NLE 09 underway

National Level Exercise 2009 (NLE 09) is taking place in the US. Scheduled to run from July 27 to July 31, 2009, NLE 09 is the first major exercise conducted by the United States government to focus exclusively on terrorism prevention and protection, as opposed to incident response and recovery.

According to FEMA, NLE 09 is designated as a Tier I National Level Exercise. Tier I exercises (formerly known as the Top Officials exercise series or TOPOFF) are conducted annually in accordance with the National Exercise Program (NEP), which serves as the US's overarching exercise program for planning, organizing, conducting and evaluating national level exercises. The NEP was established to provide the US government, at all levels, exercise opportunities to prepare for catastrophic crises ranging from terrorism to natural disasters.

NLE 09 is a White House directed, Congressionally-mandated exercise that includes the participation of all appropriate federal department and agency senior officials, their deputies, staff and key operational elements. Representatives from Australia, Canada, Mexico and the United Kingdom are also taking part.

More details.

Source: http://continuitycentral.com/news04682.html

Trip to Jackson’s funeral spurs funding questions

Leading The News

Trip to Jackson’s funeral spurs funding questions
By Susan Crabtree
Posted: 07/27/09 07:44 PM [ET]
Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee’s (D-Texas) cross-country trip to Los Angeles for Michael Jackson’s funeral has come under scrutiny.

Jackson Lee, the only member to attend the King of Pop’s star-studded funeral in early June, hasn’t said whether she used taxpayer funds provided to her for office expenses to pay for the trip.

Lawmakers can use such funds for official business, but it’s not clear Jackson Lee was acting in an official capacity.

At the funeral, Jackson Lee delivered a framed copy of a resolution honoring Jackson as a “world humanitarian.” But that resolution caused consternation among House Democratic leaders after Jackson Lee promised during her eulogy to Jackson at the Staples Center in Los Angeles to have it debated on the House floor

Several e-mail inquiries to Jackson Lee Chief of Staff Leon Buck were not returned Thursday and Friday, and Buck’s voice mail was full on both days.

In response to a question about how she paid for the trip, Jackson Lee over the weekend told KPRC, a Houston TV station, that she used “resources that I have.”

“Well, that, those resources are resources that I have and therefore they are in a way that doesn’t interfere with anything that has to do with serving as a member of Congress,” she said.

Asked whether she used public or private funds, she repeated that she used “resources that I had.”

Jackson Lee has also refused to answer questions about how she paid for a 2008 trip, which involved several members of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC), to the island of St. Martin. That trip is under investigation by the House ethics committee, which is looking into whether corporate sponsors funded it.

When KPRC asked for a detailed accounting, including receipts, of the trip to Michael Jackson’s funeral, Jackson Lee’s office cited rules exempting members of Congress from Texas open-records laws and federal Freedom of Information Act requests.

According to the Member’s Handbook, a guide published by the Committee on House Administration, lawmakers may use office funds, known as Members’ Representational Allowances (MRA), for “official travel” to conduct “representational” duties. They may not, however, use the MRA for “personal, political, or committee purposes.”

House Administration Committee spokesman Kyle Anderson said no other member has used office funds to pay for travel to a celebrity’s funeral.

“To date, MRA-paid travel to funerals has been limited to funerals of sitting members of Congress who die in office, occasionally recently retired members of the House, and former presidents,” he said in an e-mailed statement.

Jackson Lee’s resolution honoring Jackson did not have the blessing of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), who nixed the idea of passing it after Republicans raised questions about the molestation charges that the pop star faced during his career. Democrats privately griped that the resolution was distracting attention from such critical priorities as healthcare and climate change legislation.

Jackson was acquitted in 2005 of charges that he molested a 13-year-old boy. Those allegations, and his admission that children slept in his bed, led some members of Congress to distance themselves from any attempt to formally honor the entertainer.

Jackson Lee has also refused to answer questions about the 2008 St. Martin trip. A similar CBC trip took place in 2007.

When The Hill first queried Jackson Lee’s office about the St. Martin trip, Buck said she had paid for it with personal funds. When asked for proof of those payments, Buck did not respond to calls and e-mails.

In a brief interview, Jackson Lee told The Hill that she would not discuss any matter that is under ethics committee review.

CBC members have complained about the ethics panel’s investigation into the Caribbean trip and have argued that their travel is being singled out. They say other lawmakers have gone on similar trips that skirted House rules, though the CBC members haven’t identified those trips.

In its semiannual report released a week and a half ago, the ethics committee said it is reviewing its travel rules.

“The Committee is in the process of reviewing its travel regulations,” the ethics panel wrote. “Exercising its oversight jurisdiction, the Committee, with the benefit of two years’ experience implementing the House’s travel rules, expects to revise the travel regulations in the near future.”

The stricter travel rules put in place in 2007 after Democrats regained the majority were intended to prevent trips like the now-infamous golf junkets to London and Scotland that came to light during the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal.

One of the main charges in the Caribbean travel allegations is that corporate sponsors directly or indirectly paid for a trip members listed as being funded by a nonprofit foundation on the required travel disclosure forms.

A foundation or nonprofit can pay for a trip lasting longer than two days under the new ethics rules, as long as corporations do not pay for any part of it or do not “earmark” funds intended for the trip. Some House staffers argue that the use of the word “earmark” is overly broad and confusing and needs to be redefined.

Source: http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/trip-to-jacksons-funeral-spurs-funding-questions-2009-07-27.html

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Doctor: Michael Jackson Was an Addict

July 9, 2009

Long-Term Dermatologist Says Jackson Battled Addiction, Used Anesthetic To Sleep; Dodges Paternity Question

CBS) A long-time dermatologist and friend of Michael Jackson told CNN's Larry King that the singer battled drug addiction, and that he advised him it was "absolutely insane" to use Diprivan, an anesthetic as a sleep aid.

"Michael at one time had an addiction," Dr. Arnold Klein told King. "He went to England and withdrew from that addiction in a secure setting where he went off drugs all together."

Klein said that he knew that while Jackson was on tour in Germany, he was using Diprivan, with the help of an anesthesiologist, to go to sleep at night.

"I told him he was absolutely insane," Klein said. "This isn't a drug you can repeatedly take."

When King asked Klein how he thinks Jackson obtained the anesthetic, Klein replied, "The rich and famous can buy anything they want to buy."

Klein saw Jackson the Monday before he died, and said that the King of Pop was dancing in his office.

"He was in very good physical condition," Klein said. "He was mentally aware when we saw him and in a very good mood."

The dermatologist was helping Jackson "rebuild his face" before his fall tour.

"He had severe acne scarring and scarring from a lot of the cosmetic surgery," Klein said. "He looked much more normal … the way he looked at his face, he wanted it to be absolutely perfect."

King asked why Jackson, as an attractive young man, wanted to have so much plastic surgery.

"I don't know why he started," Klein said. "Family members had made fun of the size of his nose. He was very sensitive to that."

King asked Klein if he was the sperm donor for Jackson's three children. Klein said that he has donated sperm to a sperm bank in the past, but, "to the best of my knowledge I'm not the father."

"Here's the most important thing: Michael loved those children as a father … I'm not going to answer that the way you want. The most important is who the father is, who the children want their father to be … how he loved them and they loved him."


Source: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/07/09/entertainment/main5145776.shtml?tag=pop

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Reluctantly, President Obama Admits He Still Smokes But Is “95% Cured”

Photo (Courtesy) http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/06/27/ap/preswho/main5118606.shtml

June 23, 2009 2:26 PM

A reformed smoker, Margaret Talev of McClatchy Newspapers, today asked President Obama about his struggle kicking the habit.

“As a former smoker, I understand the frustration and the fear that comes with quitting,” she said. “But with the new law that you signed yesterday regulating the tobacco industry, I'd like to ask you a few questions…How many cigarettes a day do you now smoke? Do you smoke alone or in the presence of other people?”

Talev also asked if the law President Obama signed Monday “should help you to quit? If so, why?”

Monday’s law grants authority over tobacco products to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, bans all cigarettes from having candy, fruit, and spice flavors as their characterizing flavors, to take effect this October. In addition, the law will stop youth-based marketing such as tobacco manufacturers sponsoring sporting, athletic, and entertainment events using tobacco product brand names and logos, or giving away clothing bearing the brand name or logo of a tobacco product.

President Obama underlined that “the new law that was put in place is not about me. It's about the next generation of kids coming up.”

The president dismissed the legitimacy of the question in a way, saying “I think it's fair, Margaret, to just say that you just think it's neat to ask me about my smoking as opposed to it being relevant to my new law. But that's fine. I understand… It's an interesting human interest story.”

