Federal help sought for storm relief

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August 30, 2011

JOE LoTEMPLIO
KIM SMITH DEDAM Plattsburgh Press Republican


PLATTSBURGH — As the North Country continues the arduous task of cleaning up from Tropical Storm Irene, many hope for a stronger helping hand from the federal government this time.

"These counties deserve the same federal emergency resources that other communities are getting so that they too can prevent injuries and property damage and help minimize further flooding," Sens. Charles Schumer (D-Brooklyn) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-Brunswick) said in a joint statement.

"We strongly urge the president to grant this designation and approve New York state's anticipated request as quickly as possible, so that federal emergency crews and equipment will get to these communities in time to prevent further damage."

In a letter to President Barack Obama, Schumer and Gillibrand asked for help from the Federal Emergency Management Agency for Clinton, Essex and 23 other counties.

INDIVIDUAL AID

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo visited Keene on Tuesday to see the damage. He said he spoke with the president Monday night and asked for help for Clinton and Essex counties, including aid for individuals, which was not granted to this area after major flooding this spring.

"I don't think that is going to be a problem in this case," the governor, standing next to what was left of the Keene Fire Station, said when asked if the numbers would reach the FEMA threshold.

MOVING FASTER

State Emergency Management Office Director Andrew X. Feeney, who traveled to Keene with the governor, said the process should move faster this time.

With winter some two months off and hundreds of roads, homes and workplaces to fix, there is no time for six weeks of paperwork, Feeney said.

"We are working to expedite this."

Essex County was hit hard, especially in Keene, AuSable Forks and Jay, with more than 100 roads closed and many homes and businesses damaged.

Many Clinton County communities also suffered damage, and two people died when their car went off a washed-out bridge on Devil's Den Road in Altona and into the raging Great Chazy River.

Power remained out Tuesday for tens of thousands of people in both counties.

FEDERAL ASSISTANCE

In addition to providing help for rebuilding by declaring a state of emergency, FEMA can initiate protective measures to prevent more injuries or loss of life.

Warning devices, such as barricades, signs and announcements; search and rescue efforts; construction of levees; shelters and emergency care centers; and food, water, ice and other essentials can be provided.

Later, FEMA can also supply funds for major infrastructure repairs, such as bridges and roads.

Schumer said he would also seek aid from other federal agencies to help individuals, municipalities, businesses and farms.

"The North Country should receive every possible type of federal aid to help rebuild and recover from Irene," Schumer said. "I am going to fight as hard as possible to secure every last dollar to help our communities get back up on their feet again."

Schumer and Gillibrand were criticized by many in upstate New York for not doing enough when FEMA denied individual assistance to people who suffered damage from the spring flooding in May and June.

Victims of flooding could not understand why individual aid was given to those in Vermont while New Yorkers were denied. Under FEMA's formula, Vermont qualified for individual assistance as a small state, but New York, as a large state, did not have enough homes damaged to earn the designation.

FEMA aid was granted to municipalities in New York.

'DEVASTATING'

Congressman Bill Owens (D-Plattsburgh) said he believes New York will qualify for aid for this storm because much of downstate was also affected.

"I toured AuSable Forks, and the damage was just devastating. I can't imagine what it was like to sit and watch all of that happen," Owens said.

National reports indicate FEMA is running low on funds, having to deal with 10 disasters this year that cost at least $1 billion.

Republicans in Congress were saying Tuesday that if any more money is to be put into FEMA's coffers, cuts will have to come from somewhere else.

Owens said playing politics with natural disasters is not helpful.

"It is unfortunate that Republicans would really want to hold aid hostage to communities that absolutely need it. If they do that, then I would have to question their motivation. Are they turning a disaster into politics or do they really want to help people?"

Email Joe LoTemplio at: jlotemplio@pressrepublican.com


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Related:

Clinton County snubbed again on individual aid
Sens. Schumer and Gillibrand don't want county to be left behind, like it was in spring flooding.
August 31, 2011

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House Speaker John Boehner Rejects President Obama’s Request for Joint Session Next Wednesday, Suggests Thursday Instead

Aug 31, 2011 5:09pm

House Speaker John Boehner wrote a letter to President Obama this afternoon, rejecting the president’s request for a joint session of Congress next Wednesday, Sept. 7, and instead proposed that the president address lawmakers next Thursday, Sept. 8 “at a time that works best for your schedule.”

Obama’s request for the joint session on Wednesday would have conflicted with a planned debate of Republican presidential candidates in California. Boehner’s request for the joint session on Thursday conflicts with the opening game of the NFL season.

The spat over timing for the speech, which is intended to lay out a long-awaited jobs plan from the White House, underscored the partisan bickering that has beset Washington.

With the House of Representatives not set to return to session from a month-long recess until hours before the president’s proposed time for a joint session, Boehner pointed to concerns about “the significant amount of time – typically more than three hours – that is required to allow for a security sweep of the House Chamber before receiving a President.”

“As your spokesperson today said, there are considerations about the Congressional calendar that must be made prior to scheduling such an extraordinary event. As you know, the House of Representatives and Senate are each required to adopt a Concurrent Resolution to allow for a Joint Session of Congress to receive the President. And as the Majority Leader announced more than a month ago, the House will not be in session until Wednesday, September 7, with votes at 6:30 that evening,” Boehner wrote in a letter to Obama Wednesday afternoon. “It is my recommendation that your address be held on the following evening [Thursday], when we can ensure there will be no parliamentary or logistical impediments that might detract from your remarks.”

Boehner wrote that he agrees with the president that “creating a better environment for job creation must be our most urgent priority” and said that the House has worked to implement “an agenda designed to reduce economic uncertainty, remove unnecessary government barriers to private-sector job creation, and help small businesses.”

“We welcome the opportunity to hear your latest proposals,” Boehner, R-Ohio, wrote. “We look forward to hearing your ideas and working together to solve America’s jobs crisis.”

GOP aides say that the speaker was not made aware of the president’s request for a joint address until 15 minutes prior to the White House’s public announcement.

But according to a White House official, Speaker Boehner’s office was consulted about the September 7^th date for the President’s address before the request was made public and no objection or concern was raised.

This is not the first time that Boehner and Obama’s schedules have competed in the public spectrum.

Following the GOP’s electoral triumph last November, the White House announced a Nov. 18 meeting with the president and Congressional leadership without first confirming the attendance of the GOP leaders. After Boehner cited a scheduling conflict, the Oval Office sit-down was eventually rescheduled to Nov. 30.

Boehner is not the only Republican displeased with the president’s proposed timing for the widely anticipated address on job creation. Earlier Wednesday, Republican National Committee chairman Reince Priebus criticized Obama for trying to steal the show from Republicans vying to defeat him and participating in the GOP debate at the Reagan Library in California.

“President Obama’s decision to address Congress at the same time as a long-scheduled Republican Presidential debate cements his reputation as Campaigner-in-Chief,” Priebus wrote in a statement. “While the White House claims it’s simply a ‘coincidence,’ the American people can see right through that excuse.”

While Boehner’s proposal to have the joint session a day later solves the quandary between a presidential primetime address and the GOP debate, if accepted, the speaker’s proposal would likely match the president up in primetime against the NFL’s season opener on NBC between the defending Super Bowl champion Green Bay Packers and the New Orleans Saints.

In order to appear before a joint session of Congress, both chambers must adopt a concurrent resolution permitting the use of the House chamber for a joint session of Congress. The fastest way to adopt a concurrent resolution typically has been to obtain unanimous consent, which a single member of the House or Senate could object to.

Prior to Boehner’s proposal for an alternative date, Republican presidential candidate Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, was actively considering whether to object to the UC agreement.

When asked whether Paul is planning to withhold his consent, his national press secretary Gary Howard told ABC News, “He’s weighing his options.”

If any lawmaker in either chamber of Congress objects to the UC request, a full roll call vote would be forced, thus the dilemma Boehner would face if the address was scheduled next Wednesday. According to the House schedule the earliest the lower chamber could currently hold a roll call vote is September 7, after 6:30 p.m. just hours before the president had initially asked to deliver his address.

ABC News’ Jason Volack contributed to this report.

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I Have a Dream

"From every mountainside, let freedom ring. When we let freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, "Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"

Martin Luther King Jr., I Have a Dream, 1963.

Maya Angelou says memorial makes MLK look ‘arrogant’

By Liz Goodwin | The Lookout – 5 hrs ago

MLK memorial (AP)

Poet and author Maya Angelou says a recently unveiled monument to civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. is inscribed with a quote taken out of context that makes the preacher seem "arrogant."

I was a drum major for justice, peace and righteousness, the inscription on the 30-foot-tall statue of King reads.

"The quote makes Dr. Martin Luther King look like an arrogant twit," Angelou told The Washington Post's Gene Weingarten, and added that she thinks it should be changed. "He was anything but that. He was far too profound a man for that four-letter word to apply."

