Monday, August 06, 2007

US ARSENAL LOST IN IRAQ

The US arsenal lost in Iraq


· 110,000 AK-47s
· 80,000 pistols
· 135,000 bits of armour


Ewen MacAskill in Washington
Tuesday August 7, 2007
The Guardian

The US has lost track of about 190,000 weapons issued to Iraqi security forces since the 2003 invasion, some of which will have ended up in the hands of insurgents, according to an official report published in Washington. Among the missing items are AK-47 rifles, pistols, body armour and helmets.

The disclosure adds to the picture of the chaotic and clumsy administration of Iraq that has emerged over the last four years.The report, by the government accountability office, which sent its report to Congress last week, found a 30% gap between the number of weapons issued to Iraqi forces and records held by US forces in Iraq. No one in the Bush administration knows where the weapons are now.

The 20-page report - Stabilising Iraq: Department of Defence cannot ensure that US-funded equipment has reached Iraqi security forces - says the Pentagon and the multinational force in Iraq responsible for training "cannot fully account for about 110,000 AK-47 rifles, 80,000 pistols, 135,000 items of body armour and 115,000 helmets reported as issued to Iraqi forces as of September 22 2005".

During that period the US was desperate to get the Iraqi security forces up and running and was arming them as fast as it could.

The failure of the US to account for so many weapons is an embarrassment for the Bush administration after months in which it has repeatedly accused Iran of supplying weapons and explosives to the insurgents.

The report says the former commander of the training of Iraqi forces said about 185,000 AK-47 rifles, 170,000 pistols, 215,000 pieces of body armour and 140,000 helmets were issued as of September 2005. But the property books contain records for only about 75,000 AK-47 rifles, 90,000 pistols, 80,000 pieces of body armour and 25,000 helmets.

Since June 2006, the multinational force has paid more attention to record-keeping. But the government accounting office's review of the property books in January "found continuing problems with missing and incomplete records".

Last year the estimate of missing weapons was put at a mere 14,000 by another congressional investigative body.

A Pentagon spokesman said the multinational force in Iraq was preparing a response to the report. The Pentagon has accepted its recommendations for improved accountability procedures.

Over the past four years, the US has provided about $19.2bn (£9.4bn) to develop Iraqi security forces. The Pentagon has asked for a further $2bn to help equip and train them.

The Washington Post quoted a senior Pentagon offical saying that some of the weapons probably were being used against US forces. He cited an Iraqi brigade created in Falluja that dissolved in September 2004 and turned its weapons against US troops.

In previous conflicts, the US state department took responsibility for training and distribution of weapons. But the Pentagon insisted on taking responsibility for arming the Iraqi forces.

In Baghdad, the US and Iran yesterday held the first meeting of a sub-committee to discuss ways to cooperate in ending sectarian violence. It follows two meetings between the ambassadors of the two countries, the first dialogue since the Iranian revolution in 1979. The discussions were described as frank.

At Talafar, in the north of Iraq, often cited by the US as one of its success stories in terms of security, a truck bomb yesterday killed 33 people, many of them women and children, said Iraqi police.

Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,,2143071,00.html

P.S. 110,00 AK-47'S ??? Kalashnikov design are frequently referred to as AK-47s... I wonder what American Weapon manufacturer benefited from the purchase of these weapons? Browning, Marlin, Winchester, Smith & Wesson, Colt (MAKER OF THE M-16), or were these also made in CHINA? (Who got that sale, Peking or is it POLITICALLY-CORRECT: Beijing?) Just like everything else is now a days. Blogmaster...

U.S. MARSHALS IN CHURCH

U.S. Marshals Let Fugitives Come to Them, in Church
Josh Anderson for The New York Times

David Moran, waiting with his wife, Penny, for his hearing before the judge at Galilee Missionary Baptist Church in Nashville.

By THEO EMERY
Published: August 6, 2007

NASHVILLE, Aug. 5 — Since March, David Moran has been looking over his shoulder. Not a day passes, he said, that he does not think about the arrest warrant issued after he missed a court hearing for driving without a license.

Skip to next paragraph
Josh Anderson for The New York Times

Metro Davidson County Sheriff’s officers in a makeshift court area in the church, working on warrants and a database.

On Friday, Mr. Moran took an opportunity from the United States Marshals Service to remedy his situation by showing up at a church here where hundreds of people with outstanding warrants have surrendered.

“You never know when you’re going to be picked up,” said Mr. Moran, 41, as he sat on a folding chair in a waiting area with his wife, Penny. “I need a fresh start.”

The program, called Fugitive Safe Surrender, is the fifth effort of its kind by the Marshals Service, which works with local police officers, churches, public defenders and judges. The program helps ease court backlogs and gives nonviolent fugitives a chance to resolve their court problems in a neutral setting.

Some 1.2 million people nationwide are considered fugitives because of outstanding warrants, said Peter J. Elliott, the United States marshal for northern Ohio. About half are for nonviolent crimes; it is that group the program hopes to bring in to sort out their legal woes, which can stem from problems as simple as a missed court date.

After a Cleveland police officer was shot to death in 2000 trying to arrest a man wanted for a parole violation, Mr. Elliott came up with the program as a way to prevent confrontations between fugitives and the police.

“That’s the bottom line,” he said. “We don’t have to go kicking in these doors to find these people that are wanted. They come to us.”

Since August 2005, about 4,000 people have surrendered during such programs, in Phoenix; Indianapolis; Cleveland; Akron, Ohio; and Nashville. In Nashville, where there are about 38,000 outstanding warrants in the county courts, more than 550 people turned themselves in from Wednesday to Saturday, the last day they could do so.

The program transplants court apparatus into the safe confines of a church. Fugitives with lesser crimes — traffic violations or minor drug offenses, for example — work out a plea deal with public defenders and prosecutors, then go before a judge. Typically, the judge dismisses the warrant, and the defendant goes home.

In felony cases, a judge generally sets a new court date and the person goes free without posting bond, although more than three dozen fugitives in Nashville were arrested and taken into custody because of the seriousness of their crimes.

The church in Nashville, Galilee Missionary Baptist, was transformed into a bustling legal complex. Inside the door, a sheriff’s deputy asked arrivals, “Are you here to turn yourself in?”

On the other side of a metal detector, church volunteers held bundles of wristbands: red for fugitives, green for accompanying family members or friends. Other volunteers walked the surrendering men and women through the system, collecting information and delivering it to court clerks, then taking them to be fingerprinted and photographed.

The scene in the fellowship hall was one of noisy chaos; children scampered among the chairs, and volunteers handed out bottled water and chips.

In the quieter sanctuary, a group of people waited in the pews to meet with a public defender. Among them was Jerice Bryant, 25, who sang quietly as she sat with her sisters, Alexandria, 26, and Jesika, 20.

Ms. Bryant said she had missed a court date over a charge of driving with a suspended license and learned of the warrant a few weeks ago.

“I was going to go turn myself in at the courthouse, but then I heard about this,” Ms. Bryant said. “I felt more comfortable turning myself in at a church.”

Down the hall, a classroom had been turned into a court, where a judge, Daniel B. Eisenstein, sat behind a wide desk. He accepted a plea from Mr. Moran, who agreed to get his license or perform community service.

Judge Eisenstein also presided over Ms. Bryant’s case.

Facing the judge, she agreed to a new court date, and he dismissed the warrant. “Don’t drive now, please,” the judge admonished her. “No, sir,” she answered.

Outside the church, she danced a little jig. “I recommend they do this everywhere,” she said. As her sisters whooped and laughed, she added, “Thank God for it. Thank God.”

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/06/us/06fugitive.html?_r=1&th&emc=th&oref=slogin

P.S. "It is written, My house is the house of prayer: but ye have made it a den of thieves". LUKE 19: 46.

Sunday, August 05, 2007

THE APPROACHING 'BENEVOLENT DICTATORSHIP'

THE APPROACHING 'BENEVOLENT DICTATORSHIP'


or 'The Cool Tyranny' is here.
(Big Brother is OK, and anyone that rocks the boat is an enemy of The State.)
Benevolent: Harmless
Dictatorship: What I say goes! You know, it's for your good, you know?
Neo-Patriots, Neo-Cons, Neo-Lliberals, the uninformed, and the heavily sedated say....Aye, Aye, Sir.
The Government's authority is overshadowing its citizens liberties.
Security is the first priority of the government, not withstanding the freedoms of its constituents.
SECURITY>SECURITY>SECURITY: Repeat the Mantra. It's contagious, it's comforting.
The popular cries are for patriotism: Death to the Islamofascist Pigs.
Just gives us our guns, liquor, our Ritalin, Prozac, and our decadently-violent entertainment.
You know, Sex, Drugs, and Rock & Roll, and we'll be fine.



