative Doug Lamborn, Republican of Colorado, would mean that stations could not buy programming from NPR or any other source using the $22 million they get from the federal government.
“The time has come for us to claw back this money,” said Representative Marsha Blackburn, Republican of Tennessee.
This was the second time that the House has moved to defund NPR; a rider was attached to a short-term spending bill passed last month by the House but rejected by the Senate. Thursday’s measure, which House Republicans rushed to the floor before a one-week recess begins, passed 228 to 192 ; all the Democrats who were there and seven Republicans voted against it and one Republican, Representative Justin Amash, voted present.
The bill, should the Senate even bring it to the floor, is almost certain to fail in that chamber. Democrats control the Senate, where members of both parties have expressed skepticism about cutting off NPR because it remains popular among many of their constituents.
The organization, in the crosshairs of Republican lawmakers for years, came under intense fire recently with the release of a video that showed one of its fund-raising executives criticizing members of the Tea Party, and the hasty firing of the commentator Juan Williams for remarks he made on Fox News about Muslims.
Representative Eric Cantor of Virginia, the Republican majority leader, said recently that the revelations of the video, made by a conservative advocate who posed as a potential donor to the entity “makes clear that taxpayer dollars should no longer be appropriated to NPR.”
Democrats said it was politics, not fiscal austerity, that drove the bill. “Why are we wasting valuable floor time on an ideological battle?” said Representative Louise Slaughter of New York.
The House debated the bill, and the procedure by which it was brought to the floor, for several hours Thursday. Republicans argued that NPR should be able to sustain itself through private donations, and Democrats countered that the cut would have negligible impact on debt reduction or the nation’s fiscal problems. They also accused Republicans of ignoring joblessness in lieu of attacking “Car Talk” and picking on Elmo.
Mr. Lamborn said that while he personally enjoyed NPR, “I have long believed it can stand on its own.” He added in a speech on the floor, “I want NPR to grow on its own, I want to see it thrive. Just remove taxpayers from the equation.”
Democrats objected to how the bill was brought to the floor. On Wednesday, the House Rules Committee held an emergency hearing to expedite the bill, and it went to the floor under a so-called closed rule, which does not allow for amendments, counter to the promise of more openness made by Speaker John A. Boehner. Republicans pointed out that the content of the seven-page bill had already been debated when it was part of the larger spending bill.
NPR expressed grave concern in a statement today about the impact of the bill on the entire public radio system, saying it was a direct effort to weaken it that would ultimately choke local stations’ ability to serve their audiences.
“At a time when other news organizations are cutting back and the voices of pundits are drowning out fact-based reporting and thoughtful analysis, NPR and public radio stations are delivering in-depth news and information respectfully and with civility,” Joyce Slocum, interim chief executive officer of NPR, said. “It would be a tragedy for America to lose this national treasure.”
Carl Hulse contributed reporting.
A version of this article appeared in print on March 18, 2011, on page A19 of the National edition.
Footage posted online last week by conservative activist James O'Keefe III captured NPR's chief fundraising official,Ron Schiller, disparaging conservatives and the Tea Party and saying NPR would be better off without federal funding.
Fueled in part by the attention given the video by the conservative Daily Caller website, an 11 1/2-minute version of O'Keefe's hidden camera video ricocheted around the blogosphere Tuesday.
It mortified NPR, which swiftly repudiated Schiller's remarks and in short order triggered his ouster along with that of his boss, NPR CEO Vivian Schiller, who is no relation to Ron Schiller.
A closer review of those tapes, however, shows that many of Ron Schiller's most provocative remarks were presented in a misleading way.
'There Are Two Ways To Lie'
O'Keefe's tapes show Ron Schiller and his deputy, Betsy Liley, at an upscale cafe in Georgetown for lunch in February. They meet with two men posing as officials with an Islamic trust. The men are actually O'Keefe's associates — citizen journalists, he calls them.
O'Keefe also posted a two-hour tape that he said was the "largely raw" audio and video from the incident so people can judge the credibility of his work.
The Blaze — a conservative news aggregation site set up by Fox News host Glenn Beck — first took a look late last week and found that O'Keefe had edited much of the shorter video in deceiving ways.
"There was certainly a lot there for conservatives and people of faith and Tea Party activists to be bothered about — but we felt like that wasn't the whole story," said Scott Baker, editor in chief of The Blaze. "There were a lot of other things said that may have been complimentary to conservatives and to people of faith and Tea Party activists in the same conversations."
My review was conducted with several colleagues. I also relied on outside people, including Baker, who have expertise in analyzing video and audio to review the two tapes.
Broadcast journalist Al Tompkins said he was initially outraged by what he heard in that first, shorter video by O'Keefe. Tompkins now teaches ethics at the Poynter Institute, a journalism school in St. Petersburg, Fla.