The quote was taken from a sermon King gave shortly before his death, where he imagined what his own eulogy would sound like.

"If you want to say that I was a drum major, say that I was a drum major for justice," King said. "Say that I was a drum major for peace. I was a drum major for righteousness. And all of the other shallow things will not matter."

Angelou, who read a poem at Bill Clinton's first inauguration, told Weingarten that taking out the "if clause" at the beginning of the quote makes King sound conceited, as if he were praising himself for no reason.

Angelou was on a committee of historians who helped choose the inscriptions, and the memorial's chief architect, Ed Jackson Jr., said that she didn't attend any of those meetings. But it also appears that the historians chose the entire quote, not the shortened version memorial officials eventually selected due to space constraints.

The Washington Post's Rachel Manteuffel expanded on Angelou's criticism, noting that King's original sermon was actually "about the desire in the human spirit to be great without doing any great, difficult things. To be at the front of the pack, drawing all the attention. This is folly, King says." King admits in the sermon that he is also prone to this weakness like everyone else, but hopes that he will be remembered for fighting for noble causes and helping others, not for seeking attention. The shortened quote conveys none of that interpretive context.

Angelou isn't the only one who has found fault with the four-acre, $120 million monument, which sits on the National Mall alongside monuments to Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln and Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Much of the criticism centers around the statue of King, which was controversially designed by a Chinese artist and built by Chinese workers. (Critics said an African-American artist should be chosen.)

Conservative columnist Charles Krauthammer objects to the 30-foot-tall statue, which was sculpted by Lei Yixin, an artist from China who has also sculpted monuments of Chairman Mao. "His flat, rigid, socialist realist King does not do justice to the supremely nuanced, creative, humane soul of its subject," Krauthammer says.

The New York Times' Edward Rothstein writes that the imposing statue and choice of quotations turns "the minister into a warrior or a ruler."

"The mound's isolation from any other tall objects, its enormity and Dr. King's posture all conspire to make him seem an authoritarian figure, emerging full-grown from the rock's chiseled surface, at one with the ancient forces of nature, seeming to claim their authority as his," Rothstein writes.

The Economist writes that it's disappointing "that a man who fought so intransigently, bravely, and beautifully for equality, of all things, has been set up for worship as a towering idol, more mountain than man."

"The image that we chose is one that, from our point of view, presents Dr. King as a philosopher of ideas, someone who was strong in his belief of what America stood for and where America should be going," the architect, Jackson, told The Root. "The goals he set have not been reached, but we have a memorial that allows us to champion his message, so that we don't forget to pick up where he left off in trying to make the world a better place."

Correction: Due to an editing error, Angelou was incorrectly referred to as the former poet laureate of the United States.

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Sex and Sumeria in Rocky & Bullwinkle cartoon

Whether we are aware of it or not we have been exposed, one might say indoctrinated, to dark forces supposedly ‘illuminated’ by new found knowledge ever since we were children. This is just one example I discovered recently while enjoying some old episodes of Rocky & Bullwinkle cartoons with our grandchildren. Here is a photo taken of a scene where Rocky & Bullwinkle are trying to help the Moon Men reformulate some rocket fuel out of mooseberries in order to get back to their home. We’ll ignore the legitimization of the concept of moon men and life on other planets being presented to our children for now and first look at another issue. Keep in mind though that the children first introduced to these ideas were US back in the day!

Innocent looking enough until you read the titles of the books on the shelf. Yes, you read it correctly, Sex on Planet “X” ! Our first reaction was shock, followed by indignation that the word “sex” should appear in a cartoon. It has absolutely no place in programming for children. But that’s exactly what it is, “programming”, programming of young minds to introduce them to sex at an early age. Our grandchildren didn’t ask any questions about the book on the shelf despite all the activity that followed while we froze the screen to take this picture. However, I can imagine that there were kids in times past that did notice and many awkward discussions ensued as parents tried to explain.

There is also a more subtle and darker reference made within the very same book title, the reference to Planet “X”. Planet X goes all the way to ancient Sumerian texts that refer to the planet Marduk or Nibiru that supposedly has a very long elliptical orbit that takes 3,600 years to complete one cycle. To make matters worse, Nibiru, according to those “illuminated” with such knowledge (gnosis), is supposedly the planet where the gods resided before coming to earth to mate with human women in Genesis 6 –

And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them, That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose. (Gen 6:1-2)

Marduk is another form of the name, Molech, that appears throughout the Old Testament as that god to whom they sacrificed their sons and daughters. Nibiru is the Sumerian name of the star of Marduk. Who would have thought that something as seemingly harmless as Rocky & Bullwinkle would actually serve to introduce thoughts and ideas of the Chaldeans into their fertile little minds that would lead to their destruction?

This is false doctrine and heresy of the highest form! It has been and continues to be taught to our children through “innocent” forms of animated cartoons and movies. (Disney is one of the worst!) We MUST guard the hearts and minds of our little ones! Watch cartoons and movies with your children and grandchildren. Understand the imagery in the video games they play. Be vigilant for signs, symbols, and concepts that would lead them astray. This is not just innocent fun!

We’re in a spiritual battle and we’re to be casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. I don’t claim to be an expert by any means. We can and should all be alert and do our own research on these things.

Then said he unto the disciples, It is impossible but that offences will come: but woe unto him, through whom they come! It were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he cast into the sea, than that he should offend one of these little ones. (Luke 17:1-2)

Take heed to yourselves, that your heart be not deceived, and ye turn aside, and serve other gods, and worship them; (Deut 11:16)

http://xfacts.com/xnews/index.htm

http://churchofcriticalthinking.org/planetx.html

http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/esp_hercolobus.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nibiru_%28Babylonian_astronomy%29

http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/sitchin/esp_sitchin_0c.htm

http://adsbit.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-iarticle_query?bibcode=1988AJ.....96.1476H

http://www.exitmundi.nl/Planet-X.htm

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Walk In Truth – http://BobtheBerean.blogspot.com
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China Shutters 6,600 Websites for Manipulating Information Online

August 29, 2011, 4:00 PM ET

By WSJ Staff

Tyrone Siu/Reuters

Chinese milk producer Mengniu was at the heart of the public relations scandal that appears to have inspired a crackdown on “illegal public relations” in China.

Chinese regulators, often criticized both in and outside of China for manipulating public opinion by interfering with the flow of information online, have shut down 6,600 websites in their efforts to clamp down on “illegal public relations deals” that employ similar tactics for commercial gain.

According to state-run newspaper China Daily, telecommunications authorities shut the websites down as part of a campaign against bad public relations practices launched in April by the State Internet Information Office, recently set up to oversee Internet regulation, and several other government agencies.

The websites involved “illegal groups which claimed to specialize in deleting online news stories and posts with negative influences or hiring other netizens to spread certain kinds of information or opinions on the Internet” for deals totaling more than 1.13 million yuan ($177,000). The China Daily story didn’t provide details of specific public relations deals.

– Loretta Chao, with contributions from Sue Feng. Follow Loretta on Twitter @lorettac

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Norway massacre: Special elite police unit concluded training for near identical scenario just minutes before Breivik’s bomb attack

Posted on August 29, 2011 by pjwalker911

Police emergency squad trained at Utøya scenario 22 July

Editor’s Note: The following is a rough Google translation of an article by Aftenposten in Norway

Only 26 minutes after training for emergency squad was closed, went car bomb in the government quarter.

Only hours before Anders Behring Breivik began shooting children on Utøya, concluded the police emergency squad an exercise where they practiced an almost identical situation.

aftenposten.no | Aug 29, 2011

by ANDREAS GROUND FOSS

The four days in advance, and also the same Friday that the attack was carried out, trained police special unit on an ongoing terror campaign that was approximately equal to the situation that hours later, met the 22 police officers in the emergency squad on Utøya.

Aftenposten is confirmed from key sources in the management of the Oslo police that exercise was terminated at 15 that same Friday.

All officers from the emergency squad that participated in the government quarter after car bomb and later came ashore on Utøya and arrested Anders Behring Breivik, had earlier that same day and in the days ahead participated in training on a very similar scenario.

So did the police so far to stop the exercise until they had trained on the reality.

Related

• Norwegian Police Confirm Drill Identical to Breivik’s Attack
• Norwegian Police Conducted Drill For A “Practically Identical Scenario” Right Before The Utoya Attack

The training shall thereafter Aftenposten know, have gone straight into the met police in Tyrifjorden the same day: a mobile terrorist attack in which one or more perpetrators only goal is to shoot as many people as possible and then shoot the police when they arrive.

- It was very close to the answer key. Chance would have it that way, says a key police source, who declined to quoted by name.

Massacre

The police should not have trained in a scenario with as many victims as they met on Utøya.

Police special unit trains continuously. But every quarter, the “blocks” where they train to different types of scenarios.

These are different scenarios police envisions might occur where the emergency squad must be inserted. There may be actions indoors, in cities or out in other environments.