Everyone is not above suspicion. What ever happened to the concept of innocent until proven guilty?
It was proposed by the Commander in Chief that we should have anonymous (snitches) informers.
Cuba has them; A government informant on every block. Hey, why should we be (no child) left behind?
The Homeland's (Patria) secutiry is sovereign; All other issues are second to the State's perpetuation.

The President asks for intrusive laws to affect/restrict the quality of privacy and the pursuit of happiness of Americans relentlessly, and the Legislators oblige him, hook, line, and sinker.

Where are the checks and balances that are inherent in the Republic's separation of Legislative, Executive, and Judicial powers? Beats me!
They're all of the same philosophy (World-view), and are working toward the same goal: 'A Benevolent Dictatorship'; Which will be a major player in a BRAVE NEW WORLD: aka a revival of the Mid-Evil (medieval) Ages. Or the long awaited Millenium of Peace, by force. Oh, no? Just wait, you'll see.


Other Players on board for this End-Game:

Federal Reserve Bank ( It's not federal and there are no reserves! )
Internal Revenue Service
Council on Foreign Relations
Royal Institute of International Affairs
The Round Table
The Trilateral Commision
Club of Rome
International Monetary Fund
World Bank
United Nations
European Union
Rothschilds (diverse interests)
Bilderbergs
World Council of Churches
North Atlantic Treaty Organization
Knights of Malta
Knights of Columbus
Freemansonry
Skull & Bones
Opus Dei
Jesuits... These are just a few....There are many, many others...
All are working for the same ultimate goal: To pay homage to the Dragon.



The Ten Commandments display was removed from the Alabama Supreme Court building. There was a good reason for the move: You can't post Thou Shalt Not Steal, Thou Shalt Not Commit Adultery and Thou Shall Not Lie, in a building full of politicians and lawyers without creating a hostile work environment. ---- from anonymous Email

RESEARCH LAB TARGET IN FOOT AND MOUTH INVESTIGATION

Research lab in spotlight over British foot and mouth

Sun Aug 5, 2007 10:55AM EDT



By Luke Baker

LONDON (Reuters) - A U.S.-French pharmaceutical company was at the heart of an investigation by British authorities on Sunday to try to find the source of an outbreak of highly infectious foot and mouth disease.

A laboratory run by Merial Animal Health Ltd, a company jointly owned by U.S. drugmaker Merck & Co. Inc and France's Sanofi-Aventis SA, was sealed off and under inspection along with a nearby government-funded laboratory.

The laboratories are located around 5 miles from where a herd of cattle was infected on Friday by an uncommon strain of foot and mouth disease, the same strain that is stored and used by the two labs for research and to develop vaccines.

The head of the government-funded facility, the Institute for Animal Health, said in a statement there had been no breach of security at his laboratory and said the suspect strain had not been used by his scientists for several weeks.

That left open the possibility that the Merial facility, which the government said had produced a batch containing the same strain of virus last month, was the source of the leak.

Merial, a leading animal health firm with 2006 sales of $2.2 billion, issued a statement saying it was committed to the "highest international standards of product quality and safety".

It said it was working closely with Britain's agriculture ministry, known as Defra, to investigate the situation and had suspended further vaccination production as a precaution.

"Merial will cooperate fully with the UK government to determine the source of the disease, and will fully support Defra scientists in bringing this outbreak to a speedy and satisfactory conclusion," David Biland, the managing director of Merial in Britain, said.

ECONOMIC IMPACT

Attention focused on the labs as the possible source of the infection after Defra said the strain of virus confirmed in the cattle was not one "recently found in animals".

In fact, it was a strain of the virus isolated 40 years ago by British biological researchers, it said.

Britain's chief veterinarian ordered an "urgent review into biosecurity arrangements" at both sites, while Defra emphasized "all potential sources" of the virus were being investigated.

"The important thing to bear in mind is that this is a promising lead, but we don't know for sure and therefore it is very, very important that people continue to be vigilant," Environment Minister Hilary Benn told BBC television, referring to the possibility the virus leaked from the laboratories.

If it is found that the cattle were infected by a leak from one of the laboratories it may reassure Britain's farming community, still reeling from a foot and mouth outbreak in 2001, that the disease can be isolated.

However, it will cause consternation in the scientific community that a highly infectious pathogen, carried on the wind, can escape from a high-security laboratory site.

So far, of the 64 cattle culled, just two animals have tested positive for foot and mouth disease, according to Defra.

The foot and mouth crisis six years ago devastated British farming, with more than 6 million animals culled and countrywide tourism affected, at a cost of 8.5 billion pounds ($17 billion).

The previous government, led by Tony Blair, was regarded as slow to react then and was strongly criticized. This time, officials responded more rapidly.

The European Commission said it had banned all live animal exports from Britain, as well as meat and dairy products from the infected area. Further restrictions could be brought in after EU vets meet on Wednesday.

Depending on how long the ban remains in place, the impact on British agriculture could be profound. Industry experts said British exports of livestock and meat were worth about 15 million pounds ($30 million) a week.

(Additional reporting by Ben Hirschler in London)

Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSL037131720070805?feedType=RSS&sp=true

PATRIOTS WHO LOVE THE TROOPS TO DEATH



Patriots Who Love the Troops to Death
New York Times
OP-ED COLUMNIST
By FRANK RICH
Published: August 5, 2007


"No one died in Watergate. This time around, the White House lying and cover-ups have been not just in the service of political thuggery but to gin
up a gratuitous war without end.

"There is another significant difference as well. Washington never drank the Nixon Kool-Aid. It kept a skeptical bipartisan eye on Tricky Dick throughout his political career, long before the "Watergate complex had even been built. The charmed Mr. Bush, by contrast, got a free pass; both Democrats and Republicans in Congress and both liberals and conservatives in the news media were credulous enablers of the Iraq fiasco. Now a reckoning awaits, and the denouement is getting ugly.

"The ranks of unreconstructed Iraq hawks are thinner than they used to be. Some politicians in both parties (John Edwards, Chris Dodd, Gordon Smith) and truculent pundits (Peter Beinart, Andrew Sullivan) who cheered on the war recanted (sooner in some cases than others), learned from their errors and moved on. One particularly eloquent mea culpa can be found in today’s New York Times Magazine, where the former war supporter Michael Ignatieff acknowledges that those who “truly showed good judgment on Iraq” might have had no more information than those who got it wrong, but did not make the mistake of confusing “wishes for reality.”

But those who remain dug in are having none of that. Some of them are busily lashing out Korff-style. Some are melting down. Some are rewriting history. Most seem more interested in saving their own reputations than the American troops they ritualistically invoke to bludgeon the wars’ critics and to parade their own self-congratulatory patriotism."

Source: http://bostonuniversity.blogspot.com/

HOUSE APPROVES MORE DRACONIAN LAWS

House Passes Changes in Eavesdropping Program



By CARL HULSE and EDMUND L. ANDREWS
Published: August 5, 2007
WASHINGTON, Aug. 4 — Under pressure from President Bush, the House gave final approval Saturday to changes in a terrorism surveillance program, despite serious objections from many Democrats about the scope of the executive branch’s new eavesdropping power.

Skip to next paragraph
Related
Broader Spying Authority Advances in Congress (August 4, 2007) Racing to complete a final rush of legislation before a scheduled monthlong break, the House voted 227 to 183 to endorse a measure the Bush administration said was needed to keep pace with communications technology in the effort to track terrorists overseas.

“The intelligence community is hampered in gathering essential information about terrorists,” said Representative Lamar Smith, Republican of Texas.

The House Democratic leadership had severe reservations about the proposal and an overwhelming majority of Democrats opposed it. Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the measure “does violence to the Constitution of the United States.”

But with the Senate already in recess, Democrats confronted the choice of allowing the administration’s bill to reach the floor and be approved mainly by Republicans or letting it die.

If it had stalled, that would have left Democratic lawmakers, long anxious about appearing weak on national security issues, facing an August spent fending off charges from Republicans that they had left Americans exposed to threats.

Despite the political risks, many Democrats argued they should stand firm against the initiative, saying it granted the administration far too much latitude to initiate surveillance without judicial review.

They said the White House was using the specter of terrorism to weaken Americans’ privacy rights and give more power to Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales, an official Democrats say has proved himself untrustworthy.

“Legislation should not be passed in response to fear-mongering,” said Representative Rush D. Holt, Democrat of New Jersey.

The legislation makes changes to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, known as FISA.

There was no indication that lawmakers were responding to new intelligence warnings. Rather, Democrats were responding to administration pleas that a recent secret court ruling had created a legal obstacle in monitoring foreign communications relayed over the Internet.

