Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Pelosi to Obama: Health care bill by August


May 13, 2009


Speaker Nancy Pelosi told President Obama today that the Democratic-led House will have a health care bill on the floor before it leaves for the August recess.

The goal is "quality, affordable, accessible health care for all Americans," Pelosi told reporters after a White House meeting with Obama and other House leaders.

Obama set the deadline at July 31 and said it shows "the kind of urgency and dedication that we need."

Of course, the Senate also has to pass a health care bill and both chambers must agree on the details. And Republicans will have something to say about the debate.

Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., said Republicans want to work with Democrats, but "we find private, one-party meetings that set arbitrary deadlines a sign of a troubling lack of bipartisanship."


The meeting was the latest in a week-long health care offensive by the White House.

On Monday, Obama met with health care stakeholders that included the medical, hospital and insurance industries, Yesterday, it was business people seeking to keep down the costs of their employee health care plans.

"We've got to get it done this year," Obama said. "We don't have any excuses. The stars are aligned."


Obama again listed his three basic principles for a health care bill: It must keep down rising health care costs, it must allow people to choose their own doctor and insurance plan, and it must enable all Americans "to have quality, affordable health care."

Obama spoke a day after Medicare trustees reported that the recession is draining funds the old-age insurance program at a faster rate than once expected.

Pelosi said, "health care reform is entitlement reform."

One challenge for supporters of a health care plan: How to pay for it.

The private meeting with Obama featured Pelosi and House Democratic Leader Steny Hoyer, as well as key committee chairs Charles Rangel, George Miller, and Henry Waxman.

(Posted by David Jackson; photo by Jason Reed, Reuters)

Lucifer's Rebellion



Lucifer's Rebellion


Evil did not originate on planet earth. Before God created earth, he had already populated the universe with other rational beings. The Bible calls these beings "angels," and names several different orders. Angels have often been made to appear as fantasy by those seeking to discredit their existence. Many artists have intentionally or inadvertently supported this by their inaccurate illustrations. Children have often seen the little angels and devils on the shoulders of cartoon characters, made ridiculous in appearance and action. One result of all this is that many people who believe that life exists elsewhere in the universe (even some with superior intelligence to mankind) reject the existence of angels because of their association with fantasy roles. But the angels are not creatures of fantasy. They are simply another form of living creature that has come from the hand of God. The angels, like mankind, were created with free will, and were subject to the same conditions regarding their eternal life. The most prominent of these chose to rebel against God. In order to understand the conditions in which we live today, we need to understand this angel and how he came to rebel against God.







1.


What did Lucifer hope to accomplish in his rebellion against God? Isaiah 14:12-14


Helps and hints: Years ago, as the story goes a great organist performed a piece on a pump organ. After the well received performance, the man who pumped the air commented to the organist, "That sure was a fine job we did, wasn't it?" "WE ?" replied the organist. "You may have operated the machinery, but I made the music all by myself." At their next performance, in the middle of the finale, the helper came out and sat on the front row. As the organ wound down to silence, the organist turned and shouted, "What are you doing out here. Get back in there and PUMP!" The other man calmly replied, "I just wanted to see how you were doing out here all by yourself."
Lucifer became so infatuated with himself that he forgot that he was dependent on God for his very life. Lucifer has not life in himself. He gets it from the same place we do, GOD. He is also subject to God's judgement and will have no more power than we do to escape God's decision.


Read Ezekiel 28:12-19

This passage is the most complete "biography: of Lucifer in the Bible. The passage is outwardly addressed to the "King of Tyrus," an earthly king, but the language indicates that more than earthly realities are represented. Lucifer has used human agents whenever possible in his war against the kingdom of god. Ezekiel, with prophetic insight, sees through this human agent to the real source of activities against God's people. Questions 2-5 highlight some of the information given by Ezekiel.







2.


What privileges did Lucifer enjoy as a loyal servant of his Creator? Ezekiel 28:13,14







3.


Did God create Lucifer with the seed of sin in his heart, so that it was only a matter of time before he became a "devil?" Ezekiel 28:15


Helps and hints: This is a very important question. Sin originated in the heart of Lucifer, as indicated by this passage. But did God therefore "create sin" because He created Lucifer? God DID NOT create sin. But He did create his creatures with the freedom of choice. God could never be content with mere robots. Free will means the power to choose for or against something. Lucifer had the choice to remain loyal to God, or to rebel against Him. He was created with no taint of maliciousness. His rebellion was not the fault of god, but the result of his own free choice.