According to police, this is a scenario they train on several times a year and has trained for several years, especially after some events in other countries.

26 minutes

Only 26 minutes after training for emergency squad was closed, went car bomb in the government quarter. Emergency Squad was early room.

At 17.30 was the staff of the Oslo police told a shooting at Utøya. They attached so much trust in the message that the emergency squad sat in the cars they already had in its ministries and cars that came from the police station at Grønland in Oslo.

On the way they struggled to reach the North Buskerud Police District, but at 18.02, six minutes before they arrived, they contact and agreed to meet at Storøya.

There were seven people from the emergency squad and three officers from Nordre Buskerud Police District into a 4.9 meter long rubber dinghy. This was so heavily loaded that it began taking in water. The police were assisted by a civilian boat and drove towards Utøya.

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Helicopters rush food, water to cut-off Vt. towns

By JOHN CURRAN, Associated Press

Tuesday, August 30, 2011


Polina Yamshchikov / AP
Emergency crews keep people at a safe distance from the Quechee Covered Bridge in Lebanon, N.H., as it flooded with water from the Ottauquechee River Sunday, Aug. 28, 2011. A weakened but dangerous Tropical Storm Irene dumped up to half a foot of rain in places, flooded roads, knocked down trees and left more than 165,000 New Hampshire homes and businesses on the dark before blowing out of the state on Sunday.


(08-30) 17:18 PDT Newfane, Vt. (AP) --

National Guard helicopters rushed food and water Tuesday to a dozen cut-off Vermont towns after the rainy remnants of Hurricane Irene washed out roads and bridges in a deluge that took many people in the landlocked New England state by surprise.

"As soon as we can get help, we need help," Liam McKinley said by cellphone from a mountain above flood-stricken Rochester, Vt.

Up to 11 inches of rain from the weekend storm turned placid streams into churning, brown torrents that knocked homes off their foundations, flattened trees and took giant bites out of the asphalt across the countryside. At least three people died in Vermont.

"I think that people are still a little shell-shocked right now. There's just a lot of disbelief on people's faces. It came through so quickly, and there's so much damage," Gail Devine, director of the Woodstock Recreation Center, said as volunteers moved furniture out of the flooded basement and shoveled out thick mud that filled the center's two swimming pools.

As crews raced to repair the roads, the National Guard began flying in supplies to the towns of Cavendish, Granville, Hancock, Killington-Mendon, Marlboro, Pittsfield, Plymouth, Rochester, Stockbridge, Strafford, Stratton and Wardsboro. The Guard also used heavy-duty vehicles to bring relief to flood-stricken communities still reachable by road.

The cut-off towns ranged in population from under 200 (Stratton) to nearly 1,400 (Cavendish).

"If it's a life-and-death situation, where someone needs to be Medevac-ed or taken to a hospital, we would get a helicopter there to airlift them out, if we could get close to them. A lot of these areas are mountainous areas where there may not be a place to land," said Mark Bosma, a spokesman for Vermont Emergency Management.

There were no immediate reports of anyone in dire condition being rescued by helicopter.

But it took a relay operation involving two ambulances and an all-terrain vehicle to take a Killington woman in respiratory distress to a hospital in Rutland, about 13 miles away, after floodwaters severed the road between the two communities, Rutland Regional Medical Center President Tom Hubner said. The patient, whose name was not released, was doing fine, he said.

In Rochester, where telephones were out and damage was severe, people could be seen from helicopters standing in line outside a grocery store. McKinley said the town's restaurants and a supermarket were giving food away rather than let it spoil, and townspeople were helping each other.

"We've been fine so far. The worst part is not being able to communicate with the rest of the state and know when people are coming in," he said.

He said government agencies did a good job of warning people about the storm. "But here in Vermont, I think we just didn't expect it and didn't prepare for it," he said. "I thought, how could it happen here?"

Wendy Pratt, another of the few townspeople able to communicate with the outside world, posted an update on Facebook using a generator and a satellite Internet connection. She sketched a picture of both devastation and New England neighborliness.

"People have lost their homes, their belongings, businesses ... the cemetery was flooded and caskets were lost down the river. So many areas of complete devastation," Pratt wrote. "In town there is no cell service or internet service - all phones in town are out. We had a big town meeting at the church at 4 this afternoon to get any updates."

"Mac's opened up at 5 and gave perishables away to anyone who came," she added. "The Huntington House put on a big, free community dinner tonight."

Access to Rochester and Stratton by road was restored later in the day, officials said.

All together, the storm has been blamed for at least 42 deaths in 12 states. More than 2.5 million people from North Carolina to Maine were still without electricity Tuesday, three days after the hurricane churned up the Eastern Seaboard.

While all eyes were on the coast as Irene swirled northward, some of the worst destruction took place well inland, away from the storm's most punishing winds. In Vermont, Gov. Peter Shumlin called it the worst flooding in a century. Small towns in upstate New York — especially in the Catskills and the Adirondacks — were also besieged by floodwaters.

In Pittsfield, Vt., newlyweds Marc Leibowitz and Janina Stegmeyer of New York City were stranded Sunday along with members of the wedding party and dozens of their guests after floodwaters swamped the couple's honeymoon cottage. The honeymooners narrowly escaped in a four-wheel-drive rental car just before a bridge behind them collapsed.

More than a dozen of the 60 or so guests were airlifted out by private helicopters on Tuesday.

Michael Ricci of Woodstock, Vt., spent the day clearing debris from his backyard along the Ottauquechee River. What had been a meticulously mowed, sloping grass lawn and gorgeous flower beds was now a muddy expanse littered with debris, including wooden boards, propane tanks and a deer hunting target.

"The things we saw go down the river were just incredible," he said. "Sheds, picnic tables, propane tanks, furnaces, refrigerators. We weren't prepared for that. We had prepared for wind and what we ended up with was more water than I could possibly, possibly have imagined." He said the water in the yard was almost up to the house, or about 15 to 20 feet above normal.

He added: "The force of it was beyond our comprehension."

Vermont emergency officials and the National Weather Service warned before the storm about the potential for heavy rain and flooding. On Thursday, Shumlin recommended stocking up on enough food, water and other supplies to last three days.

On Tuesday, the governor defended his state's decision not to undertake extensive evacuations before the storm arrived, noting that it was too hard to predict which communities in a rugged place like Vermont would get hit.

"You'd have to evacuate the entire state," he said.

Gerald and Evangeline Monroe of Quechee, Vt., agreed with the governor and said they had no complaints about the way authorities handled the crisis.

Gerald Monroe noted that some homes on one side of the river through his town were damaged, while those on the opposite banks 100 yards away were unscathed.

His wife said city-dwellers may see a weather report and know it applies to their entire metropolitan area. "But when you live in Vermont, there are lots of little microclimates and every village is different." she said. "I think our authorities were fine."

Approximately 260 roads in Vermont were closed because of storm damage, along with about 30 highway bridges. Vermont Deputy Transportation Secretary Sue Minter said the infrastructure damage was in the hundreds of millions of dollars.

Relief supplies arrived at Vermont's National Guard headquarters early Tuesday in a convoy of 30 trucks from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Accompanied by Shumlin, FEMA administrator Craig Fugate toured the state by helicopter Tuesday to survey the damage.

Meanwhile, in North Carolina, where Irene blew ashore along the Outer Banks on Saturday before heading for New York and New England, Gov. Beverly Perdue said the hurricane destroyed more than 1,100 homes and caused at least $70 million in damage.

Airlines said it would be days before the thousands of passengers stranded by Irene find their way home. Amtrak service was still out Tuesday between Philadelphia and New York because of flooding in Trenton. Commuter train service between New Jersey and New York City resumed Tuesday, except for one line that was still dealing with flooding.

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said at news conference in North Carolina that she was unaware of anything federal authorities should have done differently in Vermont. She said FEMA and its state counterpart worked closely together, and she noted that after the state agency operations center got flooded out, it moved into FEMA's quarters.

William "Breck" Bowden, an expert on Vermont's watershed at the University of Vermont, attributed the disaster to a combination of factors: The soil was wet, Vermont's steep hills quickly fed the rainfall into streams, and the storm dumped a huge amount of water.

"There was plenty of warning being given about the coming storm by the meteorological community and the news media," he said. "The real issues are the enormous damage to our infrastructure. That's nothing an evacuation could have done anything about."

___

Contributing to this report were Associated Press writers Holly Ramer in Woodstock, Vt., Wilson Ring and Dave Gram in Montpelier, and Michael Gormley in Albany, N.Y.

Source: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2011/08/27/national/a002503D36.DTL&ao=all#ixzz1WZPOkajk
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The political party that wants to ban PowerPoint

A group of people in Switzerland are trying to outlaw the world's favourite presentation software

PowerPoint is ubiquitous, but some people really hate it. Photograph: Alamy

Julie Bindel

The Guardian, Sun 28 Aug 2011 20.00 BST

Switzerland could become the first country to outlaw PowerPoint presentations if a new party runs in the October parliamentary elections. Matthias Poehm, founder of the Anti-PowerPoint Party, claims that €350bn could be saved globally each year by ditching the scourge of public speaking. Poehm believes that the software takes people away from their work and teaches them little. "There is a solution," he says. "A flipchart."