The president then added that “as a former smoker I constantly struggle with it. Have I fallen off the wagon sometimes? Yes.”

Continuing, the president said, “am I a daily smoker, a constant smoker? No.”

“I don't do it in front of my kids,” he said. “I don't do it in front of my family. And, you know, I would say that I am 95 percent cured.”

But, he allowed, “there are times where I mess up. And I mean, I've said this before. I get this question about once every month or so. And, you know, I don't know what to tell you, other than the fact that, you know, like folks who go to A.A., you know, once you've gone down this path, then, you know, it's something you continually struggle with, which is precisely why the legislation we signed was so important, because what we don't want is kids going down that path in the first place.”

-jpt

Source: http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2009/06/reluctantly-president-obama-admits-he-still-smokes-but-is-95-cured.html

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President Obama's Health-Scare Reform

NKorea rejects SKorean aid group's trip

A North Korean guard post (L) is seen from the South Korean border

(AFP) – 4 hours ago

SEOUL — North Korea has rejected a planned visit by South Korean activists to discuss humanitarian aid, officials said Wednesday, nixing the first such cross-border trip since Pyongyang's nuclear test in May.

Members of the Korea Sharing Movement were to fly into Pyongyang Wednesday for talks on humanitarian support projects, after a verbal agreement with the group's North Korean counterpart.

It would have marked Seoul's first approval of such trips since the communist North's nuclear test on May 25.

But the South's unification ministry, which handles inter-Korean relations, said the journey had to be called off at the last minute.

"The trip was cancelled because the group did not receive an official invitation from North Korea," ministry spokesman Chung Hae-Sung told reporters.

South Korea has promised to extend massive economic aid and business cooperation if impoverished North Korea scraps its nuclear weapons.

But relations worsened sharply this year over North Korea's nuclear and missile tests, which prompted the United Nations to impose tougher sanctions.

Source: http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5i4Aw5EZyElgZ3juINw8_KwvFU5LA

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Car bomb in Spain injures 40

Car bomb in Spain injures 40

Story Highlights

Bomb exploded at Civil Guard barracks in the northern Spanish city of Burgos
Media reported that broken glass and debris caused most of the injuries
Official said "nature and location" of bombing pointed to ETA terror group

From Esprit SmithCNN

(CNN) -- A car bomb exploded early Wednesday outside the Civil Guard barracks in the northern Spanish city of Burgos, injuring at least 40 people and causing substantial damage, an Interior Ministry official said.

Officials at Hospital General Yague confirmed that they had received many of the injured, mainly Civil Guard agents and their family members.

Spanish media reported that broken glass and debris caused most of the injuries.
The Interior Ministry official said the attack was likely orchestrated by the Basque separatist group ETA, though neither the Civil Guard nor the police received ETA's trademark warning of a phone call before the attack.

The official said the nature and location of the bombing pointed to the outlawed ETA, which is blamed for more than 800 deaths in its fight for Basque independence.

The last car bombing in Spain occurred on July 9 in the town of Durango, also in northern Spain's Basque country. No one was injured in that attack. .

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Source: http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/europe/07/29/spain.car.bomb/

P.S. The count has now risen up to 60 injured....
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Can health care function in a free market?

INDEPENDENT COUNTRY

Can health care function in a free market?
Government control of our health and of the market has only created shortages.

by James Leroy WilsonJuly 23, 2009





Richard Maybury writes that after the Mayflower landed at Plymouth Rock, the Puritans formed a covenant in which the product of everyone's labor was to be put into the common stock, and then withdrawn according to need. The first couple of years, the people suffered famine and death. In 1623, however, each family was given a plot to farm, and were allowed to keep and trade away as they saw fit. By 1624, the community had plenty to eat and was exporting food. A few years earlier, Jamestown had similarly suffered under a socialist system and then propsered under a market system.

The problem was that those who were potentially the most productive members of society, young men, had no incentive to be so. They were be fed no greater amount than lazy men. There was incentive to take from the system, but no incentive to contribute to it. When each had the opportunity to keep what they produced under a market system, however, they were inclined to work harder and produce surpluses with which to trade.

But, is not eating a "fundamental right?" If it wasn't, wouldn't people starve?

That's the paradox: socialism provides the "guarantee" that everyone should get some food, only it's not enough food; free markets don't make the guarantee that everyone is fed, but it does produce more than enough food for everyone.

Many people claim that health care operates by different market fundamentals, because if you're really sick you don't care about the price of treatment until after you're cured. But what is food, but daily "medicine" for the body? Feeding people is the #1 form of health care.

Indeed, because land is limited while much of health care requires little space and is mainly the intellectual work of providers, health care in a free market would be less susceptible to market distortions and fluctuations than even the price of food.

In any case, health judgments are terribly subjective. In a system where health care is "free," that is, a socialized system, a mother may take a son to the emergency room because he's running a temperature, whereas another parent in a similar situation would just keep the boy in bed. Similarly, in a "free" system elderly patients may be neglected in favor of younger, more productive individuals. This only makes sense, as retirees on government pensions only consume from the system, and do not pay to support it.

If many people take and take from a health care system without regard to the costs it imposes on everyone else, we will get in health care what Plymouth Colony experienced with food: shortages.

The American health care system is not completely socialized, although government does pay for more than half of it. Yet costs keep going up, reflecting among other things a shortage of available medicine and care. Such problems are associated with other forms of government control.

For instance, government control of money leads to inflation, driving medical costs up. It also leads to recessions, creating unemployment which in turn creates greater stress when the jobless face medical emergencies. A complete free market in money, which will most likely revert to a gold standard, would see all prices drop, because the money supply would not be inflated.

Government is also heavily involved with the licensing of medical professionals. In a free market, anyone who believes they can give effective medical treatment and who makes no fraudulent claims could sell their services at a lower price. In such a system, no incompetent doctor could hide behind his license, and quality providers won't be shut out of the system for lack of one. The market would demand the best possible performance at the lowest possible price, as they do today in, say, the computer industry. The government doesn't require that all engineers in Silicon Valley have an M.S. degree. What do you think the industry would be like if it did?

The government-created patent monopoly is another cause for high prices and shortages. In a free society in which the the basic laws are against force, coercion, theft, and fraud, the first person to invent something won't enjoy the monopoly privilege on producing the product. Rather, the market would reward those who bring the best, safest, lowest-priced products to the market the soonest. From drugs to medical technology, no company would ever reap the rewards of merely being the first to a discovery; they would rather compete with each other in doing the best with discoveries that are made.

Finally, the government's attempt to control our health through the FDA and War on Drugs lead to high prices. Many drug companies see the FDA take several years to approve their drugs even while the patent clock is ticking. No wonder they subsequently have high prices for these drugs before facing competition from generics. At the same time, government is obsessed with prohibiting many drugs that can have medical or psychological benefits, but which can be home-grown or homemade. In addition, the government has been trying to regulate nutritional supplements and has obstructed alternative or faith-based therapies.

We do not have health care shortages because of the free market, but rather because the market is not anywhere free enough. If government got rid of its legal tender laws, licensing cartel, patent monopoly, and allowed people to seek their own drugs and treatments, there would be a gigantic supply of available medical care, and its price would plummet.

And just like the case of food, while there would be no "guarantee" that everyone would get all that they need, all who are able to work would afford it. And if the overwhelming majority of people who can work won't willingly and voluntarily support those who can't help themselves, then it's unlikely a socialized system would either. As we have seen, what government and socialized systems succeed best at is not in helping the helpless, but in creating shortages.




Source: http://www.partialobserver.com/article.cfm?id=3293
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P.S. In reference to the Puritans named in the beginning of the article:
The Pilgrims were the first to land on Plymouth Rock; The first to travel to the Massachussets Bay; They were immediately followed to the New World by a group called Puritans who wanted to change the Anglican Church (reform it from within); Yet, the Pilgrims were seeking to distance themselves from the Church of England and its adepts; Then, the Puritans (snitches, fanatical spies) arrived in the colony, right after the Pilgrims abandoned jolly-olde England to seek freedom of religion...When they were quickly followed by the dictatorial Puritans to spoil their new-found independence.

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Way too many people confuse the Pilgrims with the Puritans. They were as different as night and day!

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Five Catholics on the Supreme Court

THE VIEW FROM PAEONIAN SPRINGS

Five Catholics on the Supreme Court


Is this diversity or domination by the papacy?


by Michael H. Thomson
November 2, 2005


In my article on Harriet Miers, I said there was nothing wrong with the court having an evangelical Christian church lady to add to its diversity. Little did I know that once the Miers nomination was sadly withdrawn, our president, George W. Bush, would make a future nomination that would end diversity on the court, as we know it.