4.


What was the cause of Lucifer's desire to rebel against God? Ezekiel 28:16,17


Helps and hints: The same thing that caused the first of God's creatures to rebel against Him continues to hold men and women in rebellion against Him today - PRIDE.






5.


What final end is predicted for Lucifer? Ezekiel 28:18,19


Helps and hints: The final destruction of Lucifer will not be the result of a whimsical or vindictive decision by God. Lucifer will be the author of his own destruction. His intentional misuse of the gift of free will undercut the peace and safety of every other creature in the universe.






6.


What two sins did Christ say originated in the heart of Lucifer? John 8:44







7.


What was the result of Lucifer's effort to seize the throne of God in heaven by force? Revelation 12:7-9







8.


Where was Satan confined when he was cast out of heaven? Revelation 12:9







9.


Who did Satan bring with him to the earth? Revelation 12:4


Helps and hints: In the book of Revelation, stars are used to symbolize angels. It would indicate that Satan was able to turn a third of God's angels against Him in his effort to gain the throne.






10.


After he was expelled from heaven, whom did Satan seek to deceive? Genesis 3:1-6


Helps and hints: Satan's rebellion in heaven had failed. But it must have surprised him to find that he still had access to some of God's unfallen creatures. God would allow the loyalty of ALL of His free-will beings to be tested. Although Adam and Eve were forewarned of the consequences of disobedience, Satan was still able to entice them to disregard the warning.






11.


What did Satan lay claim to as a result of mankind's fall? Luke 4:5,6


Helps and hints: God originally created mankind as overseers of planet earth. He gave them "dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth." Genesis 1:28. The apostle Paul said, "Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?" Romans 6:16. Adam and Eve gave their obedience to Satan, and he was quick to proclaim his dominion over planet earth. Form this geographical location he would continue his war against God. The apostle Paul later described him as the 'god of this world." 2 Corinthians 4:4.






12.


Why does Satan work so feverishly at this time? Revelation 12:12


Helps and hints: God could have destroyed Satan when he first rebelled. But the rest of His creatures would not have understood, not having seen the consequences of Lucifer's course of action. Instead, God allowed Satan to demonstrate what the universe would be like under his authority. The results are written across the pages of human history. When the demonstration is complete, God will safely be able to eliminate Satan without running the risk that His other creatures will serve Him out of fear. Satan is a defeated foe. He knows that he will soon be destroyed, and the universe cleared of the effects of his rebellion. It is sheer desperation that causes him to continue to fight against God. Sin has so thoroughly warped Satan's character that he is beyond the point of no return as far as repentance is concerned. Bitterness, hatred, and selfishness are the only plants that grow in his heart. His hatred for mankind is intensified as he sees men and women return to God and receive the forgiveness that he too at one time could have received.






13.


What are some of the agents Satan has used in his was against God and man? Genesis 3:1-6; John 13:2; John 8:44







14.


What is one place on earth that Satan was unable to penetrate? John 14:30


Helps and hints: Satan was never able to penetrate the mind of Christ. From the temptations in the wilderness (Matthew 4:1-11), to the final attempt to persuade Christ to come down off the cross, Satan dogged the steps of Christ's earthly ministry. Not even by a thought did Christ yield to the rebel angel.






15.


What event sealed Satan's destiny? Hebrews 2:14,15


Helps and hints: When Satan caused the death of Christ on the cross, he not only lost his power over those he held captive in death, but he also demonstrated the extent to which sin had corrupted him. He was willing to murder the source of health and strength for all mankind to accomplish his selfish purposes. In this he lost any sympathy he might have had from all who had remained faithful to God. He proved himself worthy of eternal destruction.






16.


Who is the real cause of suffering in the world? Luke 13:16; Job 2:7


Why Does God Permit Suffering?

It was not God who introduced suffering into the universe. It was Lucifer, who became Satan; the devil. It is for the sake of those who will inhabit the universe for all eternity that God allows Satan to demonstrate sufficiently what the true course of sin really is. But you ask, "Isn't it enough? Haven't we seen enough?" Let me ask you: "Has mankind learned their lesson? Is war obsolete? Has crime ceased?" One of the sad facts of life is that some will never learn the lesson! Following in the footsteps of Satan himself, they will carry their rebellion against God to the bitter end. Only God knows when it will be safe to eliminate sin and those who perpetrate it from the universe without allowing cause for it to ever return again. Remember, sin can only enter the universe through the mind of a rational being. It is the result of the misuse of the freedom of choice. God's creatures will retain their free will, but none will ever choose rebellion against God again. The prophet Nahum says, "affiliation shall not rise up the second time."