On leaving academia seven years ago I vowed that I would never use PowerPoint again. I still speak at conferences, though, and have been known to rant at organisers when asked in advance for my PPT presentation. I inform them that I will be turning up with a set of index cards on which I have jotted down key points, but will not be boring my audience to tears with fiddly slides consisting of flying text, fussy fonts or photo montages.

Call me old-fashioned, but I believe in having a real discussion about ideas as opposed to force-feeding an increasingly sleepy crowd with numerous graphs and bullet points projected on to the nearest wall. Sometimes I wonder why we even bother showing up to hear a colleague elucidate on their thesis, when we are helpfully posted an advance printout of the presentation. As the speaker is building to a crucial statistic, delegates have long finished and are doing the crossword instead.

If Poehm gains 10,000 signatures his party is free to run candidates in the election. So far fewer than 300 people have put their names to the cause. Unfortunately I don't think a move to Switzerland is on the cards for me.

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ATF Director to Be Reassigned Amid Fast and Furious Uproar

By William Lajeunesse

Published August 30, 2011

FoxNews.com


Kenneth Melson has been acting director of the ATF since 2009.



The acting director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is being moved to an undisclosed position in the Department of Justice, sources told Fox News on Tuesday.

An announcement was expected as early as Tuesday about Acting ATF Director Kenneth Melson, whose agency is caught up in a firearms trafficking scandal dubbed Operation Fast and Furious.

The purge of those responsible for the botched program continued as new documents reveal a deeper involvement of federal agencies beyond ATF.

In Phoenix, Assistant U.S. Attorney Emory Hurley, who oversaw Fast and Furious on a day-to-day basis, was reassigned from the criminal to civil division. His boss, U.S. Attorney for Arizona Dennis Burke, was on the hot seat last week and spoke to congressional investigators. According to multiple sources, he got physically sick during questioning and could not finish his session.

Also in Phoenix, three out of the four whistleblowers involved in the case have been reassigned to new positions outside Arizona. Two are headed to Florida, one to South Carolina.

Hurley's reassignment follows the promotions of three ATF supervisors responsible for the operation. William G. McMahon, a former deputy director of operations, took over the Office of Professional Responsibility. Field supervisors William D. Newell and David Voth, also moved up despite heavy criticism.

Their reassignments follows a series of reports on Fox News detailing the face-off between Attorney General Eric Holder, Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., and Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, whose investigators have recently broadened their probe. It now reportedly shows a deeper involvement of the FBI, Drug Enforcement Administration and the Department of Homeland Security.

Operation Fast and Furious, a program designed to track illegal gun sales, turned into an embarrassing scandal after weapons linked to it were found at the scene of a U.S. Border Patrol agent's murder last year. Thousands of guns ended up in the hands of Mexican cartel members.

Melson has led the agency since April 2009 supplanting a Bush administration acting director who was also unable to get Senate confirmation over the objections of gun rights groups. It was during his tenure that the ATF Phoenix office began Operation Fast and Furious in the fall of 2009.

With Melson's reassignment, Holder will have to fill the top job at ATF. The likely replacement, ATF Chicago Office head Andrew Traver, was nominated last November by Holder. His nomination is opposed by the National Rifle Association.


Source: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/08/30/sources-atf-director-to-be-reassigned-amid-fast-and-furious-uproar/#ixzz1WWtxb1hE
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WIDE IS THE GATE: THE EMERGING NEW "CHRISTIANITY" (Interview)

Uploaded by BereanBeacon on Apr 19, 2011

Emerging Church Play List
http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=ACDF44D5C7EFA284
Apostasy is spreading throughout Christian churches that were once staunchly fundamental. These apostate churches are suppressing the gospel that they once declared faithfully and openly. Caryl Matrisciana details how pastors are intentionally deceiving their congregations and leading them into eternal error.

Biography
As co-producer of Jeremiah Films for 23 years, Caryl contributed research and expertise to more than 55 documentaries and also served as the Creative and Marketing Director. In 2002, she founded Caryl Productions, (visit www.caryltv.com) which produces cutting edge video journalism and information to help discern the times in which we live. http://www.CarylTV.com

YouTube Channel - http://www.youtube.com/user/CarylTV

A look into the Invasion of the old New Age Movement
in today's Post Modern Church.
NEW DVD COMING JUNE 2011!
Visit www.CarylTV.com for more info.



WIDE IS THE GATE: The Emerging New Christianity
Video Journalist, Caryl Matrisciana, author of Out of India: A True Story about The New Age Movement interviews friends, well-known authors and experts in a bold and challenging new DVD. Caryl examines the intrusion of the 60's and 70's New Age Movement, steeped in its pagan eastern mysticism, and traces its morphing over the last 4 decades..from its repackaging as the Self Help Psychology, Wholistic Health Movements of the 80's, to its Seeker Friendly, Mega Church appearance in the 90's, to its coming out in the 21st century as The New Spirituality. Its slick reinvention of "new truth" shows itself off today as a new "Emerging" Christianity, a Vintage, Ancient Future Movement that is supposedly taking us back to our "Christian" origins in the Desert Fathers of 300 years after Christ. Sadly, that "taking back" does not go back far enough. Missing is a return to the Early Church's foundation, birthed in Jerusalem, at Pentecost, 40 days after the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, Who at that time, filled His Believers with His Holy Spirit and instructions to go out, preach the Gospel and make disciples.

Today's new brand of Christianity has a different gospel and is targeting thousands of the younger generation with a so-called hip, cool, experiential spirituality, much of which is embracing the mysticism of Roman Catholicism with its ecumenical philosophy of uniting people from all faiths to work together and bring about a new world of peace and harmony. This notion dovetails with the heart of New Age thinking and the utopian ideals of many world religions who all await their religious leaders and dreams of world domination.

The dangerous result of this new spirituality in the church is bringing about the rise of today's "Christianized" occultism. It's stretching its tentacles around the souls of unsuspecting youth, setting them up for the lie that subjective emotions of "power" and "experience" are "feelings" to be held higher than an objective walk in the Christian Faith, based in Truth found in the Pure Word of God. The Holy Bible is presented as unattainable truth: "stuffy", "dry" and "churchy". .

The Bible warns of great heresy and apostasy in the church of the last days. It foretells of false teachers, prophets, doctrines of lying spirits and their signs and wonders. For 2000 years, since the crucifixion of Jesus Christ the Bible has been attacked. Alongside the Apostolic Church, based on the teachings of Jesus Christ and his apostles, counterfeit Christian heretics, apostate denominations and false movements have proliferated. Ecclesiastes says, "There's no new thing under the sun". (I:9)

Learn what Scripture teaches about the times we live in, the ways in which Christians are being seduced away from Biblical Truth, and the methods used by the New Spirituality to usher in the counterfeit Kingdom of God on earth. Jesus said, "My Kingdom is not of this world" (Jn. 18:36) and "Narrow is the Way which leadeth unto life and few there be that find it." (Matthew 7:14)

Yoga -- A Christian Perspective
http://kimolsen.wordpress.com/2009/02/22/yoga-a-christian-perspective/

Wide Is The Gate: The Emerging New Christianity DVD

Video Journalist, Caryl Matrisciana, author of Out of India: A True Story about The New Age Movement interviews friends, well-known authors and experts in a bold and challenging new DVD. Caryl examines the intrusion of the 60's and 70's New Age Movement, steeped in its pagan eastern mysticism, and traces its morphing over the last 4 decades..from its repackaging as the Self Help Psychology, Wholistic Health Movements of the 80's, to its Seeker Friendly, Mega Church appearance in the 90's, to its coming out in the 21st century as The New Spirituality. Its slick reinvention of "new truth" shows itself off today as a new "Emerging" Christianity, a Vintage, Ancient Future Movement that is supposedly taking us back to our "Christian" origins in the Desert Fathers of 300 years after Christ. Sadly, that "taking back" does not go back far enough. Missing is a return to the Early Church's foundation, birthed in Jerusalem, at Pentecost, 40 days after the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, Who at that time, filled His Believers with His Holy Spirit and instructions to go out, preach the Gospel and make disciples.

Today's new brand of Christianity has a different gospel and is targeting thousands of the younger generation with a so-called hip, cool, experiential spirituality, much of which is embracing the mysticism of Roman Catholicism with its ecumenical philosophy of uniting people from all faiths to work together and bring about a new world of peace and harmony. This notion dovetails with the heart of New Age thinking and the utopian ideals of many world religions who all await their religious leaders and dreams of world domination.