With the nomination of Samuel Alito and his most probable confirmation, the United States Supreme Court will be packed with Roman Catholics. The five justices – which include Chief Justice John Roberts – will give Roman Catholics a 5-4 majority on the court. This is very disturbing considering that Roman Catholics represent less than a quarter of this country's religious population.

In 2004, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops created a task force to deal with recalcitrant Roman Catholic politicians. This task force is led by Roman Catholic Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick who runs herd over 150 Catholics in the U.S. Congress. If the Roman Catholic Church, which is always synonymous with Rome and the Pope, is committed to disciplining and pushing its agenda with elected Roman Catholic officials, does it stop pushing its agenda with Roman Catholic judges?

Right wing conservatives in the Republican Party are jubilant with the Alito nomination because of his stance on the omnipresent litmus test for potential justices: Roe vs. Wade. If Roe vs. Wade were to be overturned – which it might – Roman Catholic influence on the court will still be present for many years. Pressure on these judges from the Vatican will be constant. As I've always said, there are other issues facing the court other than Roe vs. Wade. With a Catholic majority on the court, some future decisions of that body may be filtered through a papal prism. Let's look at the Roman Catholic Church and some of its issues.

The Child Sex Abuse Scandal - The Roman Catholic Church has been in the news over the past few years because of the scandal of pedophile priests. Several Bishops - notably former Boston Archbishop, Cardinal Bernard Law have deliberately hidden pedophile priests from the long arm of justice. The Roman Catholic Church has paid out over one billion dollars in settlements to the victims of these criminal priests. Many of these cases are still pending. Some might even reach the Supreme Court. A court soon to be dominated by a Roman Catholic majority.

Immigration – At a time when this country is drowning from an influx of illegal aliens, the Roman Catholic Church has launched an initiative entitled Justice For Immigrants that among other things proposes legislation that would grant amnesty to the hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants in this country. With attendance down, illegal immigrants filling the pews are a welcome addition to the church. Some extreme Roman Catholic groups aid and abet illegal immigrants who enter the country. Undoubtedly, many of these illegal immigration issues will arrive at the door of a Roman Catholic dominated U.S. Supreme Court.

Contraception – Although many Roman Catholics practice contraception in their family planning decisions, the Roman Catholic Church and its pope are foursquare against any kind of contraception. There have been efforts in the past by the Church to legislate against legal efforts that would promote contraception – even for the prevention of AIDS. Will these issues ever appear at the steps of a predominantly Roman Catholic U.S. Supreme Court? In 1968, Pope Paul VI reemphasized that it is wrong to use contraception to prevent new humans from coming into existence. The Church has been stalwart in this position even in countries that are struggling with overpopulation.

The Death Penalty – Death penalty issues always come before the Supreme Court. The Pope and his bishops are opposed to the death penalty. The last pope even made personal appeals to certain American politicians to stay executions. Will five Roman Catholic U.S. Supreme Court justices go against their pope?

Gays – While the Roman Catholic Church has an official position against homosexuality, in practice this is much different. It is estimated that as many as thirty percent of Roman Catholic priests may be gay. Even more, including many bishops may be homosexually oriented. When gay issues reach the Supreme Court, what kind of subtle pressures may be expected from certain bishops and archbishops on Roman Catholic justices?

So how Roman Catholic are the justices who now comprise a majority on the court?

Clarence Thomas – Justice Thomas was raised a Catholic and after a period, left the Church and became an Episcopalian. Recently after much soul-searching, Clarence Thomas has returned to the Roman Catholic Church.

Anthony M. Kennedy – is described as being a "devout" adherent to the Catholic faith.

John Roberts – The new chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court attended Catholic schools and is a life long Catholic. His wife is a trustee of the Roman Catholic college, Holy Cross.

Antonin Scalia – Justice Scalia attended Catholic high school and graduated from Catholic, Georgetown University. Justice Scalia is a devout practicing Roman Catholic.

Samuel Alito – Raised in a strong Italian Roman Catholic family, Alito like Justice Thomas briefly left the Church but has rejoined it. His 90-year-old mother was recently asked about his views on abortion. She said, "He is against abortion," Rose Alito continued, "We both are." She said her son "still carries his Roman Catholic values with him. He is a very ordinary person, very conservative."

As I said in my Harriet Miers piece, I am a proponent of diversity. I thought George Bush was as well. In his recent court appointee decisions, he has packed the court with adherents of a religion that controls and manipulates politicians, not just in the United States, but also all over the world. The Roman Catholic Church is truly a "one world" organization. Sixteen percent of its priests in the United States were born outside of the United States. Thirty percent of its newly ordained priests were born outside the United States – most from the third world.

Diversity is great. Dominance - particularly of our court system - can be disastrous!

Additional Reading: Should The U.S. Deport Cardinal Roger M. Mahoney?

Source: http://www.partialobserver.com/article.cfm?id=1663

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Note: Bolds and Highlights added.

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Senate Judiciary Committee approves Sonia Sotomayor; nomination heads to full Senate for vote

By James Gordon Meek
DAILY NEWS WASHINGTON BUREAU

Tuesday, July 28th 2009, 11:01 AM

Applewhite/AP

Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor appears before the Senate Judiciary Committee on July 16.

WASHINGTON - Judge Sonia Sotomayor won her first test vote in the Senate Tuesday, taking a major leap closer to becoming the nation's first Hispanic Supreme Court justice.

The Senate Judiciary Committee approved Sotomayor, sending her nomination to the full Senate for a vote in the coming weeks. All 12 Democrats on the panel voted for the Bronx-raised appeals court judge.

Only one of the seven Republicans, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), voted "aye."

At the start of the committee's meeting, Sen. Herb Kohl (R-Wisc.) decried the lack of candor from the past three overly-cautious appointees for the high court by Presidents George W. Bush and Obama.

Kohl called it a "familiar pattern" that nominees such as Sotomayor take the "path of least resistance" by limiting their responses to senators' questions, thereby cloaking their personal views.

Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) said Sotomayor's speeches - in which she repeatedly suggested her ethnic background make her a wiser jurist than her white male counterparts - were the "polar opposite" of her statements in her confirmation hearings this month.

"I believe she has been a tremendous judge," countered Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.).

The committee is expected to vote on her nomination later Tuesday, followed by a Senate floor vote next week.

Democrats have a filibuster-proof 60 seats, and five moderate Republicans have said they'll vote for Sotomayor.

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Source: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/2009/07/28/2009-07-28_senate_judiciary_committee_vote_on_judge_sonia_sotomayors_nomination_for_supreme.html

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National Ruin Follows National Apostasy

The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof; because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant. Isa. 24:5.

The people of the United States have been a favored people; but when they restrict religious liberty, surrender Protestantism, and give countenance to popery, the measure of their guilt will be full, and "national apostasy" will be registered in the books of heaven. The result of this apostasy will be national ruin. {Mar 216.1}

By the decree enforcing the institution of the papacy in violation of the law of God, our nation will disconnect herself fully from righteousness. When Protestantism shall stretch her hand across the gulf to grasp the hand of the Roman power, when she shall reach over the abyss to clasp hands with spiritualism, when, under the influence of this threefold union, our country shall repudiate every principle of its Constitution as a Protestant and republican government, and shall make provision for the propagation of papal falsehoods and delusions, then we may know that the time has come for the marvelous working of Satan and that the end is near. {Mar 216.2}

Through spiritualism, Satan appears as a benefactor of the race, healing the diseases of the people, and professing to present a new and more exalted system of religious faith; but at the same time he works as a destroyer. . . . {Mar 216.3}

While appearing to the children of men as a great physician who can heal all their maladies, he will bring disease and disaster, until populous cities are reduced to ruin and desolation. . . . {Mar 216.4}

And then the great deceiver will persuade men that those who serve God are causing these evils. {Mar 216.5}

As men depart further and further from God, Satan is permitted to have power over the children of disobedience. He hurls destruction among men. There is calamity by land and sea. Property and life are destroyed by fire and flood. Satan resolves to charge this upon those who refuse to bow to the idol which he has set up. His agents point to Seventh-day Adventists as the cause of the trouble. "These people stand out in defiance of law," they say. "They desecrate Sunday. Were they compelled to obey the law for Sunday observance, there would be a cessation of these terrible judgments." {Mar 216.6}

The Wrath of The Lord

Jeremiah 6

1O ye children of Benjamin, gather yourselves to flee out of the midst of Jerusalem, and blow the trumpet in Tekoa, and set up a sign of fire in Bethhaccerem: for evil appeareth out of the north, and great destruction.