They also appeared worried about the political repercussions of being perceived as interfering with intelligence gathering. But the disputes were significant enough that they are likely to resurface before the end of the year.

Democrats have expressed concerns that the administration is reaching for powers that go well beyond solving what officials have depicted as narrow technical issues in the current law.

In a statement issued late Saturday, Mr. Bush said he would “sign this legislation as soon as it gets to my desk.” The Senate approved its version of the bill on Friday.

In seeking changes to the surveillance program, the administration said it was being prevented from monitoring communications of terrorism suspects overseas in a period of apparently heightened activity. Other Republicans called for swift House action as well.

“I can’t imagine they would take a monthlong vacation without fulfilling their obligation to keep America safe,” Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Republican leader, said before the House approved the bill.

Senior House Democratic leaders said they were resigned to the measure, which will be in force for six months. But they said they would not wait that long before trying to come up with a more acceptable, permanent change in the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.

“There is no way we are ever going to wait six months,” said Representative Rahm Emanuel of Illinois, chairman of the House Democratic Caucus.

The surveillance measure came up in the House late Saturday, after lawmakers had approved an energy efficiency measure and were preparing to pass a major Pentagon spending bill and approve $255 million for rebuilding the collapsed bridge in Minnesota.

In the final vote, 41 Democrats joined all but 2 Republicans in backing the measure; 181 Democrats opposed it.

Some Democrats complained they were being bullied into hasty action on the intelligence bill by the administration and Congressional Republicans. They said the House should stick with a proposal defeated Friday that kept more judicial control over the program than the administration wanted.

House Republicans pointed to Senate’s approval of the measure, which was supported by most Democratic members of the panel that oversees intelligence operations.

“If it is good enough for Senate Intelligence Committee Democrats, it should be good enough for House Democrats,” said Representative Roy Blunt of Missouri, the second-ranking Republican.

Representative Peter Hoekstra of Michigan, the senior Republican on the Intelligence Committee, accused Democrats of dithering for months without giving “the intelligence community tools they need while we are at heightened risk.”

Administration officials had been quietly pushing Congress to pass a “modernization” of the current law, arguing that technological changes — especially the expansion of telephone calls over the Internet — had made the current rules outdated.

One major issue, apparently raised in secret by judges overseeing the program, is that many calls and e-mail messages between people outside the United States are routed over data networks that run through the United States.

In principle, the surveillance law does not restrict eavesdropping on foreign-to-foreign communications. But in practice, administration officials contend, the path of those calls through this country means the government cannot monitor them without a warrant.

But Democratic lawmakers have been deeply suspicious that the Bush administration was seeking a broader and more controversial expansion of surveillance authority by making changes that were vague on important issues.

Representative Silvestre Reyes, Democrat of Texas and chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, said Friday that the bill the administration wanted would allow wiretapping without warrants as long as it was “concerning a person abroad.” As a result, Mr. Reyes said, the law could be construed as allowing any search inside the United States as long as the government claimed it “concerned” Al Qaeda.

Democrats said their suspicions had been fueled in part by the White House’s repeated reluctance to ask Congress for technical changes addressing issues that should have been apparent long ago.

In a recent letter to a Republican on the committee, Representative Heather A. Wilson of New Mexico, Mr. Reyes noted that Congress had updated the FISA law eight times since the Sept. 11 attacks.

“You repeatedly claim that FISA is woefully outdated,” Mr. Reyes wrote. “Neither you nor the administration raised concerns during consideration of those bills that the statutory changes proposed were inadequate.”

For years, but especially since the attacks, Democrats on the intelligence oversight committees have been loath to do anything that might provoke charges of tying up the intelligence agencies in “outdated” restrictions.

But relations have steadily soured since the public disclosure of the warrantless surveillance program 18 months ago. White House officials have repeatedly argued that the president has broad authority to carry out such programs without explicit permission from Congress, even if the programs appear to violate long-standing legal restrictions.

The mistrust has gone in both directions. Administration officials contend that any effort to have Congress address even straightforward issues prompts Democrats to seek all manner of new restrictions.

But Democrats, and some Republicans, say the administration has worsened the distrust by refusing to be provide detailed information to lawmakers and by offering what appear to have been misleading answers to Congressional queries.

Senator Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, the ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, has criticized Mr. Gonzales, the attorney general, for insisting that the Justice Department never had any internal disputes about the legality of the surveillance program.

Several top Justice Department officials, including the director of the F.B.I., Robert S. Mueller III, have publicly contradicted Mr. Gonzales’s testimony and told lawmakers that senior officials threatened in 2004 to resign over the disputes.

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/05/washington/05nsa.html?_r=1&th=&adxnnl=1&oref=slogin&emc=th&adxnnlx=1186323991-i4zdRaJYlchHfPtfEJo3TA&pagewanted=all

Friday, August 03, 2007

THE WHEAT, TARES AND THORNS

The Difference Between Wheat, Tares and Thorns

Did you ever wonder why there have been separations from various Christian bodies throughout the centuries, when God says in Matthew 13:29, 30, that the tares are to grow with the wheat until the harvest, and verse 39 says that the harvest is the end of the world? From whence, then, cometh all the hundreds of various Christian denominations etc., etc.? Why did Jesus separate a group of Christians from the apostate Jewish church of His day? Why did God separate Satan and his followers from the heavenly church before the harvest time? Why did Moses separate those who repented of building the golden calf from those who did not? Why did Moses separate those who repented from Korah's company, and then destroy the rest? Why the Protestant Reformation separation from Rome?
I will tell you why friend. Tares are defined by the Spirit of Prophecy as insincere believers, but when insincere belief turns to open sin rebellion, you have another element: you have thorns which choke out the wheat and make it impossible for the wheat to mature. This is the point at which separation from a professing religious body becomes an absolute necessity if the wheat is to survive, because Scripture says that it is impossible for the wheat to unite the corrupt and remain pure. So thorns are open sinners, and open sinners were ever to be put out of the camp if they would not readily repent and reform.
God did not remove Satan from heaven until his rebellion became open. So that is a Biblical precedent for removing open sin rebellion from the church, and if the church fails to do this, then the faithful must leave such a church, or they will be choked out and die.

"Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty." II Corinthians 6:14-17.

We find in the above Scripture what IS NOT considered mere tares or insincere believers. We are to separate from the following elements:

  1. Unbelievers or infidels
  2. Unrighteous persons
  3. Any form of idolatry
  4. Any unclean thing

"No confederacy With Those Opposing the Truth.--"Let he watchmen on the walls of Zion NOT JOIN with those who are making of non-effect the truth as it is in Christ. Let them not join the confederacy of infidelity, popery, and Protestantism in exalting tradition above scripture, reason above revelation, and human talent above the divine influence and vital power of Godliness." E. G. White, SDA Bible Commentary, Vol. 4, pp. 1141, 1142.

Every member of the professing Seventh-day Adventist Church is corporately responsible for the church's violation of each and every specification of the above statement, via the church's ecumenical connections. What is Ellen White's instruction when there is confederacy (union) with those who oppose the truth?:

Corporate Responsibility

"The plain straight testimony must live in the church, or the curse of God will rest upon His people as surely as it did upon ancient Israel because of their sins. God holds His people, AS A BODY, responsible for the sins existing in individuals AMONG THEM." Testimonies, Vol. 3, p. 269.

What about the New Movement which has formed "AMONG THEM" that has removed God?! Are His people, AS A BODY responsible for that New Movement, that will permit nothing to stand in its way. (See Selected Messages, Vol. 1, 204-5).

"I was shown that the pointed testimony must live in the church. This alone will answer to the message to the Laodiceans. Wrongs must be reproved, sin must be called sin, and iniquity must be met promptly and decidedly, and put away from us AS A PEOPLE." Testimonies, Vol. 3, p. 260.

"They that forsake the law praise the wicked.' Proverbs 28:4. When those who are uniting with the world, yet claiming great purity, plead for union with those who have ever been the opposers of the cause of truth, we should FEAR AND SHUN THEM as decidedly as did Nehemiah. Such counsel is prompted by the enemy of all good. It is the speech of timeservers, and should be resisted as resolutely today as then. Whatever influence would tend to unsettle the faith of God's people in His guiding power, should be steadfastly withstood." E. G. White, Prophets and Kings, 660.

"Those who are uniting with the world [and the fallen churches that cannot be distinguished from the world, Early Writings, 273] are receiving the worldly mold and preparing for the mark of the beast." E. G. White, Testimonies, Vol. 5, 216.

"Deliver thyself, O Zion, that dwellest with the daughter of Babylon, For thus saith the Lord of hosts; After the glory hath he sent me unto the nations which spoiled you: for he that toucheth you toucheth the apple of His eye." Zechariah 2:7.