The dangerous result of this new spirituality in the church is bringing about the rise of today's "Christianized" occultism. It's stretching its tentacles around the souls of unsuspecting youth, setting them up for the lie that subjective emotions of "power" and "experience" are "feelings" to be held higher than an objective walk in the Christian Faith, based in Truth found in the Pure Word of God. The Holy Bible is presented as unattainable truth: "stuffy", "dry" and "churchy". .

The Bible warns of great heresy and apostasy in the church of the last days. It foretells of false teachers, prophets, doctrines of lying spirits and their signs and wonders. For 2000 years, since the crucifixion of Jesus Christ the Bible has been attacked. Alongside the Apostolic Church, based on the teachings of Jesus Christ and his apostles, counterfeit Christian heretics, apostate denominations and false movements have proliferated. Ecclesiastes says, "There's no new thing under the sun". (I:9)

Learn what Scripture teaches about the times we live in, the ways in which Christians are being seduced away from Biblical Truth, and the methods used by the New Spirituality to usher in the counterfeit Kingdom of God on earth. Jesus said, "My Kingdom is not of this world" (Jn. 18:36) and "Narrow is the Way which leadeth unto life and few there be that find it." (Matthew 7:14)

Region - All regions, will work worldwide

Run Time: 5 Part Series - Total 200 Minutes

Source

Click here to donate and receive your copy

The warnings of impending judgment

The righteous and the wicked will still be living upon the earth in their mortal state—men will be planting and building, eating and drinking, all unconscious that the final, irrevocable decision has been pronounced in the sanctuary above. Before the flood, after Noah entered the ark, God shut him in, and shut the ungodly out; but for seven days the people, knowing not that their doom was fixed, continued their careless, pleasure-loving life, and mocked the warnings of impending judgment. “So,” says the Saviour, “shall also the coming of the Son of man be.” [Matthew 24:39.] Silently, unnoticed as the midnight thief, will come the decisive hour which marks the fixing of every man’s destiny, the final withdrawal of mercy’s offer to guilty men.

“Watch ye therefore; ... lest coming suddenly He find you sleeping.” [Mark 13:35, 36.] Perilous is the condition of those who, growing weary of their watch, turn to the attractions of the world. While the man of business is absorbed in the pursuit of gain, while the pleasure-lover is seeking indulgence, while the daughter of fashion is arranging her adornments,—it may be in that hour the Judge of all the earth will pronounce the sentence, “Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting.” [Daniel 5:27.]

The Great Controversy 1888, p.491.
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Gore: Global warming skeptics are this generation’s racists

Published: 11:18 AM 08/28/2011 Updated: 6:06 AM 08/29/2011

By Caroline May - The Daily Caller


One day climate change skeptics will be seen in the same negative light as racists, or so says former Vice President Al Gore.





In an interview with former advertising executive and Climate Reality Project collaborator Alex Bogusky broadcast on UStream on Friday, Gore explained that in order for climate change alarmists to succeed, they must “win the conversation” against those who deny there is a crisis. (RELATED: Bill McKibben: Global warming to blame for Hurricane Irene)

“I remember, again going back to my early years in the South, when the Civil Rights revolution was unfolding, there were two things that really made an impression on me,” Gore said. “My generation watched Bull Connor turning the hose on civil rights demonstrators and we went, ‘Whoa! How gross and evil is that?’ My generation asked old people, ‘Explain to me again why it is okay to discriminate against people because their skin color is different?’ And when they couldn’t really answer that question with integrity, the change really started.”

The former vice president recalled how society succeeded in marginalizing racists and said climate change skeptics must be defeated in the same manner.

“Secondly, back to this phrase ‘win the conversation,’” he continued. “There came a time when friends or people you work with or people you were in clubs with — you’re much younger than me so you didn’t have to go through this personally — but there came a time when racist comments would come up in the course of the conversation and in years past they were just natural. Then there came a time when people would say, ‘Hey, man why do you talk that way, I mean that is wrong. I don’t go for that so don’t talk that way around me. I just don’t believe that.’ That happened in millions of conversations and slowly the conversation was won.”

“We have to win the conversation on climate,” Gore added.

When Bogusky questioned the analogy, asking if the scientific reasoning behind climate change skeptics might throw a wrench into the good and evil comparison with racism, Gore did not back down.

“I think it’s the same where the moral component is concerned and where the facts are concerned I think it is important to get that out there, absolutely,” Gore said.

Gore also took shots at Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who has lambasted climate change alarmists on the presidential campaign trail, and at other politicians who dare to question the veracity of global warming science.

“This is an organized effort to attack the reputation of the scientific community as a whole, to attack their integrity, and to slander them with the lie that they are making up the science in order to make money,” Gore said.



Source: http://dailycaller.com/2011/08/28/gore-global-warming-skeptics-are-this-generations-racists/#ixzz1WSnU5P1X

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Discernment: Spiritual Survival for a Church in Crisis

By John MacArthur - April 25, 2008

Read the entire message at http://www.gty.org/resources/Positions/P02_Discernment-Spiritual-Survival-for-a-Church-in-Crisis


"In the last days difficult times will come. For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God; holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power." 2 Tim. 3:1-5

"There will also be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves. And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of the truth will be maligned; and in their greed they will exploit you with false words." 2 Pet. 2:1-3

"As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former lusts which were yours in your ignorance, but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior; because it is written, 'You shall be holy, for I am holy.'" 1 Peter 1:14-16

Today's church is like the religious leaders of Jesus' day, who could tell the difference between superficial things like pleasant and stormy weather, but not between truth and error (Matt. 16:1-3). So many churches have relinquished biblical ethics and doctrine, a deep reverence and worship of God, repentance over sin, humility toward God and fellow believers, and a profound understanding of God's character and work. All that has resulted in a low-level commitment to holy living.

In contrast, God calls all true believers to pursue perfect conformity to the absolute, holy standard of His Word....If you're going to live a holy life that pleases the Lord, it's essential that you be spiritually discerning.

What Is Spiritual Discernment?

Spiritual discernment is the skill of separating divine truth from error. First Thessalonians 5:21 says we are to "examine everything carefully." That speaks of testing something to reveal its genuineness. We as believers are to evaluate everything we come in contact with to distinguish what is true and false, good and bad, or right and wrong. That can be a difficult task. Why? First, we are constantly fighting the sinful desires of our fallen flesh. Second, we face satanic deception. The devil is doing everything he can to confound and confuse us. Third, we are inundated with worldly influences that seek to overpower us.

Opposing the world, the flesh, and the devil requires us to "hold fast to that which is good" (v. 21). We are to embrace wholeheartedly what is inherently genuine and true. We are also to "abstain from every form of evil" (v. 22). That means we are to separate ourselves from every form of perversion as though we were avoiding a deadly plague or poison. One pastor correctly wrote,

"The worst forms of wickedness consist of perversions of the truth, of spiritual lies, although today many look upon these forms with indifference and regard them rather harmless" (R.C. Lenski, The Interpretation of St. Paul's Epistles to the Colossians, to the Thessalonians, to Timothy, to Titus and to Philemon [Minneapolis: Augsburg, 1961], p. 363).

Many in today's church are indifferent about separating divine truth from error because they lack spiritual discernment.

Why Is There a Lack of Spiritual Discernment?

● Weak Doctrine.... a shallow knowledge of God's Word because the church has yielded the trade and skill of understanding it to people who are ill-equipped to do so.... Because experience and emotion have been elevated above divine revelation, many who call themselves Christians have no biblical basis for doing so....

Some say that doctrine divides. That's true! If you set aside biblical truth and remain silent for fear of offending people, opposition will disappear, but so will some other things like truth, holiness, and God Himself. [Jude 1:3-4]

● Relativistic Thinking.... Much of today's church has a continuum mindset, a continuum being that which has no discernable division into parts. Rather than seeing things as black and white--as right and wrong or true and false--it prefers to see things in infinite shades of gray....

"How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand in the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers! But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law he meditates day and night" (Ps. 1:1-2).

● Worldly Methodology.... the church's preoccupation with image and influence as the key to evangelization.

Since today's church believes it must win the lost to Christ by winning their favor, it no longer teaches the biblical doctrines of sin, hell, repentance, or the cross because those would offend the lost or make them feel uncomfortable. Instead it markets itself as a benevolent, non-threatening agency whose primary goal is to achieve prestige, popularity, and intellectual acceptance among the lost. Its premise is, "If they like us, they'll like our Jesus."....

Martyn Lloyd-Jones "saw that the elements of warning and of opposition to error were essential parts of any true commitment to the Bible... Accordingly he expected no approval from those who accepted the prevailing attitude which put 'love' first and treated arguments over doctrine as unchristian...." (The Fight of Faith, p. 650).... True believers are an offense to those who reject the truth. ...[John 15:18-20; Hebrews 10:33]

● Inaccurate Interpretation... indifferent toward God's Word. Some teachers in the church are not trained to study God's Word and end up with a wrong theology. Some are trained, but opt to tell stories or mix man-made ideas with biblical truth.... Still others arrive at what they believe is truth by some mystical intuition, experience, or emotion....