2I have likened the daughter of Zion to a comely and delicate woman.

3The shepherds with their flocks shall come unto her; they shall pitch their tents against her round about; they shall feed every one in his place.

4Prepare ye war against her; arise, and let us go up at noon. Woe unto us! for the day goeth away, for the shadows of the evening are stretched out.

5Arise, and let us go by night, and let us destroy her palaces.

6For thus hath the LORD of hosts said, Hew ye down trees, and cast a mount against Jerusalem: this is the city to be visited; she is wholly oppression in the midst of her.

7As a fountain casteth out her waters, so she casteth out her wickedness: violence and spoil is heard in her; before me continually is grief and wounds.

8Be thou instructed, O Jerusalem, lest my soul depart from thee; lest I make thee desolate, a land not inhabited.

9Thus saith the LORD of hosts, They shall throughly glean the remnant of Israel as a vine: turn back thine hand as a grapegatherer into the baskets.

10To whom shall I speak, and give warning, that they may hear? behold, their ear is uncircumcised, and they cannot hearken: behold, the word of the LORD is unto them a reproach; they have no delight in it.

11Therefore I am full of the fury of the LORD; I am weary with holding in: I will pour it out upon the children abroad, and upon the assembly of young men together: for even the husband with the wife shall be taken, the aged with him that is full of days.

12And their houses shall be turned unto others, with their fields and wives together: for I will stretch out my hand upon the inhabitants of the land, saith the LORD.

13For from the least of them even unto the greatest of them every one is given to covetousness; and from the prophet even unto the priest every one dealeth falsely.

14They have healed also the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace.

15Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? nay, they were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush: therefore they shall fall among them that fall: at the time that I visit them they shall be cast down, saith the LORD.

16Thus saith the LORD, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls. But they said, We will not walk therein.

17Also I set watchmen over you, saying, Hearken to the sound of the trumpet. But they said, We will not hearken.

18Therefore hear, ye nations, and know, O congregation, what is among them.

19Hear, O earth: behold, I will bring evil upon this people, even the fruit of their thoughts, because they have not hearkened unto my words, nor to my law, but rejected it.

20To what purpose cometh there to me incense from Sheba, and the sweet cane from a far country? your burnt offerings are not acceptable, nor your sacrifices sweet unto me.

21Therefore thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will lay stumblingblocks before this people, and the fathers and the sons together shall fall upon them; the neighbour and his friend shall perish.

22Thus saith the LORD, Behold, a people cometh from the north country, and a great nation shall be raised from the sides of the earth.

23They shall lay hold on bow and spear; they are cruel, and have no mercy; their voice roareth like the sea; and they ride upon horses, set in array as men for war against thee, O daughter of Zion.

24We have heard the fame thereof: our hands wax feeble: anguish hath taken hold of us, and pain, as of a woman in travail.

25Go not forth into the field, nor walk by the way; for the sword of the enemy and fear is on every side.

26O daughter of my people, gird thee with sackcloth, and wallow thyself in ashes: make thee mourning, as for an only son, most bitter lamentation: for the spoiler shall suddenly come upon us.

27I have set thee for a tower and a fortress among my people, that thou mayest know and try their way.

28They are all grievous revolters, walking with slanders: they are brass and iron; they are all corrupters.

29The bellows are burned, the lead is consumed of the fire; the founder melteth in vain: for the wicked are not plucked away.

30Reprobate silver shall men call them, because the LORD hath rejected them.

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Eye Of The Phoenix : Secrets Of The Dollar Bill

Eye Of The Phoenix : Secrets Of The Dollar Bill - 2:51:37 - Mar 16, 2009

This high quality documentary proves the following points about the two Seals on the back of the One Dollar Bill with clarity and precision: 1) The two Seals are Egyptian and Luciferian 2) The two Seals were introduced by Freemasons, in 1782 3) Masonic President Franklin Roosevelt, aided by his Secretary of Agriculture/Vice President Wallace, ordered these Seals to be placed on the back of the Dollar Bill in 1935, having been urged on and advised by the Russian channeler/mystic, Nicolas Roerach. 4) Americans had no idea that the Roosevelt Administration was as controlled by mystic, Black Magick forces, as it was. Had they known the degree to which Roosevelt was controlled by Black Magick forces, he would have been forced out of office immediately. 5) Former Satanist, Doc Marquis, reveals that, while in the Illuminati, he was taught that the two Seals are NOT official seals of the United States, but of the Global Illuminati! 6) Doc Marquis also reveals that these two Seals hide three (3) hexagrams plus a hidden message about Freemasonry. These hexagrams form a '666' 7) We correctly link the symbolism of the All-Seeing Eye of Lucifer hovering over the unfinished pyramid on the back of the Dollar Bill to the coming prophesied Third Temple on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem! The Masons have been steadfastly determined since 1782 to seize control of the Temple Mount so they could resurrect Solomon's Temple for use by their Masonic Christ! Since this was the plan in 1782 when the Seals were created, the Masons made sure that the symbolism of the unfinished pyramid directly tied into their plan to rebuild Solomon's Temple. When the Masonic Christ (Antichrist) is planned to be the "Living Stone" to top off the unfinished pyramid! You will be amazed at this simple, but profound, symbolism linkeage and by the thorough degree to which this plan fulfills Bible prophecy exactly! You will be shocked to realize that the stage for the fulfillment of this End of the Age prophecy was set all the way back to 1782!«

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Freemasonry Exposed By Their Own Writings

Saturday, 05 January 2008 18:53

Freemasonry Exposed By Their Own Writings

(Radio Show Transcript Follows)
The New World Order is coming
Are you ready?

Stand by for insights so startling you will never look at the news the same way again.
FOR THE NEXT 30 MINUTES, YOU WILL BE ON

THE CUTTING EDGE

This is David Bay, Director of Old Paths Ministries.

And this is the Cutting Edge, a radio program dedicated to warning and informing God's people. We are committed to the study and exposition of the inerrant, inspired and authoritative Word of God. The views expressed belong to us, and are not necessarily shared by this station.

Our society is deteriorating, and Bible-believing Christians are ill-prepared to face that deterioration. This radio program is dedicated to preparing God's people to meet the challenges of the Day, and to encourage obedience to the Word of God in being separated from worldliness and false doctrine.

The moral bankruptcy of our society is well-documented.

Few people understand why we have become morally bankrupt. However, when we look at society through the eyes of God, through the Bible, we can easily see why we are facing the unprecedented troubles today. This study of America through the eyes of God is what we will always do try to here; stay with us for some eye-opening truths.

There is probably no area of greater contention than the truth about Freemasonry. Many churches have condemned Freemasonry as non-Christian and have prohibited any of its members from being members. Freemasons, on the other hand, have consistently maintained that, while Freemasonry is not a religion, it is not inconsistent with the teachings of the Bible. They point out that Freemasonry draws much material from the Bible and holds it up to be a great guiding light of all Masons of all ages. Freemasons have also claimed as members many pastors of churches throughout history; indeed, today's Southern Baptist Convention literature reports that at least 40% of active Southern Baptist Ministers are also Freemasons. Freemasons have traditionally answered their critics in one of two ways:

If the critic is not a Freemason, his criticism is dismissed. Freemasons say he could not possibly know the truth about the society because he has never been a member.
If the critic is a member which has left the society, Freemasons dismiss his criticism by saying that, for some unknown reason, he has developed an hatred against the society. This hatred not only caused him to leave Freemasonry, it has caused him to print absolute lies in an attempt to discredit and destroy the society.
What is the truth? And, is there any way in which to absolutely determine the truth? Happily, the answer is that "Yes", we can objectively determine the truth. The truth can be firmly ascertained by several avenues.

1. We can examine the writings of Freemasonry's most ardent admirers and promoters. We have already done this on January 11 of this year. We quoted the writings of several New Age authors who believed that Freemasonry was one of the greatest spiritual lights in the world. The most important of these New Age authors was Alice Bailey, who was the most important spiritual leader of what is now referred to now as the New Age Movement, from approximately 1915-1950. Bailey's book, "The Externalisation of the Hierarchy", has been followed for many decades as the blueprint for achieving the New World Order. We can see that this level of faith in this book is founded upon its supernatural authorship. What supernatural authorship, you ask? On page 631, we suddenly are told that the authorship of all Alice Bailey's books, dating from November 19, 1919, was from a demon by the name of Master D.K. Bailey's writings are demonic automatic writings which occur when a demon-possessed person is bodily taken over and the demon writes the intended message through their hands and fingers.