God will gain and hold the voluntary allegiance of His loyal children for all eternity. He will not do this through fear. He will do it through love. It will yet be proven that every act of God, even the destruction of the wicked, will be an act of love. One indication of God's love is the suffering that He Himself has endured through the entire great controversy begun by Lucifer's rebellion. Even with modern inventions like television, we see only a tiny portion of the suffering in the world. God sees it all, every second, every hour, night and day, without holidays or vacations! It is Satan who enjoys watching people suffer, and not because of his hatred for us. Satan knows how much it hurts God to watch His children suffer, and God is the object of his hatred. To Satan, we are merely pawns in his game. To God, we are the objects of His supreme affections. Even the destruction of Satan can bring no joy to the heart of God. He remembers him as he once was, and as he could have been.

The day is coming when peace, genuine peace, will reign throughout the entire universe. The Bible is the guide to how this peace will be established and how it will be maintained. When God's plan of restoration is completed, the effects of Lucifer's rebellion will be forever gone. The universe will be no better for it. God would have preferred that it never have had to happen. But the universe will be safe from the danger of it ever happening again.


"And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.
And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes: and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away." Revelation 21:3,4



Source:http://mcdonaldroad.org/bible/study/lucifer.htm




Tamil war zone hospital hit again

Page last updated at 14:18 GMT, Wednesday, 13 May 2009 15:18 UK




Satellite images show clearance of camps for displaced people in Sri Lanka's conflict zone.



Violence has continued unabated in Sri Lanka's Tamil war zone, where more than 50 people died when the main hospital was shelled for a second day.


While the army cast doubt on the new attack, a doctor in Mullaitivu said it had hit people injured during earlier shelling which claimed nearly 50 lives.


A local Red Cross employee was also killed as violence raged.


Satellite images have emerged which appear to show recent heavy shelling in the government-designated "safe zone".


Images released by Human Rights Watch show crater marks and considerable population displacement between 6 and 10 May.


The organisation says it has also gathered witness testimony contradicting army assertions that they are not using heavy weaponry.

Sri Lanka has accused the Tamil Tiger rebels of being behind recent attacks using heavy weapons.

The UN estimates that about 50,000 civilians are trapped by the conflict, in a three-sq-km strip of land.

'Shelter hit'

A day after Britain and the US called on both the government and the rebels to end hostilities immediately there is no sign of that happening, the BBC's Charles Haviland reports from Colombo.

See a map of the conflict region

A Sri Lankan technician for the International Committee of the Red Cross, a 31-year-old father, was killed in shelling along with his mother.



International aid agencies are unable to enter the "safe area"
There are accounts of dozens more civilians also being killed.

Dr T Varatharajah told the BBC more than 50 people had died when two shells hit the zone's main hospital compound.

Sources in the UN said they agreed with that figure and that 100 had been injured.

Shelling of the same hospital on Monday night and Tuesday morning left 49 dead and 86 injured, the doctor told the BBC earlier.

A rebel spokesman said a home for mentally disabled women was also shelled, resulting in the death of 38 people.

He blamed the government side but the Sri Lankan military spokesman, Brig Udaya Nanayakkara, said the rebels were spreading false propaganda.

The army was, he said, using only small arms during its military advance and there was, he added, no facility for handicapped people nearby.

Asked about recent video from Tamil sources, purporting to show the aftermath of hospital shellings, he said the Tigers were booby-trapping all sorts of facilities and people might be caught in that.

The government says it is in the final stages of wiping out the Tamil Tigers but the rebels have said they will not surrender.

Amnesty International has demanded "immediate and unhindered" access to the war zone for international monitors and humanitarian agencies.

Accusing both sides of putting civilians' lives in danger, it urged the UN Security Council to create a commission to investigate "serious violations by all parties in recent months".