● Lax Discipline... because of the failure to carry out church discipline.... (Matt. 18:15-17)....The church should be sending a message to the lost that says, "We are a holy people."

● Spiritual Immaturity. Many in the church have only a shallow knowledge of God's Word, trust in personal experiences or feelings as truth, or chase personal comfort and success as a way of life...[Ephesians 4:14-15; Hebrews 5:12-14]

How Can I Be Spiritually Discerning?

● Desire It. ...Proverbs 2:2-5 says, "Make your ear attentive to wisdom, incline your heart to understanding; for if you cry for discernment, lift your voice for understanding; if you seek her as silver, and search for her as for hidden treasures; then you will discern the fear of the Lord, and discover the knowledge of God." Are you willing to follow the path that leads to spiritual discernment?

● Pray for It.... balance your desire for spiritual discernment by depending on the Lord for it through prayer. ...James 1:5 says, "If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all men generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him."

● Learn from Others.... 1 John 4:1 says, "Test the spirits to see whether they are from God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world."... It's not a matter of praying in the evening, "Lord, give me discernment," and then waking up the next morning and having it. Spiritual maturity is the result of being nourished by God's Word. ...

Depend on the Holy Spirit
The Holy Spirit is the true Discerner who will lead you into all truth (John 16:13). He perfectly knows the mind of God: "The thoughts of God no one knows except the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things freely given to us by God, which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words. But a natural [lost] man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised. But he who is spiritual appraises all things, yet he himself is appraised by no man. For who has known the mind of the Lord, that he should instruct Him? But we have the mind of Christ" (1 Cor. 2:11-16).

Allow the Holy Spirit to control your life by confessing and forsaking sin and living a pure, holy life. Galatians 5:16 says, "Walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh." As you are obedient to that, He will make you a discerning believer.

Study God's Word
Spiritual discernment flourishes in an environment of intense, faithful Bible study. You will not be spiritually discerning--even though you desire it, pray for it, learn from the gifted and mature, and depend on the Holy Spirit --unless you diligently study His Word. Only there will you find the principles and truths to discern between truth and error. In Acts 17, for example, the Jewish people of Berea received Paul's preaching eagerly, and then tested his gospel message by comparing it to the teachings of the Old Testament. As a result many became believers.

In Acts 20 Paul warned the church leaders at Ephesus about false teachers who would try to infiltrate and devastate the church. His concluding word to them was this: "I commend you to God and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified" (v. 32). Paul knew that their careful study of God's Word was essential for protecting the church from error.

Second Timothy 2:15 says, "Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, handling accurately the word of truth." The laborer who gives maximum effort to the quality of his work will not be ashamed because of any faulty workmanship. That means the believer is to present God's Word accurately to others in contrast to those "wrangle about words" or engage in "worldly and empty chatter" (vv. 14, 16). By doing so, he will receive God's approval and be counted as one worthy to stand alongside Him. The unashamed believer can say, "Lord, I studied and presented Your Word with integrity."

What about you? How do you study God's Word? In a superficial, careless way, or carefully and thoughtfully? Digging deeply into God's Word requires effort, but remember this: "All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work" (2 Tim. 3:16-17).

Conclusion

Spiritual discernment requires desire, prayer, learning from the gifted and mature, dependence on the Holy Spirit, and a diligent study of God's Word. If you follow those steps, you will strengthen your doctrinal convictions, think antithetically, be kept from worldly approaches, be a good interpreter of God's Word, and confront sin. All that will help you mature and bring honor to God!

Source
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The Need of Spiritual Discernment

On the Steamer “Alameda,” on the Broad Ocean,

November 17, 1891.

Redemption is a part of the divine nature. It is the prerogative of God to have to reconstruct, not to destroy. The Son of God was given to die before the foundation of the world. The existence of sin is unexplainable; therefore, not a soul knows what God is until he sees himself in the light reflected from the cross of Calvary, and detests himself as a sinner, in the bitterness of his soul. When his soul cries out in great need for a sin-pardoning Saviour, then God is revealed as gracious, full of comparison and forgiveness and love, longsuffering and patience. Individually, as church-members, we are, if faithful, servants of Jesus Christ, laborers together with God. When one is bruised by the enemy, and wounded, and commits error, as faithful and true to the Master, as workers together with God, we must take up the missionary work next to us, we must work to heal, not to ruin and to destroy. The hope we have in Christ is because we are sinners. We have a right to claim a Saviour. Then when there are those in any of our institutions associated together, who err, let not men act the part of denouncing, condemning, and destroying, as though they were faultless.

It is the work of the Christian to mend, to restore, to heal. This healing process saves many a soul, and hides a multitude of sins. God is love. God is, in himself, in his essence, love. He makes the very best of what appears an injury, and gives Satan no occasion for triumph by making the worst appear, and exposing our weakness to our enemies. The world must not be introduced into the church, and married to the church, forming a bond of unity. Through this means the church will become indeed corrupt, and, as stated in Revelation, “a cage of every unclean and hateful bird.”

Through association with the world, our institutions will become unsubstantial, unreliable; because these worldly elements, introduced and placed in positions of trust, are looked up to, as teachers to be respected, in their educating, directing, and official position, and they are sure to be worked upon by the spirit and power of darkness; so that the demarkation becomes not distinguished between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not. The parable is given by Jesus Christ in regard to the field in which it was supposed had been sown pure wheat, but the entrusted ones look upon the field with disappointment, and inquire, “Didst not thou sow good seed in thy field? from whence then hath it tares?” The Master of the vineyard answered, “An enemy hath done this.”

Special Testimonies for Ministers and Workers—No. 6, p. 3,4.
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Cell network shutdown: Safety issue, or hint of Orwell?

By TERRY COLLINS Associated Press
Published: Aug 13, 2011 at 10:50 PM PDT



Nick Sabatasso checks his cell phone while waiting for a BART train at San Francisco's Civic Center station on Saturday, Aug. 13, 2011.

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — An illegal, Orwellian violation of free-speech rights? Or just a smart tactic to protect train passengers from rowdy would-be demonstrators during a busy evening commute?

The question resonated Saturday in San Francisco and beyond as details emerged of Bay Area Rapid Transit officials' decision to cut off underground cellphone service for a few hours at several stations Thursday.

Commuters at stations from downtown to near the city's main airport were affected as BART officials sought to tactically thwart a planned protest over the recent fatal shooting of a 45-year-old man by transit police.

Two days later, the move had civil rights and legal experts questioning the agency's move, and drew backlash from one transit board member who was taken aback by the decision.

"I'm just shocked that they didn't think about the implications of this. We really don't have the right to be this type of censor," said Lynette Sweet, who serves on BART's board of directors. "In my opinion, we've let the actions of a few people affect everybody. And that's not fair."

Similar questions of censorship have arisen in recent days as Britain's government put the idea of curbing social media services on the table in response to several nights of widespread looting and violence in London and other English cities. Police claim that young criminals used Twitter and Blackberry instant messages to coordinate looting sprees in riots.

Prime Minister David Cameron said that the government, spy agencies and the communications industry are looking at whether there should be limits on the use of social media sites like Twitter and Facebook or services like BlackBerry Messenger to spread disorder. The suggestions have met with outrage — with some critics comparing Cameron to the despots ousted during the Arab Spring.

In the San Francisco instance, Sweet said BART board members were told by the agency of its decision during the closed portion of its meeting Thursday afternoon, less than three hours before the protest was scheduled to start.

"It was almost like an afterthought," Sweet told The Associated Press. "This is a land of free speech and for us to think we can do that shows we've grown well beyond the business of what we're supposed to be doing and that's providing transportation. Not censorship."

But there are nuances to consider, including under what conditions, if any, an agency like BART can act to deny the public access to a form of communication — and essentially decide that a perceived threat to public safety trumps free speech.

These situations are largely new ones, of course. A couple of decades ago, during the fax-machine and pay-phone era, the notion of people organizing mass gatherings in real time on wireless devices would have been fantasy.

BART Deputy Police Chief Benson Fairow said the issue boiled down to the public's well-being.

"It wasn't a decision made lightly. This wasn't about free speech. It was about safety," Fairow told KTVU-TV on Friday.

BART spokesman Jim Allison maintained that the cellphone disruptions were legal as the agency owns the property and infrastructure. He added while they didn't need the permission of cellphone carriers to temporarily cut service, they notified them as a courtesy.

The decision was made after agency officials saw details about the protest on an organizer's website. He said the agency had extra staff and officers aboard trains during that time for anybody who wanted to report an emergency, as well as courtesy phones on station platforms.

"I think the entire argument is that some people think it created an unsafe situation is faulty logic," Allison said. "BART had operated for 35 years without cellphone service and no one ever suggested back then that a lack of it made it difficult to report emergencies and we had the same infrastructure in place."