What does Master D.K. say about Freemasonry?

"the Masonic Fraternity...is...the home of the Mysteries, and the seat of the initiation...It is a far more occult organisation than can be realised and is intended to be the training school for the coming advanced occultists..."(p. 511). This is dynamic truth!! This demon is stating that Freemasonry is the training school for the coming advanced occultist. Not only is Freemasonry not Christian, it is now identified as an occultic training school!! But, Master D.K. has other wonderful things to say about Masonry.

"...Mysteries will be restored to outer expression through the medium of the Church and the Masonic Fraternity...When the Great One comes with His disciples and initiates, we shall have the restoration of the Mysteries..." In other words, the Great One, the Anti-Christ will restore the ancient Mysteries, which the Masonic Lodge has preserved these many centuries, as his New World Order Religion.

2. The second method of determining the truth about Freemasonry is to examine their own writings, comparing them with Biblical doctrines. God repeatedly tells us to compare everything we encounter in this world against the unchanging Word of God, to see whether it comes from God or from the Satan. However, it is exceedingly difficult to examine Masonry's own writings, because Freemasonry is a secret organisation which has very successfully hidden its own writings from the outside world.

However, God has been good in causing some excellent original Masonic material to fall into our hands. We shall examine Freemasonry from several Masonic writings today:

An Introduction to a Masonic Bible. One of our Independent Baptist Fellowship Pastors discovered this Bible in one of his pews following a morning service. He tried repeatedly to locate the person listed in the front of the Bible, but could not. While the Bible itself does not appear to be any different, the Introduction provides great spiritual understanding as to the true nature of Freemasonry. In fact, after studying this Introduction, we simply cannot understand how a trained seminarian could not understand the non-Christian basis of Freemasonry.
Secondly, we will be quoting from one of the greatest Masonic books of all time, Albert Pike's "Morals And Dogma". Albert Pike is considered one of the great geniuses of Freemasonry, and this book is considered one of the great spiritual Freemasonry books ever. Pike published this book in 1871; our copy was published by the authority of the "Supreme Council of the Thirty-Third Degree For The Southern Jurisdiction Of The United States" in March, 1919.
Stay with us for some eye-opening revelations about Freemasonry, taken from their own materials.

God inspired His Word so that It would be an anchor to all true believers. God's Word, considered in its totality, is designed by God to be the beginning and the end of all things spiritual. This is the reason God repeatedly warned against adding anything to His Word or subtracting anything.

This, in a nutshell, is what Satan does to deceive people and lead them away from God's Truth. On the one hand, Satan takes God's Truth and adds interpretation to it, thus creating deception. Thus, you will see much Scripture quoted in occultic literature, especially Freemasonry. However, this quoted Scripture is either taken out of context or is reinterpreted according to the so-called occultic "principles of Mysticism". This principle is nothing more than a Satanic reinterpretation of God's Truth. Thus, Satan distorts God's Truth by adding to it.

But, Satan also deceives by very cunningly and subtly subtracting from God's Word. In many instances, it is very difficult to ascertain what, if anything, has been omitted. The most infamous of this type of omission is the false teaching that God's Nature is one-dimensional, that It is all Love. But, as we proceed with our study of Freemasonry, we shall see several examples of this practice of deception through omission.

We need to make one final point before we begin our study. Small points of false doctrine or omission matter a great deal. The Bible repeatedly warns that just a small amount of false doctrine ruins the entire loaf of dough. Most people will attempt to dismiss individual instances of error, saying, "That is such a small error; we can ignore it, because so much else is truth". We cannot afford to ignore seemingly small points of error for any reason. This leads us to a corollary truth in studying the false doctrine of Freemasonry. No amount of Truth, no matter how large it may be, can make up for the error which it contains.

Let us now begin our study of the Introduction to the Masonic Bible. This Introduction begins with the Mason's Creed, which is "an expression of the simplest form of the faith of Masonry..." Wait a minute!! Masonry has always claimed that it is not a religion. This word "faith", especially used in this context, always carries the connotation of religion. Thus, from the beginning, Masonry declares itself to be a religion. At this point, we must look at Albert Pike's "Morals And Dogma". On page 213, Pike states, "Every Masonic Lodge is a temple of religion; and its teachings are instruction of religion." Masonry considers itself a religion, its many lies to the contrary notwithstanding.

The Introduction to this Masonic Bible continues with a listing of the key Masonic Beliefs. We do not have the time here to list all these beliefs, but will list only three of great interest:

* "There is one God, the Father of all men".

While there is truth in this statement, this is also a perfect example of great omission. Normal Protestant affirmation in the belief in God always affirms the Truth of the Trinity: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Every occultic system separates God the Father from the other two parts of the Trinity, as this statement does. This separation is accomplished very subtly, by constantly naming the name of God the Father while hardly ever mentioning Jesus' Name. This fact is devastatingly critical, because the Apostle John states in 1 John 2:22-23, "Who is liar as he who denies that Jesus is the Christ. He is the antichrist who [habitually] denies and refuses to acknowledge the Father and the Son. No one who [habitually] denies the Son even has the Father." By this definition, Freemasonry is advancing the cause of Anti-Christ. This is the reason that New Age leaders, like the demon Master D.K., admire Freemasonry so much. Masonry is advancing the cause of Anti-Christ, the "Great One" which we quoted above.

Let us now continue with a further examination of the Masonic Beliefs as enunciated in the Introduction to the Masonic Bible.

"Character determines destiny". Greater false doctrine cannot exist; it affects the eternal destiny of precious human souls. Jesus emphatically declares in John 3:18-19 that the basis for deciding one's eternal destiny is whether they accepted Jesus, the Light of the world. "Good" character can exist in a person who is not saved.
"Man is immortal". This is a partial truth, since our souls never die, but word definition does not allow this interpretation. My Webster's Dictionary defines "immortal" as "not mortal"; it defines "mortal" as "to die". Therefore the meaning of immortal is "to not die". Certainly, this meaning can not be applied to man, since all men physically die. This is precisely the reason that the word "immortal" has always been applied to God, never to man. Therefore, the Masons are very subtly saying that man is god, and does not really die. Indeed, as do most occultists, the Masons believe each man can be "perfected" until he reaches the point where his consciousness level has been sufficiently raised to godhead. Furthermore, Freemasonry teaches that men are reincarnated, another occultic teaching.
At this point, I can hear many Masons saying that they have never heard any such teaching, and they are right. One of the major reasons Freemasonry is so difficult to expose is that they deceive their own members. Leaders of each lodge are constantly evaluating their members, to determine which are capable of learning more "truth" about Freemasonry. If a man is evaluated as not being spiritually ready to receive the truth, he is either not promoted or he is promoted, but given different materials to study than another who was judged to be ready. Again, Pike's respected Masonic book, "Morals and Dogma" provide great light on this important subject of the deliberate deception of their own members. Listen carefully to Pike's words on page 104. Notice, in this passage, that Albert Pike also states Masonry is a Pagan Mystery religion. Listen carefully:

"Masonry, like all the Religions, all the Mysteries..., conceals its secrets from all except the Adepts and Sages, or the Elect, and uses false explanations and misinterpretations of its symbols to mislead those who deserve only to be mislead...Truth is not for those who are unworthy or unable to receive it, or would pervert it." This absolutely incredible statement means exactly what it says; Freemasonry misleads all people whom its Adepts determine could not accept the Pagan truth, even its own members. But, Pike continues, and this time he defames God. "So God Himself incapacitates many men ...and leads the masses away from the highest Truth..." This statement simultaneously defames God's Nature and reveals the occultic nature of Freemasonry. First, God has clearly set out a simple Plan of Salvation that the masses could clearly understand. In fact, God's anger is over arrogant human pride, and it is only from these type people that God ever hid any spiritual truth. On the other hand, Freemasonry clearly believes the old occultic lie that true spiritual truth is only meant for those few who were willing to submit to the Mysteries, going through their many degrees to achieve "Illumination".

Remember Pike's words, that "Masonry...conceals its secrets from all except the Adepts and Sages..." This is Satan's religion, where he misleads the few arrogantly proud with perverted doctrine, and then lies to the rest of the membership and to all who aren't members. Pike has also revealed that deliberate lying is Masonic morality!!