"Biggest Loser" Church Style


Reported by: Shelli Briery
Wednesday, May 13, 2009 @08:21am CST


"COULDN'T COPY VIDEO"


The desire to make healthy lifestyle changes is rubbing off here locally. A Shreveport church is having its own edition of the biggest loser. At Philadelphia Seventh Day Adventist, these members are sharing brotherly love in a new way. The gift comes in the form of sweat, exercise and a new look on health and fitness. "We want them to develop a healthier living, way of life the next two months." Wanda Burton is instructing the 20+ member group. Each has committed to two months of exercise and diet, which includes food journaling. And 30 minutes of cardio and exercise a day. "We have to keep up with everything we put in our mouth and keeping track of everything, you realize that I am eating things that I don't need to be eating," said Contestant, Sherry Youngblood. Each Sunday, they meet for an hour to workout as a group. Being fit is important for Youngblood as she ages. "And I turn 60, so when I am 80 I will be in good health." Organizers say after realizing a need to help members make lifestyle changes. They decided on the "Biggest Loser" in hopes that all will benefit. "We want to try to bypass or manage diabetes and high blood pressure, high cholesterol, heart failure," said Rikki Murff. The contestants say exercises are trying. "We have been doing the stretches, walking in place, some of the exercises I haven't been accustomed to." But the outcome is rewarding. Everyone's a winner, when healthy lifestyle changes are made. "I think it is setting a good example, fitness is something that you can't go wrong with," said Co-pastor, Miller Murff. The Biggest Loser will receive a 200 dollar grand prize.

...Withdraw yourselves from every brother that walketh disorderly


2 Thessalonians 3


1Finally, brethren, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may have free course, and be glorified, even as it is with you:

2And that we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men: for all men have not faith.

3But the Lord is faithful, who shall stablish you, and keep you from evil.

4And we have confidence in the Lord touching you, that ye both do and will do the things which we command you.

5And the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God, and into the patient waiting for Christ.

6Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye withdraw yourselves from every brother that walketh disorderly, and not after the tradition which he received of us.

7For yourselves know how ye ought to follow us: for we behaved not ourselves disorderly among you;

8Neither did we eat any man's bread for nought; but wrought with labour and travail night and day, that we might not be chargeable to any of you:

9Not because we have not power, but to make ourselves an ensample unto you to follow us.

10For even when we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat.

11For we hear that there are some which walk among you disorderly, working not at all, but are busybodies.

12Now them that are such we command and exhort by our Lord Jesus Christ, that with quietness they work, and eat their own bread.

13But ye, brethren, be not weary in well doing.

14And if any man obey not our word by this epistle, note that man, and have no company with him, that he may be ashamed.

15Yet count him not as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother.

16Now the Lord of peace himself give you peace always by all means. The Lord be with you all.

17The salutation of Paul with mine own hand, which is the token in every epistle: so I write.

18The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.

Jesus loves me


Jesus loves me! This I know,
For the Bible tells me so.
Little ones to Him belong;
They are weak, but He is strong.


Refrain

Yes, Jesus loves me!
Yes, Jesus loves me!
Yes, Jesus loves me!
The Bible tells me so.



Jesus loves me! This I know,
As He loved so long ago,
Taking children on His knee,
Saying, “Let them come to Me.”


Refrain

Jesus loves me still today,
Walking with me on my way,
Wanting as a friend to give
Light and love to all who live.

Refrain

Jesus loves me! He who died
Heaven’s gate to open wide;
He will wash away my sin,
Let His little child come in.

Refrain

Jesus loves me! He will stay
Close beside me all the way;
Thou hast bled and died for me,
I will henceforth live for Thee.

Refrain


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

This stan­za from the orig­in­al is com­mon­ly omit­ted in hymn­als:

Jesus loves me! Loves me still,
Though I’m very weak and ill,
That I might from sin be free
Bled and died upon the tree.

Words: Stanza 1,
An­na B. War­ner, 1860. Stanzas 2-3, Da­vid Ru­ther­ford Mc­Guire.




(MI­DI, score).



{In German}

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

NEWSFLASH: "Georgetown University Hospital & Adventist Health Care form partnership"


Department of Psychiatry,
Georgetown University Hospital
Adventist Health Care Behavioral Health Services
form partnership to
Establish a Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Fellowship


We are extremely pleased to announce that the Georgetown University Hospital Department
of Psychiatry has reached agreement with Adventist Health Care Behavioral Health Services
to establish a Child and Adolescent Psychiatry fellowship.
This partnership will provide
outstanding training opportunities and allow us to address the growing need for high quality
Child and Adolescent psychiatrists in our community.
The Adventist system has a wide range of mental health services for children and
adolescents. This partnership will allow us to offer the full range of training opportunities
necessary for a fellowship and will provide funding for residents.
GUH will provide the
academic base for the program as well as additional clinical training (e.g. outpatient, C-L) and
supervision.
The first step in the process will be the recruitment of the Fellowship Director
who will be based at Adventist and have a faculty appointment at Georgetown
. Although
there are a number of steps that need to be completed, we are hoping that our first fellowship
class will be able to start in 2010.