But as in London, BART's tactic drew immediate comparisons to authoritarianism, including acts by the former president of Egypt to squelch protests demanding an end to his rule. Authorities there cut Internet and cellphone services in the country for days earlier this year. He left office shortly thereafter.

"BART officials are showing themselves to be of a mind with the former president of Egypt, Hosni Mubarak," the Electronic Frontier Foundation said on its website. Echoing that comparison, vigorous weekend discussion on Twitter was labeled with the hashtag "muBARTek."

Aaron Caplan, a professor at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles who specializes in free-speech issues, was equally critical, saying BART clearly violated the rights of demonstrators and other passengers.

"We can arrest and prosecute people for the crimes they commit," he said. "You are not allowed to shut down people's cellphones and prevent them from speaking because you think they might commit a crime in the future."

Michael Risher, the American Civil Liberty Union's Northern California staff attorney, echoed the sentiment in a blog: "The government shouldn't be in the business of cutting off the free flow of information. Shutting down access to mobile phones is the wrong response to political protests, whether it's halfway around the world or right here in San Francisco."

On Saturday at a station where cell phone service was disrupted, passenger Phil Eager, 44, shared the opinion that BART's approach seemed exaggerated.

"It struck me as pretty strange and kind of extreme," said Eager, a San Francisco attorney. "It's not a First Amendment debate, but rather a civil liberties issue."

Eager said many of his friends riding BART on Thursday were upset with the agency's actions, some even calling it a "police state."

Mark Malmberg, 58, of Orinda, Calif., believes that BART could've used a different approach instead of shutting down cellphone usage.

"Even though it sounds like they wanted to avoid a mob gathering, you can't stop people from expressing themselves," Malmberg said. "I hope those who protest can do so in a civil manner."

The ACLU already has a scheduled meeting with BART's police chief on Monday about other issues and Thursday's incident will added be to the agenda, spokeswoman Rebecca Farmer said.

But others said that while the phone shutdown was worth examining, it may not have impinged on First Amendment rights. Gene Policinski, executive director of the First Amendment Center, a nonprofit educational organization, said freedom of expression can be limited in very narrow circumstances if there is an immediate threat to public safety.

"An agency like BART has to be held to a very high standard," he said. "First of all, it has to be an immediate threat, not just the mere supposition that there might be one. And I think the response has to be what a court would consider reasonable, so it has to be the minimum amount of restraint on free expression."

He said if BART's actions are challenged, a court may look more favorably on what it did if expression was limited on a narrow basis for a specific area and time frame, instead of "just indiscriminately closing down cellphone service throughout the system or for a broad area."

University of Michigan law professor Len Niehoff, who specializes in First Amendment and media law issues, found the BART actions troublesome for a few reasons.

He said the First Amendment generally doesn't allow the government to restrict free speech because somebody might do something illegal or to prohibit conversations based on their subject matter. He said the BART actions have been portrayed as an effort to prevent a protest that would have violated the law, but there was no guarantee that would have happened.

"What it really did is it prevented people from talking, discussing ... and mobilizing in any form, peaceful or unpeaceful, lawful or unlawful," he said. "That is, constitutionally, very problematic."

The government does have the right to break up a demonstration if it forms in an area where protests are prohibited and poses a risk to public safety, Niehoff said. But it should not prohibit free speech to prevent the possibility of a protest happening.

"The idea that we're going to keep people from talking about what they might or might not do, based on the idea that they might all agree to violate the law, is positively Orwellian," he said.

Source

IMF chief urges US policymakers to help economy

Christine Lagarde, of France, managing director of the International Monetary Fund, arrives at the morning session of the Economic Policy Symposium at Jackson Hole in Moran, Wyo., Saturday, Aug. 27, 2011.

AP Photo/Reed Saxon


IMF chief urges US policymakers to help economy

By Paul Wiseman

AP Economics Writer
Published August 27, 2011


JACKSON HOLE, Wyo. — The new head of the International Monetary Fund urged U.S. policymakers to take more aggressive steps to stimulate the economy and ease the housing crisis.

IMF chief Christine Lagarde, speaking at an economic conference in Jackson Hole Saturday, said the United States should reach a "credible" plan to control government debts in the future, but push for stronger economic growth now.

If the economy stagnates, she said, plans to cut government spending in the future will lose credibility. "Who will believe that commitments to cut spending can survive a lengthy stagnation with prolonged unemployment and social dissatisfaction?" she said.

Her comments echoed those of Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, who in a speech here Friday urged Congress to do more to help the ailing U.S. economy. Congress, led by House Republicans, has emphasized reducing government budget deficits over short-term measures to create jobs.

Lagarde also pushed U.S. policymakers to halt "the downward spiral of foreclosures, falling house prices and deteriorating household spending." She said they could move more aggressively to reduce amount of principal homeowners owe on their mortgages; about one in four U.S. homeowners owe more on their mortgages than their homes are worth.

The government could help homeowners take advantage of super-low mortgage rates to refinance their homes and reduce their monthly payments, she said.

In July, Lagarde replaced Dominique Strauss-Kahn as managing director of the IMF. He had been accused of assaulting a hotel maid. Those charges were dismissed last week.

Private investors or governments must replenish the capital of banks facing potential losses if ailing European countries such as Greece, Italy and Portugal cannot meet government debt payments, Lagarde said.

Lagarde urged central banks around the world to keep interest rates low and consider "unconventional" steps if they are required to protect the fragile global recovery. On Friday, Fed chief Bernanke did not announce any further steps to jolt the economy. He did say the Fed would discuss its options at its policy meeting next month. One unconventional step the Fed could take would be a third round of bond purchases, a policy known as "quantitative easing," designed to help the economy by lowering long-term interest rates.

"The downside risks to the global economy are increasing," Lagarde said. "Those risks have been aggravated further by a deterioration in confidence and a growing sense that policymakers do not have the conviction, or simply are not willing, to take the decisions that are needed."

Source

Last Hurricane IRENE Public Advisory

Hurricane IRENE Public Advisory
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


US Watch/Warning Storm Surge Probs UPDATE
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



000
WTNT34 KNHC 281152
TCPAT4

BULLETIN
HURRICANE IRENE INTERMEDIATE ADVISORY NUMBER 32A
NWS NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER MIAMI FL AL092011
800 AM EDT SUN AUG 28 2011

...CENTER OF IRENE NEARING NEW YORK CITY...


SUMMARY OF 800 AM EDT...1200 UTC...INFORMATION
----------------------------------------------
LOCATION...40.3N 74.1W
ABOUT 40 MI...60 KM SSW OF NEW YORK CITY
MAXIMUM SUSTAINED WINDS...75 MPH...120 KM/H
PRESENT MOVEMENT...NNE OR 20 DEGREES AT 25 MPH...41 KM/H
MINIMUM CENTRAL PRESSURE...963 MB...28.44 INCHES


WATCHES AND WARNINGS
--------------------
CHANGES IN WATCHES AND WARNINGS WITH THIS ADVISORY...

THE TROPICAL STORM WARNING FROM OCRACOKE INLET NORTH CAROLINA TO
CAPE CHARLES LIGHT VIRGINIA...INCLUDING THE PAMLICO...ALBEMARLE...
AND CURRITUCK SOUNDS AND CHESAPEAKE BAY SOUTH OF NEW POINT
COMFORT...IS DISCONTINUED.

SUMMARY OF WATCHES AND WARNINGS IN EFFECT...

A HURRICANE WARNING IS IN EFFECT FOR...
* CHINCOTEAGUE VIRGINIA NORTHWARD TO SAGAMORE BEACH MASSACHUSETTS...
INCLUDING DELAWARE BAY...NEW YORK CITY...LONG ISLAND...LONG ISLAND
SOUND...COASTAL CONNECTICUT AND RHODE ISLAND...BLOCK ISLAND...
MARTHAS VINEYARD AND NANTUCKET

A TROPICAL STORM WARNING IS IN EFFECT FOR...
* NORTH OF CAPE CHARLES LIGHT TO SOUTH OF CHINCOTEAUGUE VIRGINIA...
INCLUDING CHESAPEAKE BAY NORTH OF NEW POINT COMFORT AND THE TIDAL
POTOMAC
* NORTH OF SAGAMORE BEACH TO EASTPORT MAINE
* UNITED STATES/CANADA BORDER NORTHEASTWARD TO FORT LAWRENCE
INCLUDING GRAND MANAN
* SOUTH COAST OF NOVA SCOTIA FROM FORT LAWRENCE TO PORTERS LAKE

INTERESTS ELSEWHERE IN EASTERN CANADA SHOULD MONITOR THE PROGRESS OF
IRENE.