"The thorns of sin will grow in any soil/ they need no cultivation; but grace must be carefully cultivated. The briers and thorns are always ready to spring up, and the work of purification must advance continually....
The thorns that have been cut off but not uprooted grow apace, until the soul [and/or the church] is overspread with them." E. G. White, Christ's Object Lessons, 51.

Quiescent, insincere believer tares, are not to be uprooted until the close of probationary time, Christ's Object Lessons, 72. Open sinning tares and thorns are to be uprooted, o the church will be overspread with them and they will choke out and kill the wheat, making it impossible for the wheat to mature. This is why the wheat must be separated from a church that is controlled by open sinning, apostate tares and thorns.

"Christ has plainly taught that those who persist in open sin must be separated from the church..." Christ's Object Lessons, 71.

But what about a church that refuses to NEVER AGAIN show its people their sins, much less separates them from the church?

"Here we see that the church--the Lord's sanctuary--was the first to feel the stroke of the wrath of God. The ancient men, those to whom God had given great light and who had stood as guardians of the spiritual interests of the people, and betrayed their trust. They had taken the position that we need not look for miracles and the marked manifestation of God's power as in former days. Times have changed. These words strengthen their unbelief, and they say: The Lord will not do good, neither will He do evil. He is too merciful to visit His people in judgment. Thus 'Peace and safety" is the cry from men who will never again lift up their voice like a trumpet to show God's people their transgressions and the house of Jacob their sins. These dumb dogs that would not bark are the ones who feel the just vengeance of an offended God. Men, maidens, and little children all perish together." E. G. White, Testimonies, Vol. 5, 211.

What do we do with a church which will "never again" show the house of Jacob its sins, let alone remove those who persist in them? We must separate from such a church, because in such a church open sinning tares and thorns will kill, choke out, and make it impossible for the wheat to mature.
If Ellen White prophesied that the church would never again show the house of Jacob its sins, why did she not advocate leaving such a church? Ellen White's prophecy in this regard was conditional at the time she made it. The church could have gone either way. It had not yet gone beyond the point of no return by marrying (joining) the world confederacy of Satan's fallen churches, which is unpardonable sin, after the church knew the Everlasting Gospel of Revelation 14, and the Midnight Cry of Matthew 25. To ignore the Midnight Cry and the Second Angels' Message which called us out of association, counsel, girding, confederacy and "working relationship" with the fallen churches, is to take one's eyes off the Midnight Cry lighted path, and Ellen White says this is unpardonable, because she says it is impossible for all who do so to ever get on the path again, Word to the Little Flock, p. 14. Does that stand agree with Scripture? Yes indeed! Isaiah 8:9-20, says that all who do such are broken in pieces, and this is Ezekiel 9 destruction, as the slaughter weapon of Ezekiel 9:2, is defined as "a breaking in pieces weapon" in the margin reference.
Consistent with this stand is Ellen White's commentary that all who heard and understood, but did not heed the second angels' message and the Midnight Cry in 1844, went into irretrievable darkness which is the same as rejecting light, which is the same as committing unpardonable sin. Ellen White says that reformers of all generation left churches which refused advanced light, Desire of Ages, 232, so rejection of light and truth is sanction for leaving any church. And, it gets more serious than just sanction; those who remain in a corrupt church will become corrupt, because it is impossible to unite with the corrupt without becoming corrupt!

Can Men Distinguish Between Thorns and Mere Tares?

"How shall we know that they are disloyal and untrue?--'By their fruits ye shall know them'...The Lord will not write as wise those who cannot distinguish between a tree that bears THORN-BERRIES and a tree that bears olives." E. G. White, Review and Herald, September 7, 1897.

It is not always possible to distinguish the tares from the wheat without judging character, but such is not the case with thorns! The surface readers have never made the distinction between tares and thorns, so they believe all dwell together to the end and that is fatal to all who so believe.

Thorns Are Apostates Who Make it Impossible for the Wheat to Mature

"Thorns sprung up.--The thorns made it impossible for the wheat to mature (see Luke 8:4). In the same way secular interests prevent the fruits of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22, 23) from reaching maturity. Religion is relegated to the subordinate position of being only one interest among many. For lack of cultivation it withers and eventually dies. That which the thorny-ground hearers lack is a moral transformation (Christ's Object Lessons, p. 50). SDA Bible Commentary, Vol. 5, 405.

"Behold, the sower went forth to sow; and as he sowed, some seeds fell by the wayside, and the birds came and devoured them" (R.V.); "some fell upon stony places, where they had not much earth; and forthwith they sprung up, because they had no deepness of earth: and when the sun was up, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away. And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprung up, and choked them: but other fell into good ground, and brought forth fruit, some an hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold." {COL 34.3}

Thorns believe the doctrine of the Nicolaitans which God especially hates. That doctrine is only believe or confess with the lips.

"(Rom. 3:31.) Doctrine of the Nicolaitans.--The doctrine is now largely taught that the gospel of Christ has made the law of God of no effect; that by "believing" we are released from the necessity o being doers of the Word. But this is the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, which Christ so unsparingly condemned." E. G. White, SDA Bible Commentary, Vol. 7, 957.
"The doctrine of the Nicolaitans appears to have been a form of antinomianism. Nicolaitans of the 2d cent. seem to have continued and extended the views of the 1st-cent. adherents, holding to the freedom of the flesh, and teaching that the deeds of the flesh had no effect upon the health of the soul and consequently no relation to salvation." SDA Bible Commentary, 771.

Definition of antinomian--'One who holds that under the gospel dispensation the moral law is of no use or obligation because faith alone is necessary to salvation." Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary.

"But the doctrine is now largely taught that the Gospel of Christ has made the law of God of no effect; that by 'believing' we are released from the necessity of being doers of the word. But this is the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, which Christ so unsparingly condemned.... Those who are teaching this doctrine today have much to say in regard to faith and the righteousness of Christ; but they pervert the truth, and make it serve the cause of error. They declare that we have only to believe on Jesus Christ, and that faith is all--sufficient; that the righteousness of Christ is to be the sinners credentials; that this imputed righteousness fulfils the law for us, and that we are under no obligation to obey the law of God. This class claim tat Christ came to save sinners, and that he has saved them. "I am saved,' they will repeat over and over again. But are they saved while transgressing the law of Jehovah?--No; for the garments of Christ's righteousness are not a cloak for iniquity: Such teaching is a gross deception, and Christ becomes to these persons a stumbling-block as he did to the Jews,--to the Jews because hey would not receive him as their personal Saviour; to these professed believers in Christ, because they separate Christ and the Law, and regard faith as a substitute for obedience. They separate the Father and the Son, the Saviour of the world. Virtually they teach, both by precept and example, that Christ, by his death, saves men in their transgressions." E. G. White, The Signs of the Times, Vol. 3, 363, col. 1.

"It is IMPOSSIBLE for you to unite with those who are corrupt, and still remain pure. (II Corinthians 6:14-15 quoted). God and Christ and the heavenly host would have men know that if he unites with the corrupt he will become corrupt." E. G. White, Review and Herald, Vol. 4, p. 137.

Thorns--Nicolaitans to be Separated From the Church--"It is our work to know our special failings and sins, which cause darkness and spiritual feebleness, and quenched our first love. Is it worldliness? Is it selfishness? Is it the love of self-esteem? Is it striving to be first? Is it the sin of sensuality that is intensely active? Is it the sin of the Nicolaitans, turning the grace of god into lasciviousness? Is it the misuse and abuse of great light and opportunities and privileges, marking boasted claims to wisdom and religious knowledge, while the life and character are inconsistent and immoral? Whatever it is that has been petted and cultivated until it has become strong and overmastering, make determined efforts to overcome, else you will e lost. It is these cherished sins, abhorrent to God, that make enfeebled moral courage, and leave you to choose to walk apart from God, while you retain a miserable, heartless, outward form. Once the soul was all aglow with the love for Jesus; but all this is changed. The great Head who moves in the midst of his candlesticks will never be without a church. There will be faithless ones who will go out from us because they were not of us. There will be apostasies. But 'nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his.' There will be those who are evil, who hold the truth in unrighteousness, who are sensual, who are controlled by the master-worker in all evil, who will have to be separated from the church."...
This labor of purifying the church is a painful work, but one that must not be neglected, if the church would have the commendation of God." E. G. White, Review and Herald Articles, 06-07-1887, paragraph 16.

Source: http://omega77.tripod.com/DiffWTT.htm

BATTLE HYMN OF THE REPUBLIC

BATTLE HYMN OF THE REPUBLIC

Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord;
He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored;
He hath loosed the fateful lightning of His terrible swift sword;
His truth is marching on.
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! Glory! Glory! Hallelujah!
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! His truth is marching on.