"What I saw was an executive at NPR expressing overtly political opinions that I was really uncomfortable with," Tompkins said. "Particularly the way the video was edited, it just seemed he was spouting off about practically everything."
But Tompkins said his mind was changed by watching that two-hour version.
"I tell my children there are two ways to lie," Tompkins said. "One is to tell me something that didn't happen, and the other is not to tell me something that did happen. I think they employed both techniques in this."
Sacramento, Calif.-based digital forensic consultant Mark Menz also reviewed both tapes at my request. He has done extensive video analyses for federal agencies and corporations.
"From my personal opinion, the short one is definitely edited in a form and fashion to lead you to a certain conclusion — you might say it's looking only at the dirty laundry," Menz said. He drew a distinction between that and a compressed news story.
O'Keefe's 'Investigative Reporting'
O'Keefe hasn't replied to several requests for comment for my stories on his tapes. On Twitter last week, he replied to me that his editing was no different from what other journalists do in crafting their stories — including my own.
On Sunday, he told CNN's Howard Kurtz that his use of hidden cameras is in the finest traditions of muckraking journalism.
"Journalists have been doing this for a long time," O'Keefe said. "It's a form of investigative reporting that you use to seek and find the truth."
O'Keefe said on CNN's Reliable Sources that his sting was inspired by NPR's decision to drop longtime news analyst Juan Williams last October after Williams made comments on Fox News about Muslims.
"The tape is very powerful," O'Keefe said. "The tape is very honest. The tape cuts to the core of who these people are."
But 26-year-old O'Keefe's own record is checkered. His takedown of the community organizing group ACORN relied on undercover videos that the California state attorney general's office concluded significantly distorted what occurred. Last May, O'Keefe pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor after an attempted video sting at the offices of U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA).
'A Big Warning Flag'
In the review of the NPR tapes, O'Keefe's edited video triggered criticism right from his introduction. He ominously describes the phony Islamic group, saying that its website "said the organization sought to spread the acceptance of sharia across the world." (Shariah is Islamic law based on the Quran, although there are wide disparities in how different Muslim sects and cultures interpret what that entails.)
On the tape, Ron Schiller is then shown and heard creased with laughter, saying, "Really, that's what they said?"
In reality, as the longer tape shows, that laughter follows an innocuous exchange as Schiller and Liley greet the two supposed donors at their table.
"That to us was a signal that they were trying to condition the person watching the piece to feel as though there was assent to these ideas," said Scott Baker of The Blaze. "That was a big warning flag."
Tompkins said O'Keefe sought to portray the fundraisers as though they would do anything to appease donors.
On the shorter tape, for instance, one of the fake donors is heard assailing a "Zionist" influence on the media — and Liley, NPR's senior director of institutional giving, is heard responding affirmingly.
The O'Keefe associate posing as potential donor Ibrahim Kassam says NPR is "one of the few places that has the courage to present it [fairly]. There's kind of a joke that we used to call it National Palestinian Radio."
Some laughter follows. But the shorter tape does not include Ron Schiller immediately telling the two men that donors cannot expect to influence news coverage.
"There is such a big firewall between funding and reporting: Reporters will not be swayed in any way, shape or form," Schiller says on that longer tape, in one of several such remarks.
Tompkins found that meaningful, noting that Ron Schiller was a fundraiser, not an official affecting the newsroom.
"The message that he said most often — I counted six times: He told these two people that he had never met before that you cannot buy coverage," Tompkins said. "He says it over and over and over again."
Confusing The Context
In addition, several times the donors seek to goad Schiller and Liley into making inflammatory statements about conservatives or Fox News personalities, and they deflect them. At one point, Liley explains that she attended Purdue University, which she describes as a conservative and respected research university, and that people there relied on Fox to get much of their news.
Menz, the digital forensics consultant, said he found some of Schiller's actual remarks disturbing. But by analyzing time stamps, Menz concluded that many of Schiller's remarks in that shorter video are presented out of sequence from the questions that were posed.
"For me, in my background, it immediately puts things into question," Menz said. "You really don't know what context these were in, what was going on in the 20 minutes before and after this question was asked."
Take the political remarks. Ron Schiller speaks of growing up as a Republican and admiring the party's fiscal conservatism. He says Republican politicians and evangelicals are becoming "fanatically" involved in people's lives.
But in the shorter tape, Schiller is also presented as saying the GOP has been "hijacked" by Tea Partyers and xenophobes.
In the longer tape, it's evident Schiller is not giving his own views but instead quoting two influential Republicans — one an ambassador, another a senior Republican donor. Schiller notably does not take issue with their conclusions — but they are not his own.
Fueling The Public Broadcasting Funding Debate
Upon their release last week, O'Keefe's videos gave fresh life to the push by Congressional Republicans to strip federal funding for public broadcasting. In the shorter video, Schiller appears to be saying that NPR would do just fine without federal dollars, though some stations would go dark. On the longer tape, it's clear Schiller says it would be disastrous in the short term.