FOR STORM INFORMATION SPECIFIC TO YOUR AREA IN THE UNITED
STATES...INCLUDING POSSIBLE INLAND WATCHES AND WARNINGS...PLEASE
MONITOR PRODUCTS ISSUED BY YOUR LOCAL NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE
FORECAST OFFICE. FOR STORM INFORMATION SPECIFIC TO YOUR AREA OUTSIDE
THE UNITED STATES...PLEASE MONITOR PRODUCTS ISSUED BY YOUR NATIONAL
METEOROLOGICAL SERVICE.


DISCUSSION AND 48-HOUR OUTLOOK
------------------------------
AT 800 AM EDT...1200 UTC...THE CENTER OF HURRICANE IRENE WAS LOCATED
BY AN AIR FORCE RESERVE HURRICANE HUNTER AIRCRAFT AND NOAA DOPPLER
RADAR NEAR LATITUDE 40.3 NORTH...LONGITUDE 74.1 WEST. IRENE IS
MOVING TOWARD THE NORTH-NORTHEAST NEAR 25 MPH...41 KM/H...AND THIS
MOTION WITH A CONTINUED GRADUAL INCREASE IN FORWARD SPEED IS
EXPECTED DURING THE NEXT DAY OR SO. ON THE FORECAST TRACK...THE
CENTER OF IRENE WILL MOVE NEAR NEW YORK CITY THIS MORNING...AND MOVE
INLAND OVER SOUTHERN NEW ENGLAND BY THIS AFTERNOON. IRENE IS
FORECAST TO MOVE INTO EASTERN CANADA TONIGHT.

MAXIMUM SUSTAINED WINDS ARE NEAR 75 MPH...120 KM/H...WITH
HIGHER GUSTS. IRENE IS A CATEGORY ONE HURRICANE ON THE
SAFFIR-SIMPSON HURRICANE WIND SCALE. IRENE IS FORECAST TO WEAKEN
AND BECOME A POST-TROPICAL CYCLONE BY TONIGHT OR EARLY MONDAY.

HURRICANE FORCE WINDS EXTEND OUTWARD UP TO 125 MILES...205 KM...FROM
THE CENTER...AND TROPICAL STORM FORCE WINDS EXTEND OUTWARD UP TO 320
MILES...520 KM. GROTON CONNECTICUT RECENTLY REPORTED SUSTAINED
WINDS OF 39 MPH...63 KM/H...AND A WIND GUST TO 54 MPH...87 KM/H.

BATTERY PARK NEW YORK CITY HAS RECENTLY REPORTED A TOTAL WATER LEVEL
NEAR 8.6 FEET.

THE LATEST MINIMUM CENTRAL PRESSURE REPORTED BY THE HURRICANE HUNTER
AIRCRAFT WAS 963 MB...28.44 INCHES.


HAZARDS AFFECTING LAND
----------------------
STORM SURGE...AN EXTREMELY DANGEROUS STORM SURGE WILL RAISE WATER
LEVELS BY AS MUCH AS 4 TO 8 FEET ABOVE GROUND LEVEL WITHIN THE
HURRICANE WARNING AREA. NEAR THE COAST...THE SURGE WILL
BE ACCOMPANIED BY LARGE...DESTRUCTIVE...AND LIFE-THREATENING WAVES.
HIGHER THAN NORMAL ASTRONOMICAL TIDES ARE OCCURRING THIS WEEKEND.
COASTAL AND RIVER FLOODING WILL BE HIGHEST IN AREAS WHERE THE PEAK
SURGE OCCURS AROUND THE TIME OF HIGH TIDE. STORM TIDE AND SURGE
VALUES ARE VERY LOCATION-SPECIFIC...AND USERS ARE URGED TO CONSULT
PRODUCTS ISSUED BY THEIR LOCAL NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE OFFICES.
WATER LEVELS IN THE CHESAPEAKE BAY WILL GRADUALLY SUBSIDE THIS
MORNING.

RAINFALL...IRENE IS EXPECTED TO PRODUCE RAINFALL ACCUMULATIONS OF
5 TO 10 INCHES...WITH ISOLATED MAXIMUM AMOUNTS OF 15 INCHES...FROM
EASTERN PENNSYLVANIA...DELAWARE AND NEW JERSEY INTO EASTERN NEW YORK
AND INTERIOR NEW ENGLAND. THESE RAINS...COMBINED WITH HEAVY RAINS
OVER THE PAST FEW WEEKS...COULD CAUSE WIDESPREAD FLOODING...
LIFE-THREATENING FLASH FLOODS...AND SIGNIFICANT UPROOTING OF TREES
DUE TO RAIN-SOFTENED GROUNDS.

WIND...TROPICAL STORM FORCE WINDS AND HURRICANE FORCE WINDS...
ESPECIALLY IN GUSTS...WILL CONTINUE TO SPREAD NORTHWARD INTO
SOUTHERN NEW ENGLAND THIS MORNING. WINDS AFFECTING THE UPPER
FLOORS OF HIGH-RISE BUILDINGS WILL BE SIGNIFICANTLY STRONGER THAN
THOSE NEAR GROUND LEVEL.

TORNADOES...ISOLATED TORNADOES ARE POSSIBLE OVER NORTHERN NEW
JERSEY...SOUTHEASTERN NEW YORK...AND EXTREME SOUTHERN NEW ENGLAND
THROUGH THIS MORNING.

SURF...LARGE SWELLS GENERATED BY IRENE ARE AFFECTING MUCH OF THE
EAST COAST OF THE UNITED STATES. THESE SWELLS WILL CAUSE
LIFE-THREATENING SURF AND RIP CURRENT CONDITIONS.


NEXT ADVISORY
-------------
NEXT COMPLETE ADVISORY...1100 AM EDT.

$$
FORECASTER PASCH/BROWN


http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/text/refresh/MIATCPAT4+shtml/281152.shtml


Tropical Storm JOSE Public Advisory
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

000
WTNT31 KNHC 281213
TCPAT1

BULLETIN
TROPICAL STORM JOSE SPECIAL ADVISORY NUMBER 1...CORRECTED
NWS NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER MIAMI FL AL112011
800 AM AST SUN AUG 28 2011

CORRECTED FOR TIME OF WEAKENING

...TROPICAL STORM JOSE FORMS NEAR BERMUDA...TROPICAL STORM WARNING
ISSUED...


SUMMARY OF 800 AM AST...1200 UTC...INFORMATION
----------------------------------------------
LOCATION...30.8N 65.7W
ABOUT 115 MI...185 KM SSW OF BERMUDA
MAXIMUM SUSTAINED WINDS...40 MPH...65 KM/H
PRESENT MOVEMENT...N OR 350 DEGREES AT 16 MPH...26 KM/H
MINIMUM CENTRAL PRESSURE...1008 MB...29.77 INCHES


WATCHES AND WARNINGS
--------------------
CHANGES WITH THIS ADVISORY...

THE BERMUDA WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED A TROPICAL STORM WARNING FOR
BERMUDA.

SUMMARY OF WATCHES AND WARNINGS IN EFFECT...

A TROPICAL STORM WARNING IS IN EFFECT FOR...
* BERMUDA

A TROPICAL STORM WARNING MEANS THAT TROPICAL STORM CONDITIONS ARE
EXPECTED SOMEWHERE WITHIN THE WARNING AREA...IN THIS CASE WITHIN 12
HOURS.

FOR STORM INFORMATION SPECIFIC TO YOUR AREA...PLEASE MONITOR
PRODUCTS ISSUED BY YOUR NATIONAL METEOROLOGICAL SERVICE.


DISCUSSION AND 48-HOUR OUTLOOK
------------------------------
AT 800 AM AST...1200 UTC...THE CENTER OF TROPICAL STORM JOSE WAS
LOCATED NEAR LATITUDE 30.8 NORTH...LONGITUDE 65.7 WEST. JOSE IS
MOVING TOWARD THE NORTH NEAR 16 MPH...26 KM/H...AND THIS MOTION IS
EXPECTED TO CONTINUE TODAY.

MAXIMUM SUSTAINED WINDS ARE NEAR 40 MPH...65 KM/H...WITH HIGHER
GUSTS. LITTLE CHANGE IN STRENGTH IS FORECAST TODAY AND JOSE SHOULD
WEAKEN ON MONDAY.

TROPICAL STORM FORCE WINDS EXTEND OUTWARD UP TO 50 MILES...85 KM
FROM THE CENTER.

ESTIMATED MINIMUM CENTRAL PRESSURE IS 1008 MB...29.77 INCHES.


HAZARDS AFFECTING LAND
----------------------
WIND...TROPICAL STORM CONDITIONS ARE EXPECTED ON BERMUDA BEGINNING
LATER THIS MORNING.

RAINFALL...RAIN TOTALS OF 1 TO 3 INCHES ARE POSSIBLE ON BERMUDA.


NEXT ADVISORY
-------------
NEXT COMPLETE ADVISORY...1100 AM AST.

$$
FORECASTER KIMBERLAIN/BLAKE

http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/text/refresh/MIATCPAT1+shtml/281159.shtml