I have seen Him in the watch fires of a hundred circling camps
They have builded Him an altar in the evening dews and damps;
I can read His righteous sentence by the dim and flaring lamps;
His day is marching on.
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! Glory! Glory! Hallelujah!
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! His day is marching on.

I have read a fiery Gospel writ in burnished rows of steel;
“As ye deal with My contemners, so with you My grace shall deal”;
Let the Hero, born of woman, crush the serpent with His heel,
Since God is marching on.
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! Glory! Glory! Hallelujah!
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! Since God is marching on.

He has sounded forth the trumpet that shall never call retreat;
He is sifting out the hearts of men before His judgment seat;
Oh, be swift, my soul, to answer Him! be jubilant, my feet;
Our God is marching on.
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! Glory! Glory! Hallelujah!
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! Our God is marching on.

In the beauty of the lilies Christ was born across the sea,
With a glory in His bosom that transfigures you and me:
As He died to make men holy, let us live to make men free;
[originally …let us die to make men free]
While God is marching on.
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! Glory! Glory! Hallelujah!
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! While God is marching on.

He is coming like the glory of the morning on the wave,
He is wisdom to the mighty, He is honor to the brave;
So the world shall be His footstool, and the soul of wrong His slave,
Our God is marching on.
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! Glory! Glory! Hallelujah!
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! Our God is marching on.

---------------------------------------------------------------------


Julia W. Howe (1819-1910)
Words:
Ju­lia W. Howe, 1861, alt. This hymn was born dur­ing the Amer­i­can ci­vil war, when Howe vis­it­ed a Un­ion Ar­my camp on the Po­to­mac Riv­er near Wash­ing­ton, D. C. She heard the sol­diers sing­ing the song “John Brown’s Body,” and was tak­en with the strong march­ing beat. She wrote the words the next day:

I awoke in the grey of the morn­ing, and as I lay wait­ing for dawn, the long lines of the de­sired po­em be­gan to en­twine them­selves in my mind, and I said to my­self, “I must get up and write these vers­es, lest I fall asleep and for­get them!” So I sprang out of bed and in the dim­ness found an old stump of a pen, which I re­mem­bered us­ing the day be­fore. I scrawled the vers­es al­most with­out look­ing at the p­aper.

The hymn ap­peared in the At­lant­ic Month­ly in 1862. It was sung at the fun­er­als of Brit­ish states­man Win­ston Church­ill, Amer­i­can sen­at­or Ro­bert Ken­ne­dy, and Am­er­i­can pre­si­dents Ron­ald Rea­gan and Ri­chard Nix­on.

Music: John Brown’s Bo­dy, poss­i­bly by John Will­iam Steffe
(MI­DI, score). John Brown was an Amer­i­can abo­li­tion­ist who led a short lived in­­sur­­rect­­ion to free the slaves.

Source: http://www.cyberhymnal.org/htm/b/h/bhymnotr.htm

THE FOUNDING FATHERS

THE FOUNDING FATHERS

Christians have been led to believe that the government of the United States of America is based on the basic principles of Christian morality, which have their origin in the Scriptures. Notable for propagating this misinformation are D. James Kennedy, author of a book promoting astrology, and Peter Marshall, Jr. (son of the late U.S. Senate Chaplain) who wrote The Light and The Glory. However, both of these ministers are members of the Council for National Policy, a secret organization founded by the globalist Council on Foreign Relations which has an anti-Christian agenda.

Historical evidence militates against the view that those who formulated the fundamental documents of American government were Christians. To the contrary, not a few who wrote and signed the Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation and the U. S. Constitution were Deists, Theists and Freemasons. Webster's Dictionary defines "theism" and "deism":

Theism - "belief in the existence of a god or gods; specif: belief in the existence of one God viewed as the creative source of man and the world who transcends yet is immanent in the world."

Deism - "a movement or system of thought advocating natural religions based on human reason rather than revelation, emphasizing morality, and in the 18th century denying the interference of the Creator with the laws of the universe."

One recent historical account of Freemasonry, THE TEMPLE & THE LODGE, boast instead of the profound influence of Freemasonry on the founding documents, (while carefully trying to avoid creating the impression of a Masonic conspiracy):

"Of the fifty-six signatories of the Declaration of Independence, only nine can definitely be identified as Freemasons, while ten others may possibly have been. Of the general officers in the Continental Army, there were so far as documentation can establish, thirty-three Freemasons out of seventy-four. Granted the known Freemasons were, as a rule, more prominent, more instrumental in shaping the course of events than their unaffiliated colleagues...

"On 11 June, (the Continental) Congress appointed a committee to draft a declaration of independence. Of the five men on this committee, two - Franklin and...Robert Livingston - were Freemasons, and one, Robert Sherman, is believed, though not confirmed, to have been. The other two, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams - were not, despite subsequent claims to the contrary. The text of the declaration was composed by Jefferson. It was submitted to Congress and accepted on 4 July 1776. The nine signatories who can now be established as proven Freemasons, and the ten who were possibly so, included such influential figures as Washington, Franklin and, of course, the president of the Congress, John Hancock. The army, moreover, remained almost entirely in Freemasonic hands...As we shall see, it is in the Constitution that the influence of Freemasonry is most discernible...

"At last, on 25 May 1787, the Constitutional Convention opened in Philadelphia and commenced its efforts to devise the machinery of government for the new nation. The first voice to make itself heard in any significantly influential way was a characteristically Freemasonic one, that of Edmund Randolph.. Randolph...a member of a Williamsburg lodge, had become Washington's aide-de-camp. Subsequently he was to become Attorney-General, then governor of Virginia and Grand Master of Virginia's Grand Lodge. During Washington's presidency, he was to serve as the first Attorney-General of the United States, then the first Secretary of State.

"...There were ultimately five dominant and guiding spirits behind the Constitution - Washington, Franklin, Randolph, Jefferson and John Adams. Of these, the first three were active Freemasons, but men who took their Freemasonry extremely seriously - men who subscribed fervently to its ideals, whose entire orientation had been shaped and conditioned by it. And Adam's position, though he himself is not known to have been a Freemason was virtually identical to theirs. When he became president, moreover, he appointed a prominent Freemason, John Marshall, as first Chief Justice of the Supreme Court." (1)

From American Masonic History - What Are America's True Roots?

"Some of the greatest names of the American Revolution were Masons: Ethan Alien, Edmund Burke, John Claypoole, William Daws, Benjamin Franklin, John Hancock, John Paul Jones, Robert Livingston, Paul Revere, Colonel Benjamin Tupper, and George Washington. Of the 56 signers of The Declaration of Independence, eight were known Masons and seven others exhibited strong evidence of Masonic membership. Of the forty signers of the Constitution, nine were known Masons, 13 exhibited evidence of Masonic membership, and six more later became Masons.

"There were many other Masonic influences in early American history: (1) Lafayette, the French liaison to the Colonies, without whose aid the war could not have been won, was a Freemason; (2) the majority of the commanders of the Continental Army were Freemasons and members of "Army Lodges"; (3) most of George Washington's generals were Freemasons; the Boston Tea Party was planned at the Green Dragon Tavern, also known as the "Freemasons' Arms" and "the Headquarters of the Revolution"; (4) George Washington was sworn in as the first President of the United States by Robert Livingston, Grand Master of New York's Masonic lodge, and the Bible on which he took his oath was from his own Masonic lodge; and (5) the Cornerstone of the Capital Building was laid by the Grand Lodge of Maryland." (2)

The following profiles demonstrate the commitment of the most prominent and influential founding fathers to Freemasonry, deism and/or theism.