Now, let us examine the great omissions of this Masonic Belief statement. Nowhere in this statement of belief do we see any reference to:

Man's Inherent Sinfulness
Jesus Christ as Son of God, as Saviour, or Redeemer
Ultimate judgement
Eternal punishment

All these critical issues are conveniently eliminated, and very few people would ever understand the difference. As I read the entire Introduction to this Masonic Bible, I very abruptly realised that the name of Jesus Christ was never mentioned, not once. How can this be?!! Jesus Christ is the supreme reason and message of both Old and New Testaments. Jesus was the fulfilment of all Old Testament symbolism and prophecies. His glory is shouted in every chapter in the New Testament. In eternity, all redeemed creation will continuously shout and sing His praises. How could His wonderful name be completely eliminated from the Introduction to the Masonic Bible? The truth about Freemasonry is becoming more clear, is it not?

The next section of the Introduction is entitled, "The Great Light In Masonry"; it teaches the importance of the Holy Bible to Freemasonry. "Within the covers of the Holy Bible are found those principles of morality which lay the foundation upon which to build a righteous life...that he diligently study therein to learn the way to everlasting life".

While we find nothing here about which to quarrel, we shake our heads at the irreconcilable differences between this statement and the statements in Pike's book, "Morals and Dogma", quoted above. Certainly, the Holy Bible never teaches the "virtue" of deliberate lying.

After expending great and flowery language upon the importance of spiritual light of the Bible, this section closes with the abrupt introduction of two additional spiritual lights; suddenly, instead of Masonry being guided by the one light of the Bible, there are three guiding lights -- the Bible, the "perfect square", and the "extended compass". These spiritual lights are not explained but are definitely placed on the same level of importance as the Bible. Furthermore, this is a splendid example of how Freemasonry takes the truth of the Bible and goes beyond it, to expound further "truths", disobeying God's many injunctions not to add to His revealed Word.

The next section of the Introduction is entitled, "Bible Presentation", and reveals much fatal error in the doctrines of Freemasonry. The author of reveals Masonic teachings about the origin of the Bible. He states, "...the church and religion did not grow out of the Bible. The Bible grew out of religion and the church." Excuse me?!! My Bible says in John 1:1, that, "In the beginning was the Word...and the Word was God...All things were made by Him..." Before God laid the foundations of the universe, His Word, His principles, and His doctrine, existed. Out of the Word of God came the written canon and the true Church. To suggest otherwise is simply a lie of Satan, and it allows the door to "further revelation" to open wide. Stay with us as we show you how really wide this open door has become.

At the end of the third paragraph, the author states two elements of truth and one of falsehood. "So the Great Light...is..a whole library...with the revelation of God's love for man, His purpose for man, and man's effort to reach up to Him." We would agree with the first two statements, but profoundly disagree with the third, that man is making an effort to reach up to God. The Bible teaches a completely different story. It says that man's heart is inherently evil, that his every imagining is evil. Given his choice, man would seek only to satisfy his lower nature, telling God to get lost. Man has hope for eternal life with God only because of God's actions toward man, in the person of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Further, these three teachings of Masonry omit the very critical teaching that God's Nature is more than just love. The Bible is full of God's glory, His hatred of sin, and His inevitable physical judgement of sinful man. This is an omission of major proportions, and it has resulted in the common belief of our day that God is all-loving and could never condemn anyone to eternal punishment in Hell. Now you know where this lie originated -- in Freemasonry.

The next section in this Introduction is entitled, "The Bible In Masonry", and it drops several bombshells. First, in paragraph 2, the author suddenly states again that the Bible is One of the great lights in the order; however, this time, he does not speak of the "perfect square" or the "extended compass". Rather, he identifies other sources of spiritual light which guides Freemasonry. "...by the very honour which Masonry pays to the Bible, it teaches us to revere every book of faith by which men find help for today and hope for the morrow, joining hands with the man of Islam as he takes oath on the Koran, and with the Hindu as he makes covenant with God upon the book that he loves best". It is difficult to contemplate greater blasphemy against Jesus Christ than this statement, that other religions of the world are equal to Christianity. Jesus Himself stated in many ways that, not only was He God, but that He was the only way to salvation. Remember, when Jesus used the words, "I AM", He was saying that He was God, because "I AM" was the name which God gave Himself originally, at the Burning Bush. Jesus applied this "I AM" in the following verses:

John 6:35, 41, 48, 51. Jesus repeatedly described Himself as the "Bread of Life" which came down from Heaven.
John 8:58. Jesus claimed His eternity past, as God, when He said, "Before Abraham was, I AM."
John 9:5. Jesus said He was the "light of the world". He did not say He was one of the lights, but the light. In every occultic system since the time of Jesus, Satan has implanted this false doctrine.
John 9:39. Jesus emphasised the judgement side of His character, when He stated, "For judgement I AM come into this world". Again, in every occultic system, Satan has ignored Jesus' judgement.
John 10:7-10. Jesus declared, "I am the door of the sheep". In verse 9, Jesus said, "...by Me if any man enter in, he shall be saved".
John 14:6. Just to ensure no one missed the point that He was the only path to eternal salvation, Jesus finally stated, "I AM the Way, the Truth, and the Life: no man cometh unto the Father but by Me".
Think carefully about this one further moment. To claim that there are other equally valid paths to eternal salvation is to emphatically declare that Jesus' horrible death on the cruel cross was unnecessary. Indeed, many occultists believe that the human Jesus, upon Whom the Christ Consciousness descended at His baptism, lost control of the situation and suffered martyrdom upon the cross. So, Jesus was not Omnipotent God Who was in control of every detail on the road to the cross, plus He was actually stupid to have allowed Himself to suffer such a fate.

No other teaching of Freemasonry does greater damage to the Person of Jesus Christ and His Plan of Salvation than this. To finally ensure that no one misses this point, the author of this Introduction, restates this false doctrine in bold words that no one can misunderstand.

"What Masonry knows...religions are many, but Religion is one...Therefore, it invites to its altar men of all faiths, knowing that, if they use different names for the 'Nameless One of a hundred names', they are yet praying to the one God and Father of all; also, that while they read different volumes, they are...reading the same vast Book of the Faith of Man ...(But) with us, the Bible is supreme. What Homer was to the Greeks, what the Koran is to the Arabs...the grand old Bible is to us."

This is the End Time uniting of all the world's religions into one False Religious System of Anti-Christ. It is no wonder that Master D.K., writing through Alice Bailey, thinks so highly of the role of Freemasonry in establishing the New World Order Religion of the Great One, the Biblical Anti-Christ, whose name will be Maitreya.

The Introduction to this Masonic Bible ends with a section entitled, "Scriptural Quotations And Allusions In The Masonic Ritual". This section details the origin of the myth of the legend of the Master Builder, Hiram Abiff, of King Solomon's temple. Other than twisting some Scripture, this section reveals no further false doctrine.

As you can easily see, this Introduction to a Masonic Bible contains enough false doctrine that we are forced to ask the inevitable question, "How could any trained seminarian read this material without recognising that Freemasonry is not Christian, without understanding that Freemasonry does such great damage to the person and teachings of Jesus Christ that it can only be described as Anti-Christ?" Yet, many trained seminarians over the years, and the Southern Baptist Convention of today, have been so mislead. The only answer possible is that these trained pastors have not insisted upon a reading of Scripture and of Freemasonry material which is properly narrow. Too easily have they dismissed examples of false doctrine, preferring to focus on the many more examples of True Scripture contained within Masonry's writings. And countless souls have been, and will continue to be, deceived and mislead.

We want to close with a quick examination of two other teachings as found in Pike's "Morals and Dogma".

Pike identifies Lucifer as the source of Freemasonry's spiritual light. On page 321, Pike boldly states, "Lucifer, the Light-bearer! Strange and mysterious name given to the Spirit of Darkness! Lucifer, the Son of the Morning! Is it he who bears the Light...? Doubt it not!" Even though Pike admits the name Lucifer was given to the Spirit of Darkness, he still states it is Lucifer whom Freemasonry chooses as its spiritual light.
Pike denies God's Truth that His Word is eternal, as he states on page 37, "...all truths are Truths of Period not truths for eternity". To the Mason, there is no eternal truth; each generation of men must discover the truths that work for them. This is "Situational Ethics", against which the true Church is struggling in today's public schools and our Mass Media. Now you know where "Situational Ethics" originated, from Freemasonry, taught two hundred years ago.
Finally, we give the honour of the final truth about Freemasonry to Satan himself. Satanic leader, Anton LaVey, states quite clearly in his book, "The Satanic Rituals: Companion To The Satanic Bible", on page 21, "Satanic ritual is a blend of Gnostic, Cabalistic, Hermetic, and Masonic elements..."