Tompkins said O'Keefe's editing is repeatedly and blatantly unfair.
"Except for a couple of unfortunate forays for political opinion, I think that Ron Schiller actually did a fairly remarkably good job of explaining how NPR works and what you can and cannot expect if you contribute money to the NPR Foundation," Tompkins said.
Blaze editor Baker said he emerged from analyzing the tapes with a surprising degree of respect for the professionalism of the two NPR executives, Ron Schiller and Betsy Liley.
"I think if you look at two hours in total, you largely get an impression that these are pretty — they seem to be fairly balanced people, trying to do a fairly good job," Baker said.
In recent days, several influential journalists have written that they regret giving O'Keefe's NPR videos wider circulation without scrutinizing them for themselves, given his past record and some of the objections that the Blaze first raised. They include Ben Smith of Politico, James Poniewozik of Time magazine and Dave Weigel of Slate.
"The speed at which the media operates when a video comes out is a problem," Weigel said Sunday. "I mean, the rush to be the first to report on a video — and, let's be brutally honest, the rush is to get traffic and to get people booked on [cable TV] shows to talk about it — and that nature leads you to not do the rigor and fact-checking that you would do in other situations."
An Accelerated Departure
Late Sunday night, NPR Senior Vice PresidentDana Davis Rehm wrote in an e-mail that the videos unfairly present several innocent comments by Ron Schiller and Liley as inappropriate.
"No one should be surprised based on O'Keefe's record that the video was heavily edited with the intention of discrediting NPR,"Rehm said.
But from the outset, Rehm wrote, NPR confirmed that "egregious comments were made that were not distorted, doctored or fundamentally misrepresented."Ron Schiller had already announced in early March that he would be leaving NPR for a job at the Aspen Institute in his hometown in Colorado. He had been commuting across the country, at his own expense, since joining NPR 18 months ago. But in the wake of the backlash to the videos, his departure was accelerated to take effect immediately. And then the Aspen Institute announced Schiller would not be joining its ranks. Liley has been placed on administrative leave.
Neither has commented — save for Ron Schiller's apologies for some of his political comments on the day the story broke last week.
Stephen Voss NPR's Board of Directors accepted Vivian Schiller's resignation.
(5:25 p.m. ET: This post has been given an end-of-day write-through and re-ordering. After the following introduction, it lays out our updates in chronological order.)
Vivian Schiller, NPR's CEO and president since January 2009, left that job today in the wake of the second high-profile controversy to hit the organization in the past six months.
Dave Edwards, chairman of NPR's board, said directors came to the conclusion that the controversies under Schiller's watch had become such a distraction that she could no longer effectively lead the organization. She had told the directors that they should take the action they felt was appropriate, and Edwards said the board decided it would be best for her to depart.
The controversies in recent months that led to Schiller's departure have given NPR's critics opportunities to accuse it of liberal bias and to push for elimination of any federal funding for public broadcasting:
— Tuesday, a videotape surfaced of then-NPR fundraiser Ron Schiller (no relation) slamming conservatives and questioning whether NPR needs federal funding. His comments were secretly recorded by men posing as members of a Muslim organization (they were working with political activist James O'Keefe on a "sting").
— Last fall, NPR dismissed news analyst Juan Williams after he said on Fox News Channel (where he was also a paid contributor) that he gets nervous when he sees people in "Muslim garb" on an airplane. Williams went on to say it's wrong to profile or sterotype anyone based on their appearance, but NPR said it was the latest in a series of comments he had made that violated NPR's standards. The handling of his dismissal and the controversy surrounding it ultimately led to the resignation of NPR's top news executive at the time, Ellen Weiss.
We live-blogged today's developments. Here is how things happened and the news along the way:
NPR’s Diane RehmReacts to ALG’s Bill Wilson on CNN After Wilson Called NPR an ‘Elitist Soapbox’
Diane Rehm, the most neutral and objective person to weigh in on the NPR public funding situation, had this to say last night on John King’s America on CNN about Americans for Limited Government’s President Bill Wilson after Wilson called NPR an “elitist soapbox” (more below the video):
ALG President Bill Wilson’s statement from yesterday that Rehm disliked:
“NPR CEOVivian Schiller should have been forced to resign months ago after her outrageous firing of Juan Williams because he did not toe their orthodox liberal line. Her leaving now does not change the glaringly obvious fact that public broadcasting is nothing more than an expensive toy run by pseudo-intellectual snobs who despise the rest of us. Not one dime of taxpayer’s money should be spent to fund public broadcasting, which is nothing more than an elitist soapbox.”
Photo (Courtesy) http://www.zimbio.com/pictures/ZidpjRUjqR4/President+Obama+Discusses+Country+Energy+Security/7zwGJTXbw5o/Barack+Obama .
a burden when it comes to gun trafficking.