BENJAMIN FRANKLIN

"On 8 December 1730, Benjamin Franklin printed in his newspaper, The Pennsylvania Gazette, the first documented notice about Freemasonry in North America. Franklin's article, which consisted of a general account of Freemasonry, was prefaced by the statement that 'there are several Lodges of FREE MASONS erected in this Province'... Franklin himself became a Freemason in February 1731, and Provincial Grand Master of Pennsylvania in 1734. That same year, he ushered into print the first Freemasonic book to be published in America, and edition of Anderson's Constitutions...the Bible for English Freemasonry. It enunciates what were to become some of the now familiar and basic tenets of the Grand Lodge... (In) The first article... Anderson writes, 'tis now thought more expedient only to oblige (Masons) to that Religion to which all men agree..." (3)

Anderson's Constitutions, the handbook for English Masonry, explained Albert Mackey's mandate for the True Noahides or Gentile Freemasons:

"...(A) revision of the Old Charges...contained this passage: 'A Mason is obliged by his tenure to obey the Moral Law.' In the edition of 1738, Dr. Anderson has, without authority, completed the sentence by adding the words, 'As a true Noachida. ...the only religious laws which a Freemason is required to obey are those which are contained in the code that has been attributed to Noah. This sentiment is still further expressed toward the close of the 'Old Charges' where it is said that the Mason is obliged only 'to that religion in which all men agree,' excluding therefore atheism and requiring the observance of such simple laws of morality as are enjoined in the precepts of Noah." (4)

Ben Franklin's high level Masonic and intelligence connections are identified in The Occult Conspiracy, which is cited by the Pyramid Gallery:

"'One of the most influential figures in the American Revolution was the writer, philosopher and scientist Benjamin Franklin. He was a Quaker but had become a Freemason in 1731 when he joined the Lodge of St. John in Philadelphia, which was the first recognized Masonic lodge in America. At the time he was inducted Franklin was working as a journalist and he wrote several pro-Masonic articles which were published in The Pennsylvania Gazette. In 1732 he helped draft the by laws of his lodge and in 1734 he printed the Constitutions which was the first Masonic book ever issued in America. He eventually rose to Grand Master of the St. John's lodge and in 1749 was elected Grand Master of the Province. While in France in the 1770s, as a diplomat for the American colonies, Franklin was made Grand Master of the Nine Sisters Lodge in Paris. Members of the Lodge included Danton, who was to play a crucial role in the French Revolution, the Marquis de Lafayette and Paul Jones, both of whom fought in the American War of Independence. While in Paris Franklin used his Masonic contacts to raise funds to buy arms for the American rebels.'" [Michael Howard, The Occult Conspiracy - Secret Societies - Their Influence and Power in World History]

"Franklin, was also a Rosicrucian Grand Master, who was at the heart of the Illuminati operations to take over America and replace the visible control of the British Empire with the invisible control of the secret brotherhood, the most effective and ongoing form of mastering the underclass. It is said the Illuminati, via the Freemasons, controlled and manipulated both sides in the American War of Independence and were also deeply connected with the French Revolution (1789).

"Franklin was Agent 72 of the British intelligence agency created by Dr. John Dee and Francis Bacon during the rein of Elizabeth I. During their time in London, Franklin and the Professor were brought into contact with those in positions of power who shared their Masonic and occult interests. One of these was Sir Francis Dashwood, the English Chancellor of the Exchequer who was also the founder of a secret society called the Friars of St. Francis of Wycombe, more popularly known in the parlors of London as the Hell Fire Club.

"Franklin and LeMarchand spent a summer at Dashwood's estate in West Wycombe, north of London, where they took part in rituals in the specially-created caves dug on Dashwood's orders.

"Dashwood and Franklin, both postmasters, together were able to control and disseminate intelligence better than the military. Postmaster at this point in history meant spymaster as the postmasters controlled the movement of information."

THOMAS PAINE

Thomas Paine, a theist, published his pamphlet "Common Sense" in January of 1776, which turned the tide of public opinion in favor of declaring independence. Paine's arguments against all forms of monarchy dissolved any lingering attachment to Great Britain. On July 4, 1776, the Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence declaring the colonies free and independent states. Although Paine quoted Scripture to denounce the concept of monarchy, his later work, Age of Reason, is a treatise on the implausibility of the Bible and the irrationality of Christianity. Paine believed in one God, but rejected all religions, saying:

"My own mind is my own church." He also maintained an interested in Freemasonry. His pamphlet, Origin Of Free-Masonry, proposed that Masonry's embodiment of the sun worship of ancient Druidism was a legitimate alternative to Christianity. He notes that Freemasonry's god, "...Osiris and Isis, theologically represented the Supreme Being and universal Nature..." (5)
THOMAS JEFFERSON

Thomas Jefferson, a Deist, wrote the Declaration of Independence, which opens with a statement of rights deriving, not from the God of Holy Scripture, but Nature's God and the Natural Law.

"When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation."
In The Jefferson Bible: The Life and Morals of Jesus, Jefferson describes his views of Jesus Christ, the Christian religion, and his own religious beliefs. In a Syllabus which he appended to his Bible, he compared the teachings of Jesus to those of the earlier Greek and Roman philosophers, and to the religion of the Jews of Jesus' time. The following excerpt is from a letter discussing the Syllabus. Of significance is his statement, "...(Jesus) preaches the efficacy of repentance towards forgiveness of sin; I require counterpoise of good works to redeem it..."
"But while this syllabus is meant to place the character of Jesus in its true and high light, as no impostor Himself, but a great Reformer of the Hebrew code of religion, it is not to be understood that I am with Him in all His doctrines. I am a Materialist; he takes the side of Spiritualism; he preaches the efficacy of repentance towards forgiveness of sin; I require counterpoise of good works to redeem it, etc., etc. It is the innocence of His character, the purity and sublimity of His moral precepts, the eloquence of His inculcations, the beauty of the apologues in which He conveys them, that I so much admire; sometimes, indeed, needing indulgence to eastern hyperbolism. My eulogies, too, may be founded on a postulate which all may not be ready to grant. Among the sayings and discourses imputed to Him by His biographers, I find many passages of fine imagination, correct morality, and of the most lovely benevolence; and others, again, of so much ignorance, so much absurdity, so much untruth, charlatanism and imposture, as to pronounce it impossible that such contradictions should have proceeded from the same Being. I separate, therefore, the gold from the dross; restore to Him the former, and leave the latter to the stupidity of some, and roguery of others of His disciples. Of this band of dupes and impostors, Paul was the great Coryphaeus, and first corruptor of the doctrines of Jesus. These palpable interpolations and falsifications of His doctrines, led me to try to sift them apart. I found the work obvious and easy, and that His past composed the most beautiful morsel of morality which has been given to us by man. The syllabus is therefore of His doctrines, not all of mine. I read them as I do those of other ancient and modern moralists, with a mixture of approbation and dissent..." (6)
GEORGE WASHINGTON

Washington: An Abridgement, by Richard Harwell, records the first president's initiation and loyalty to the Masonic Lodge.

"On September 1, 1752, a new lodge of Masons held its first meeting in Fredericksburg and soon attracted members. Under Daniel Campbell as Master, a class of five was initiated on November 4. George, one of this group, paid his initiation fee of £23s. as an Entered Apprentice. (7)
[Washington's journey to Fredericksburg- 1781]
"The journey had shown that the President was as popular in the Southern States as he was in Federalist New England. On the tour he received at least twenty-three addresses. Particularly noticeable were the addresses from Lodges of Free Masons. This probably had no other significance other than it disclosed the strength of the Masons in the South and their pride in Washington as a brother. His answers, in turn, were in good Masonic terms, with no casualness in his references to his membership in the Order." (8)
In 1791, Washington chose Washington , D.C. in 1791 and commissioned Pierre Charles L'Enfant, a French engineer, to create a plan for the physical layout of the city, with the Capitol as the center of the city.
"[He] took the road for the relatively brief ride to the Federal City. It was September 18 [1794], the date for laying the cornerstone of the Capitol. The President found the splendor of music and drums, of flying colors, of many Masons in their symbolic regalia, of happy spectators generally. It was a memorable affair for the Masonic Order, magnified by Washington's participation as a member." (9)
Portions of the Temple and The Lodge also confirm that Masonic ceremonies were conducted for Washington's inauguration and the laying of the cornerstone of the Capitol building:
"On 4 February 1789, Washington was elected first president of the United States and John Adams his vice-president. The inauguration was on 30 April. The oath was administered by Robert Livingston, Grand Master of New York's Grand Lodge...The marshal of the day was another Freemason, General Jacob Morton. Yet another Freemason, General Morgan Lewis, was Washington's escort... Washington himself at the time was Master of Alexandria Lodge No. 22, Virginia... On 14 December, Alexander Hamilton submitted proposals for establishing a National Bank. Jefferson opposed them but Washington signed them through. On the American dollar bill was printed the 'Great Seal' of the United States. It is unmistakably Freemasonic - an all seeing eye in a triangle above a thirteen-stepped, four-sided pyramid, beneath which a scroll proclaims the advent of a 'new secular order,' one of Freemasonry's long-standing dreams.

"On 18 September 1793, the cornerstone of the Capitol was officially laid. Grand Lodge of Maryland presided over the ceremony and Washington was asked to serve as Master... Subsequently, the Capitol and the White House were each to become focal points of an elaborate geometry governing the layout of the nation's capital city. This geometry, originally devised by an architect named Pierre l'Enfant, was subsequently modified by Washington and Jefferson so as to produce specifically octagonal patterns incorporation the particular cross used as a device by Masonic Templars." (10)

Richard Harwell noted the Masonic funeral of George Washington in 1799:
"When word came that the Freemasons and the military would attend the funeral in a body, Lear began to arrange for the hospitality that would be expected." (11)
Washington's high esteem for the Masonic Order is expressed on the Masonic National Memorial erected in his honor.
"Carved on the outside of the George Washington Masonic National Memorial in Alexandria, Virginia, are words from an address by General Geroge Washington when he visited King David Lodge in Newport, Rhode Island, as follows:

"'Being persuaded that a just application of the principles on which the Masonic Fraternity is founded must be promotive of private virtue and public prosperity, I shall always be happy to advance the interest of the Society and to be considered by them as a Brother.'" (12)

See also: George Washington's Correspondence

Source: http://watch.pair.com/mason.html

CONGRESS MUST STAY...