Then, LaVey declares, on page 58, that Masonry contains "numerous manifestations of Satanism, namely the goat, the coffin, the death's-head..."

By now, it should be abundantly clear that Freemasonry is a most deceptive, Anti-Christian organisation. No true born-again Christian can be part of Freemasonry. If you have been deceived up to this point, you can be deceived no longer. Your eternal destiny might very well depend upon your obedience to Jesus' command to the Christians in the Great Tribulation, "Come out from her (the false Babylon)...that you may not share in her plagues..." (Revelation 18:4).

Daily, we come closer to the climax of the Ages, the appearance of Anti-Christ, and Great Tribulation, all of which has been greatly aided by Freemasonry.

"Come out of her, My people".

You have been listening to the Cutting Edge, a radio program of Old Paths Ministries.

Copyright 1996 Cutting Edge Ministries

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Obama’s Ersatz Capitalism

By JOSEPH E. STIGLITZ
Published: March 31, 2009

THE Obama administration’s $500 billion or more proposal to deal with America’s ailing banks has been described by some in the financial markets as a win-win-win proposal. Actually, it is a win-win-lose proposal: the banks win, investors win — and taxpayers lose.


Harry Campbell

Treasury hopes to get us out of the mess by replicating the flawed system that the private sector used to bring the world crashing down, with a proposal marked by overleveraging in the public sector, excessive complexity, poor incentives and a lack of transparency.

Let’s take a moment to remember what caused this mess in the first place. Banks got themselves, and our economy, into trouble by overleveraging — that is, using relatively little capital of their own, they borrowed heavily to buy extremely risky real estate assets. In the process, they used overly complex instruments like collateralized debt obligations.

The prospect of high compensation gave managers incentives to be shortsighted and undertake excessive risk, rather than lend money prudently. Banks made all these mistakes without anyone knowing, partly because so much of what they were doing was “off balance sheet” financing.

In theory, the administration’s plan is based on letting the market determine the prices of the banks’ “toxic assets” — including outstanding house loans and securities based on those loans. The reality, though, is that the market will not be pricing the toxic assets themselves, but options on those assets.

The two have little to do with each other. The government plan in effect involves insuring almost all losses. Since the private investors are spared most losses, then they primarily “value” their potential gains. This is exactly the same as being given an option.

Consider an asset that has a 50-50 chance of being worth either zero or $200 in a year’s time. The average “value” of the asset is $100. Ignoring interest, this is what the asset would sell for in a competitive market. It is what the asset is “worth.” Under the plan by Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, the government would provide about 92 percent of the money to buy the asset but would stand to receive only 50 percent of any gains, and would absorb almost all of the losses. Some partnership!

Assume that one of the public-private partnerships the Treasury has promised to create is willing to pay $150 for the asset. That’s 50 percent more than its true value, and the bank is more than happy to sell. So the private partner puts up $12, and the government supplies the rest — $12 in “equity” plus $126 in the form of a guaranteed loan.

If, in a year’s time, it turns out that the true value of the asset is zero, the private partner loses the $12, and the government loses $138. If the true value is $200, the government and the private partner split the $74 that’s left over after paying back the $126 loan. In that rosy scenario, the private partner more than triples his $12 investment. But the taxpayer, having risked $138, gains a mere $37.

Even in an imperfect market, one shouldn’t confuse the value of an asset with the value of the upside option on that asset.

But Americans are likely to lose even more than these calculations suggest, because of an effect called adverse selection. The banks get to choose the loans and securities that they want to sell. They will want to sell the worst assets, and especially the assets that they think the market overestimates (and thus is willing to pay too much for).

But the market is likely to recognize this, which will drive down the price that it is willing to pay. Only the government’s picking up enough of the losses overcomes this “adverse selection” effect. With the government absorbing the losses, the market doesn’t care if the banks are “cheating” them by selling their lousiest assets, because the government bears the cost.

The main problem is not a lack of liquidity. If it were, then a far simpler program would work: just provide the funds without loan guarantees. The real issue is that the banks made bad loans in a bubble and were highly leveraged. They have lost their capital, and this capital has to be replaced.

Paying fair market values for the assets will not work. Only by overpaying for the assets will the banks be adequately recapitalized. But overpaying for the assets simply shifts the losses to the government. In other words, the Geithner plan works only if and when the taxpayer loses big time.

Some Americans are afraid that the government might temporarily “nationalize” the banks, but that option would be preferable to the Geithner plan. After all, the F.D.I.C. has taken control of failing banks before, and done it well. It has even nationalized large institutions like Continental Illinois (taken over in 1984, back in private hands a few years later), and Washington Mutual (seized last September, and immediately resold).

What the Obama administration is doing is far worse than nationalization: it is ersatz capitalism, the privatizing of gains and the socializing of losses. It is a “partnership” in which one partner robs the other. And such partnerships — with the private sector in control — have perverse incentives, worse even than the ones that got us into the mess.

So what is the appeal of a proposal like this? Perhaps it’s the kind of Rube Goldberg device that Wall Street loves — clever, complex and nontransparent, allowing huge transfers of wealth to the financial markets. It has allowed the administration to avoid going back to Congress to ask for the money needed to fix our banks, and it provided a way to avoid nationalization.

But we are already suffering from a crisis of confidence. When the high costs of the administration’s plan become apparent, confidence will be eroded further. At that point the task of recreating a vibrant financial sector, and resuscitating the economy, will be even harder.


Joseph E. Stiglitz, a professor of economics at Columbia who was chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers from 1995 to 1997, was awarded the Nobel prize in economics in 2001.


Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/01/opinion/01stiglitz.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all
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Potential swine flu vaccine could require 2 shots

Shots would be given weeks apart

By MARY SHEDDEN The Tampa Tribune

Published: July 24, 2009

TAMPA - Local health officials accustomed to distributing flu shots worry that administering a potential swine flu vaccine could be a logistical nightmare.

Federal health officials this week announced they are about to start clinical trials on vaccines for the swine flu responsible for six deaths in the Tampa Bay area and 25 deaths in Florida. The testing is on a fast track with the hope that a vaccine can be distributed this October, at the start of the more traditional flu season.

Any new vaccine, however, will be separate from the increasingly common seasonal flu vaccine available at local clinics, grocery stores and workplaces. And the swine flu vaccine could involve a series of two shots, given 28 days apart, said Warren McDougle, Hillsborough County Health Department epidemiologist.

That's going to be a hard sell, particularly because it just sounds so inconvenient, says JoAnn Shea, a nurse practitioner and director of employee health services at Tampa General Hospital. A swine flu vaccine would require two trips to a clinic, and that's in addition to the seasonal flu shot many already get.

Shea said last year, her team administered 4,500 seasonal flu shots to the almost 7,000 eligible employees and volunteers at Tampa General. Some got the shot elsewhere, but still, 1,200 refused the free offer. The top reason cited in a survey: inconvenience.

"If we didn't make it convenient for them, they would not get them," she said.

That's partly why Tampa General and local health departments already are hashing out the logistics of distributing a possible swine flu vaccine. "It's going to be a challenge for all health care organizations," she said.

Individuals don't have to wait for a vaccine to take steps to prevent the spread of swine flu, health officials said. Regular hand-washing or covering your mouth when sneezing or coughing can make a significant difference. Hygiene is particularly important for people in large groups, such as summer camps.

Testing on the potential swine flu vaccine is estimated to take about two months. If it is approved, vaccinations would be voluntary and rolled out in stages to handle the speed at which doses are being produced. Tests are being done on roughly 2,400 adults in eight states, according to the New York Times.

Swine flu has been declared a worldwide pandemic, not because of the severity of its symptoms, but because of its ability to spread quickly. Swine flu symptoms, such as a fever, tiredness and a sore throat, are normally milder than the seasonal flu, which is responsible for 36,000 deaths nationwide each year.

The good news: Despite a brisk flu season in the Southern Hemisphere, the new swine flu isn't yet mutating to become more dangerous, said Dr. Nancy Cox of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

"It's actually quite surprising" that the virus is showing so little genetic variation given its rapid spread, Cox said. Since April, it has sickened more than a million people in the United States alone and circled the globe in a matter of weeks.

The global swine flu epidemic is still in its early stages, even though reports of over 100,000 infections in England alone last week are plausible, the World Health Organization's flu chief said Friday,
Keiji Fukuda, WHO's Assistant Director-General for Health Security and Environment, said that given the size of the world's population, the new H1N1 virus is likely to spread for some time. WHO earlier estimated that as many as 2 billion people could become infected over the next two years.