NEWS BRIEF: "Bush: Congress must stay put until surveillance bill approved", The Dallas Morning News, August 3, 2007

"WASHINGTON - President Bush said Friday that Congress must stay in session until it approves legislation modernizing a U.S. law governing eavesdropping on foreigners ... 'We've worked hard and in good faith with the Democrats to find a solution, but we are not going to put our national security at risk. Time is short'."


Remember with whom you are dealing! Under the President's leadership, "enemy combatants" have been imprisoned with no charges against them for an indefinite period of time, they have been tortured, and some of them were finally released when the Government could not prove any charges!


Furthermore, Attorney General Gonzales was the White House legal counsel during the first administration and it was he who advised the President that he need not follow either domestic or international law while pursuing his infamous "War On Terror"!


Now, President Bush is demanding that Congress give him even more authority to do whatever he wants to do in the field of Domestic Intelligence! Now, Gonzales is due to receive even more authority to gather intelligence domestically!


But, under the guise of protecting our liberties, freedoms, and Constitutional government, President Bush is systematically doing away with all three! Doubt it not! Cutting Edge has been warning about this ever since Congress showered the White House with dozens of dictatorial laws immediately after the attacks of 9/11.


"Time is short", the President intones. He is right -- the time Americans have left to enjoy our freedoms dwindles every single day. The only question is "when will the next terror attack occur"? When that day comes, either the President, the FEMA Director, or the Homeland Security Director will command that all functions of government shut down, while the "enemies of peace are quelled".



Source: http://cuttingedge.org/newsletters/

LOTT: GET OUT OF D.C.

Lott: Get Out of D.C. While You Still Can

There's irresponsibility. There's demagoguery. And then there's Trent Lott.

It turns out the Capitol Police have bolstered security around the U.S. Capitol after a recent al-Qaeda communique threatened an attack on Washington. Lott, according to Roll Call (sub.req.), responded with characteristic gravitas. In light of the heightened threat, Congress can either amend the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act or all of us can run screaming into the inferno.

Senate Minority Whip Trent Lott (R-Miss.) ominously advised Thursday that Congress needed to pass changes to terrorist surveillance laws before leaving for the August recess and warned that otherwise “the disaster could be on our doorstep.”

Further demonstrating his counterterrorism sagacity, when asked if people should leave Washington, D.C., during the month of August, Lott replied that "I think it would be good to leave town in August, and it would probably be good to stay out until September the 12th." By contrast, a former Capitol Hill chief had the temerity to note that, according to U.S. intelligence analysis he'd been privvy to, "Americans tend to be much more oriented toward anniversaries and the jihadists seem to be less so. I've seen over the years where we concentrate on dates and the analysts say, 'Don’t get wrapped up in dates because our terrorist jihadist enemies bide their time.'"

Source: http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/003851.php

Thursday, August 02, 2007

OPUS DEI HAS STAKE IN BENEDICT XVl

Opus Dei has stake in new pope
BY MATTHEW McALLESTER STAFF CORRESPONDENT
April 15, 2005
ROME


Sure, Peter Bancroft said, he does use a small, cotton whip to lash his back or buttocks once a week (in private). And yes, most days he wears an abrasive metal chain around his thigh for a couple of hours that causes him discomfort but no lasting damage.

But no, neither he nor anyone in Opus Dei is a pain-loving murderer like Dan Brown's villain in the enormously successful novel "The Da Vinci Code."

"As soon as you meet an Opus Dei member," said Bancroft, sitting in an ornate room in the headquarters of the conservative Catholic lay group and showing no signs of self-mutilation, "it doesn't take long to figure out that not all Opus Dei members are masochistic monks."


No part of the Church has been so shrouded in conspiracy theory in recent years as Opus Dei, which has 85,000 members worldwide and espouses a very conservative form of Catholicism. Critics within the Church worry about its wealth and influence; Web sites accuse it of being a cult, and Brown's best-seller casts it as a dark, violent force within Christianity. Even its own members acknowledge it is too secretive and defensive.

New challenges

Now it faces a new challenge far from the realm of fantasy: As 115 cardinals meet in conclave Monday, there is no guarantee the next pope will treat Opus Dei with the favor Pope John Paul II bestowed upon it.

Among Opus Dei members, "Their basic concern is that they might actually end up among the big losers," said John Allen, Vatican correspondent for the National Catholic Reporter and author of a forthcoming book on the group. But the men and women within Opus Dei insist its future is secure. Bancroft, a group spokesman, dismissed the possibility a new pope will turn against it. Opus Dei's vision of involving lay people further in the Church "is part of the DNA of the Church," he said, and part of the reason for John Paul's backing.

At stake is the influence of an organization that Allen estimates has assets worth $2.8 billion worldwide and $344.4 million in the United States.

Critics within the Church usually prefer to speak anonymously about Opus Dei, citing fear of retribution and an unwillingness to make tense relationships worse. "They're very, very powerful. ... They're so powerful it frightens people," said a priest in Rome who has regular contact with Opus Dei. Critics say the group deliberately sets out to recruit elites -- politicians, executives, journalists, lawyers and, of course, senior churchmen. Chief Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls is a member. Two of the 115 cardinals expected to vote in the conclave are members and two top candidates for pope -- Joseph Ratzinger and Dionigi Tettamanzi -- are said to be close to the group.

Under John Paul, Opus Dei made important gains. In 1992, he beatified its founder, Spanish priest Josemaria Escriva de Balaguer. Ten years earlier, the pope had given the group the status of a personal prelature, essentially turning it into the Church's only diocese without geographical boundaries.

In spite of Opus Dei's privileged status, some observers say its influence is overstated. "I think there's a lot of fantasizing about Opus Dei but I don't think there's so much grounds for that," said a Colombian priest, the Rev. Sergio Bernal, a professor of social doctrine at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome and a Jesuit, one of the clerical groups considered to be at odds with Opus Dei. And Allen said he didn't "see in any direct way how Opus Dei is exercising any influence on the conclave."

If Opus Dei appears murky and alien to the world, that's partly because some of its practices can come across as throwbacks to the Middle Ages. "For people who aren't part of that world it's a little strange, but I don't think there's anything nefarious or dangerous about it," Allen said. "I think it's a very traditional, straight-laced, buttoned-down version of Catholic life and spirituality."

For the first-time guest, a visit to Opus Dei headquarters is a slightly unsettling, but harmless, experience. It does not come across as secretive. Without an appointment, two visitors were welcomed by a Spanish-speaking young woman and given a tour of a series of small chapels and crypts below street level. Marble of nearly every color blended in a lavish, neo-baroque style with granite and other perfectly laid stone.

It is a custom-made network of modern design built in the 1950s and after, but reminiscent of an ancient place of worship.

Bancroft was also entirely unsecretive. Usually based in the organization's New York center, he is a numerary, a layman committed to a life of celibacy.

Most members are supernumeraries, many of them married. Only about 2 percent are ordained priests, he said.

Mistakes made

Bancroft readily acknowledged that Opus Dei had made "mistakes" by putting "too much pressure" on some new members during initiation rites. Some former members have publicized what they saw as cult-like brainwashing techniques. "We feel bad about it," said Bancroft, 35, of Stow, Mass., referring to any mishandling of new members.

Bancroft seemed a little embarrassed to talk about the whip, known as a discipline, and the chain -- a cilice -- he wears around his thigh, but said both are "a symbolic way of uniting yourself with Christ."

(The Rev. John Paul Wauck, a professor at Opus Dei's pontifical college in Rome, Holy Cross, noted that such acts, known as physical mortification, have long been practiced by Church members, including Mother Teresa of Calcutta.)

Only numeraries practice physical mortification, Bancroft explained. Married members of Opus Dei, supernumeraries, are exempt. "They already have enough mortification," he said, laughing.

Since the publication of "The Da Vinci Code" in 2003, Bancroft has been unprecedentedly busy explaining Opus Dei to people. "It's introduced lots of silliness into my job," he said. But ironically, the novel's dark portrayal of the organization has led some people to join, he said. "We think the more light that gets shed on us the better," Bancroft said.

It remains to be seen if the next pope agrees.

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THE SECRET LIFE OF OPUS DEI

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The secret life of Opus Dei

http://politics.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,9115,1398731,00.html

Ruth Kelly says the Catholic group's support is a private matter, but it is surrounded by a reactionary miasma

Michael Walsh

Wednesday January 26, 2005

The Guardian

Rocco Buttiglione, the erstwhile Italian EU commissioner, must have some sympathy with Ruth Kelly. Instead of getting on with the job to which Silvio Berlusconi had advanced him, he was closely questioned by European parliamentarians about his religious beliefs. His candidature was eventually withdrawn, and he departed to found a new Catholic political alliance.

Now here is Ruth Kelly, eager to get stuck into her new role as secretary of state for education, and yet all everyone wants to know, apart from how she copes with a cabinet rank and four small children, is where Opus Dei fits in. If indeed she is a member. No one is saying. She has spiritual support from them, but that is a private matter, she told David Frost on Sunday.

Maybe, but her answer is rather disingenuous. Opus Dei comes surrounded by a political miasma. It was founded just before the Spanish civil war, but came fully into being in the heady Catholic days of Franco's cruzado. Camino (The Way), the handbook that guides the spiritual life of Opus Dei adherents, was published in its final version just as the civil war ended. When Opus came to prominence in the late 1960s it was because Franco's cabinet contained a remarkably large number of Opusdeistas - far too many for commentators to believe it a coincidence. Senior members, including Opus's founder St Josemaría Escrivá de Balaguer, Marqués de Peralta, were involved in negotiating the handover of power to the then Prince Juan Carlos, rather than to his father, Don Juan.

Opus members were powerful operators in 1960s Spain and again, it was alleged, during the Aznar government. The organisation's public persona in Spain wasn't helped by the discovery that adherents helping to fund its remarkable growth were involved in two of that country's major financial scandals. The sinister, secretive image was boosted in the US when an FBI agent was convicted four years ago of spying for the Russians. He was an Opus member, and his brother-in-law an Opus Dei priest. The lurid picture in Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code, of an Opus Dei "monk" wreaking mayhem around Europe on the instructions of his religious superior, has only added to their curiosity value.

If a member, Ruth Kelly would have been a typical recruit, the sort of person targeted by the organisation as a potentially influential member of society. They tend to recruit from the middle class, give adherents a traditional theological education, and subject them to an old-fashioned spiritual training - including wearing spike bracelets, and beating oneself with a cat o'nine-tails. Given this conservative background, it is scarcely surprising that many Opusdeistas turn out to be supporters of rightwing regimes. Kelly, on the left of centre, is therefore something of an exception.

Their moral views, however, are more of a piece, and highly unlikely to deviate from those espoused by the Vatican. And these, as Buttiglione and US presidential contender John Kerry both found, can be something of a handicap in public life, especially when the Vatican tells politicians to toe the Catholic line on matters such as abortion. From the status of women to the teaching on stem-cell research to the recognition of same-sex unions, Pope John Paul II has resolutely followed a path at odds with the modern world. Catholic parliamentarians have too often to struggle between their faith and the convictions of the vast majority of their constituents. As Aidan O'Neill QC put it in a recent debate at Lincoln's Inn presided over by Cherie Booth, should they attempt to enact a form of Catholic Sharia? Many Catholics would say no, but Opus members are fiercely loyal to the present Pope. He has not only canonised their founder, but has also given them a new juridical structure which, they believe, fits their particular way of life.

For Opus is one of a kind. Within Roman Catholicism it has a unique status as a "personal prelature", a kind of diocese without geographical boundaries, with which all its members are associated, but to which its full-time members belong. They are priests and lay people. That makes it different from traditional religious orders which are usually one or the other. Opus embraces all classes of society, married and single, priests and lay people, men and women - though in the last case, never the twain shall meet. The recently constructed US HQ in New York has separate entrances for men and women. There are even, according to the authors of The Rough Guide to the Da Vinci Code, gender-specific parking lots.

In this country, Opus's HQ is in Bayswater, west London. Its members run university halls of residence and youth clubs - fertile territory for new recruits. In the US and elsewhere there are Opus Dei schools, hot on traditional values. But not yet in Britain. In a variant of the postcode lottery, devout British parents have been known to relocate to Ireland where such colleges may be found. The education secretary says she wants more independent state schools, strong on discipline. Her spiritual advisers may have suggestions.

· Michael Walsh is a Catholic scholar and the author of Opus Dei

mjwalsh@heythrop.ac.uk

http://politics.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,9115,1398731,00.html

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WHY IS BUSH WOOING THE ARAB WORLD?

Commentary
Why is Bush wooing the Arab world?
By Linda S. Heard
Online Journal Contributing Writer


Aug 2, 2007, 02:02

There's an old expression that goes "Beware of Greeks bearing gifts." which has its origins in Virgil's rendition of the Trojan horse legend. Another translation reads "Trust not their presents, not admit the horse."

The Greeks have been much maligned over the centuries as the veracity of the legend is still an open question. But if we change the word "Greeks" to "Americans" the warning may well be valid today.

In a nutshell, George W. Bush is up to something and whatever it is the Israelis are becoming nervous.

The other day, we learned of $20 billion in new arms deals between the US and Saudi Arabia and five other Gulf states respectively, while military assistance to Egypt will be renewed to the tune of $13 billion.

It goes without a saying that Israel hasn't been left out. Throughout the coming decade, it will receive $30.5 billion to aid with its "defence."

This comes hard on the heels of another seemingly magnanimous gesture by the Bush administration. It seems that Bush -- the very person who directed the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq and who has studiously ignored Palestinian suffering since taking office -- has experienced an epiphany.

Without warning the so-called "Road map" is up and running. The Israelis have been ordered to quit their expansionist plans. For now that is.

Revamped endeavour

The rock star politician Tony Blair has been seconded out of obscurity to put a pretty face on the revamped endeavour. Not that he will have any real clout, mind you. His role is to help the Palestinian National Authority rebuild the nation's economy and infrastructure that have been systematically destroyed by Israel.

Are we to believe that Bush woke up one day saying something must be done to help the poor Palestinian people? Did he sob into his morning coffee cup before ringing his faithful Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to tell her to put the wheels of peace in motion?

Methinks not. This is a man who wouldn't recognise compassion if it jumped up and bit him in the face. This is a man who operates on the basis of a pay-off.

And like the devoted servant of the administration that she obviously is, Rice is playing her part to perfection. During a recent interview on America's propagandist Arabic-language network, Al Hurra, she had this to say: "The Palestinian people have waited too long for the state . . . And I believe that the Palestinians, who are intelligent people, entrepreneurial people, people who have the same aspirations for democracy and prosperity, are going to insist that the conditions are so that the state can come into being.

"And I believe that Israel understands, too, that it has obligations that need to be met and need to be met now, because the future of Israel is not under the continued occupation of the West Bank. The future of Israel is in building a strong Israeli state in places like the Negev and Galilee, as the president said in his speech."

Nuclear technology

According to Rice, the US encourages talks between Israel and Syria that until now have been consistently blocked by the US government.

The Arab League delegation that recently visited Israel bearing an olive branch has also received a pat on the back from Bush's multilingual, shoe-loving, piano-playing emissary.

And she was similarly glowing about Islam, which "is a very fast-growing religion in the United States." she said. "We could never disrespect Islam," said Rice. "Because we know that it is a great faith and a peaceful faith."

So everything in the garden is lovely: A weapons bonanza for Arab states; a peace deal on the table for the Palestinians; a rap on Israel's knuckles; and plenty of kudos for Islam.

There's more. The "new" French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, a known pro-American, pro-Israel neoconservative, last week urged the West to trust Arab nations with nuclear technology and has agreed to help Libya build a nuclear-powered desalination plant. Well . . . well . . . wonders will never cease!

The question is what is the potential pay-off to America for this unexpected largesse in weapons, Western offers of nuclear technology and frantic Middle East peace-making? Unless you're still a believer in Santa and the tooth fairy, you have to admit there's one there somewhere.

I've no proof as to what it could be but I'll take a leaf out of Michael Chertoff's, the head of US Homeland Security's book, and go with a gut feeling.

In a word, this is all about forming a Sunni Arab coalition as a buffer against Iran. Chertoff's gut says there will be a major terrorist attack on the US this summer.

If such an attack transpires, my own gut tells me it will result in the postponement of US elections, the imposition of emergency law and another US-led war.

Those who advise Arab nations not to look a gift horse in the mouth, which translated means "be grateful for presents without putting them under scrutiny," are no sages. The gifts may be fine, but beware of the strings around the wrapping.

Linda S. Heard is a British specialist writer on Middle East affairs. She welcomes feedback and can be contacted by email at heardonthegrapevines@yahoo.co.uk.

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