"Even if we have hundreds of thousands of cases, or a few millions of cases ... we're relatively early in the pandemic," Fukuda said.

The global health agency stopped asking governments to report new cases last week, saying the effort was too great now that the disease has become so widespread in some countries.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report. Reporter Mary Shedden can be reached at (813) 259-7365.

Source: http://www2.tbo.com/content/2009/jul/24/potential-swine-flu-vaccine-could-require-2-shots/news-breaking/

Van Drove Wrong Way for 2 Miles Before Crash

Jonathan Fickies for The New York Times

The scene of a three-car crash on the Taconic State Parkway on Sunday in Briarcliff, N.Y.

By ANAHAD O’CONNOR and NATE SCHWEBER
Published: July 27, 2009

A Long Island woman driving a minivan that plowed into an S.U.V. Sunday afternoon in Westchester, killing eight people and injuring three, had been going in the wrong direction for nearly two miles before the collision, the State Police said Monday. Two hours before the accident, she had called her brother and told him she was not feeling well, the police said.

The driver, Diane Schuler, 36, of West Babylon, turned her Ford Windstar onto the northbound exit ramp of the Taconic Parkway on Pleasantville Road, near Mount Pleasant, on what was her left, but to drivers going the correct way, their right, the authorities said. She then crossed three lanes of traffic into the passing lane and headed south, swerving around oncoming cars for 1.7 miles before crashing into a Chevy Trailblazer carrying three men from Yonkers on their way to a family party in Yorktown, N.Y.

“To her, it would have seemed like she was in the right-hand lane,” said Captain Michael Realmuto of the State Police.

The minivan had been headed in the wrong direction long enough to prompt at least six drivers who passed her to call 911, the authorities said.

Ms. Schuler and four of the five children in her minivan were killed, along with the three men in the Trailblazer: a man, his son and their friend. As it spun out of control about 1:35 p.m., the minivan also collided with a third vehicle, leaving the driver and passenger with minor injuries.

At a news conference Monday afternoon, Captain Realmuto provided some insight into what may have affected Ms. Schuler’s judgment. Two hours before the accident, he said, she called her brother, Warren Hance of Floral Park, N.Y. — the father of three of the four girls who died — and said she was not feeling well. Mr. Hance told her to stay where she was so he could come get her, but she did not know where she was at the time she called him, Captain Realmuto said.

“She wasn’t real specific when she spoke to her brother,” Lt. James H. Murphy said. “She seemed a little disoriented. She didn’t know where she was when she spoke to him.”

Ms. Schuler, three young nieces and her daughter, 2, and son, 5, were apparently returning from a weekend camping trip in Monticello, N.Y. The police said that she had not been taking medication and had no history of medical problems that might have played a role in the crash.

“We do not know what caused the operator of the vehicle to travel the wrong way on the Taconic State Parkway,” Captain Realmuto said. “Accidents involving drivers going the wrong way on the parkway are rare.”

The scene of the crash was one of devastation. Investigators said Ms. Schuler and at least one child may have been ejected from the minivan. Because many of the car seats were burned in an ensuing fire, investigators were still trying to determine whether seatbelts had been used.

The State Police identified the dead as Ms. Schuler; her daughter, Erin Schuler, 2; and three nieces, Kate Hance, 5; Alison Hance, 7; and Emma Hance, 9. Her son, Brian, 5, was being treated at Westchester Medical Center in Valhalla, N.Y., for head trauma and was in critical condition.

The three who died in the Trailblazer were Michael Bastardi, 81; his son, Guy Bastardi, 49; and a friend, Daniel Longo, 74, who was in the back seat. The man and the woman in the other car that was hit — Angela M. Tallarico, 53 and her passenger, Dean Tallarico, 53 — were treated for minor injuries at Phelps Memorial Hospital Center in Sleepy Hollow, N.Y.

After crashing into the two vehicles, the minivan came to a stop on a grassy strip between the lanes of the parkway, where it burned to its frame.

The accident was the second on the Taconic on Sunday involving a vehicle traveling in the wrong direction. The Associated Press reported that five people were injured several hours earlier in an accident about 20 miles north of Mount Pleasant. On the same day, at 2 a.m., a man was arrested driving the wrong way on the Taconic, the police said. They said that he was drunk.

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Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/28/nyregion/28crash.html?hp

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The Watchman's Duty

Ezekiel 33

1Again the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,

2Son of man, speak to the children of thy people, and say unto them, When I bring the sword upon a land, if the people of the land take a man of their coasts, and set him for their watchman:

3If when he seeth the sword come upon the land, he blow the trumpet, and warn the people;

4Then whosoever heareth the sound of the trumpet, and taketh not warning; if the sword come, and take him away, his blood shall be upon his own head.

5He heard the sound of the trumpet, and took not warning; his blood shall be upon him. But he that taketh warning shall deliver his soul.

6But if the watchman see the sword come, and blow not the trumpet, and the people be not warned; if the sword come, and take any person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at the watchman's hand.

7So thou, O son of man, I have set thee a watchman unto the house of Israel; therefore thou shalt hear the word at my mouth, and warn them from me.

8When I say unto the wicked, O wicked man, thou shalt surely die; if thou dost not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand.

9Nevertheless, if thou warn the wicked of his way to turn from it; if he do not turn from his way, he shall die in his iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy soul.

10Therefore, O thou son of man, speak unto the house of Israel; Thus ye speak, saying, If our transgressions and our sins be upon us, and we pine away in them, how should we then live?

11Say unto them, As I live, saith the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die, O house of Israel?

12Therefore, thou son of man, say unto the children of thy people, The righteousness of the righteous shall not deliver him in the day of his transgression: as for the wickedness of the wicked, he shall not fall thereby in the day that he turneth from his wickedness; neither shall the righteous be able to live for his righteousness in the day that he sinneth.

13When I shall say to the righteous, that he shall surely live; if he trust to his own righteousness, and commit iniquity, all his righteousnesses shall not be remembered; but for his iniquity that he hath committed, he shall die for it.

14Again, when I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; if he turn from his sin, and do that which is lawful and right;

15If the wicked restore the pledge, give again that he had robbed, walk in the statutes of life, without committing iniquity; he shall surely live, he shall not die.

16None of his sins that he hath committed shall be mentioned unto him: he hath done that which is lawful and right; he shall surely live.

17Yet the children of thy people say, The way of the Lord is not equal: but as for them, their way is not equal.

18When the righteous turneth from his righteousness, and committeth iniquity, he shall even die thereby.

19But if the wicked turn from his wickedness, and do that which is lawful and right, he shall live thereby.

20Yet ye say, The way of the Lord is not equal. O ye house of Israel, I will judge you every one after his ways.

21And it came to pass in the twelfth year of our captivity, in the tenth month, in the fifth day of the month, that one that had escaped out of Jerusalem came unto me, saying, The city is smitten.

22Now the hand of the LORD was upon me in the evening, afore he that was escaped came; and had opened my mouth, until he came to me in the morning; and my mouth was opened, and I was no more dumb.

23Then the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,

24Son of man, they that inhabit those wastes of the land of Israel speak, saying, Abraham was one, and he inherited the land: but we are many; the land is given us for inheritance.

25Wherefore say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Ye eat with the blood, and lift up your eyes toward your idols, and shed blood: and shall ye possess the land?

26Ye stand upon your sword, ye work abomination, and ye defile every one his neighbour's wife: and shall ye possess the land?

27Say thou thus unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; As I live, surely they that are in the wastes shall fall by the sword, and him that is in the open field will I give to the beasts to be devoured, and they that be in the forts and in the caves shall die of the pestilence.

28For I will lay the land most desolate, and the pomp of her strength shall cease; and the mountains of Israel shall be desolate, that none shall pass through.

29Then shall they know that I am the LORD, when I have laid the land most desolate because of all their abominations which they have committed.

30Also, thou son of man, the children of thy people still are talking against thee by the walls and in the doors of the houses, and speak one to another, every one to his brother, saying, Come, I pray you, and hear what is the word that cometh forth from the LORD.

31And they come unto thee as the people cometh, and they sit before thee as my people, and they hear thy words, but they will not do them: for with their mouth they shew much love, but their heart goeth after their covetousness.

32And, lo, thou art unto them as a very lovely song of one that hath a pleasant voice, and can play well on an instrument: for they hear thy words, but they do them not.

33And when this cometh to pass, (lo, it will come,) then shall they know that a prophet hath been among them.