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Keep The Faith Ministry: Upcoming Events



Upcoming Events


May 15, 2009
Lyon, France

May 22, 2009
Glendale, CA

May 30, 2009
Goldendale, WA

June 5, 2009
Rapidan, VA

June 11, 2009
London, England

MORE EVENTS

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Monday, May 11, 2009

White House Keeps Distance From Joke

Simon/Pool
Comedian Wanda Sykes has President Obama in stitches as she performs at Saturday's White House Correspondents' dinner in D.C.
Read more: "David Feherty shouldn't get pass for tasteless joke - but neither should Wanda Sykes" - http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/2009/05/11/2009-05-11_a_red_herring_called_wanda.html#ixzz0FFz0SHRg&A

AP
posted: 23 MINUTES

WASHINGTON (May 11) -- The White House is keeping its distance from an entertainer's joke comparing commentator Rush Limbaugh to a terrorist.

Presidential spokesman Robert Gibbs on Monday was asked for President Barack Obama's reaction to the joke by comic actress Wanda Sykes at Saturday's White House Correspondents' Association dinner. Obama took part in the event.
Sykes jabbed at Limbaugh for suggesting that he wants Obama to fail. She said Limbaugh's view was essentially the same as al-Qaida terrorist leader Osama bin Laden's. She suggested Obama might want to look into the matter "because I think Rush Limbaugh was the 20th hijacker."
Gibbs said the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks is a topic "better left for serious reflection than comedy."
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David Feherty shouldn't get pass for tasteless joke -
but neither should Wanda Sykes
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Updated Monday, May 11th 2009, 8:34 AM Read more: "David Feherty shouldn't get pass for tasteless joke - but neither should Wanda Sykes" -
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Here is what David Feherty, a golf guy who poses no threat to the memory of Lenny Bruce, wrote in a Dallas magazine recently:

"If you gave any U.S. soldier a gun with two bullets in it, and he found himself in an elevator with Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid and Osama Bin Laden, there's a good chance that Nancy Pelosi would get shot twice, and Harry Reid and Bin Laden would be strangled to death."

Not funny. An old joke, tastelessly retold. Feherty of CBS - who once wrote a book called "Somewhere in Ireland a Village is Missing an Idiot" - is drawing fire because of it. But you have to wonder how a similar joke might have played at the White House Correspondents' dinner on Saturday night, as long as it was about a Republican.

Because here are a couple of jokes Wanda Sykes wrote and then delivered to that crowd:

"You know, you might want to look into this, [President Obama], because I think maybe Rush Limbaugh was the 20th hijacker, but he was just so strung out on OxyContin he missed his flight. ...

"Rush Limbaugh hopes the country fails? I hope his kidneys fail, how 'bout that?"

Somehow Ms. Sykes got laughs with this material, and draws no fire. It is all supposed to be about the setting, or so we are told. President Obama was there, the dinner is always the Washington version of a Friars Club Roast, just without the Sopranos language.

So Sykes, a comedian, gets a pass because of where she was, and whom she was talking about. And maybe who she is. David Feherty, who fancies himself a bit of a comic himself, doesn't, at least not so far. As always, the rules on all this change from day to day like baseball's strike zone.

This isn't about condoning what Feherty wrote. It sure isn't about running interference for Limbaugh. He has become the clown at the right-wing circus and has had the bully pulpit for a long time, not just banging away at people who think like President Obama - or Wanda Sykes for that matter - for a long time.

Limbaugh is another gasbag in this country who has gotten rich on meanness, and so if he is getting a taste of his own medicine now, prescription or otherwise, that is probably just swell with the people he has trampled on the way to the buffet table. Then the bank.

But what if Limbaugh, white talk show host, goes on the air and says that Sykes, black comedian, is about half-a-terrorist and that, oh by the way, he hopes she dies? Is he allowed to say he's just an entertainer, and tell everybody to lighten up?

Feherty? He has been condemned by representatives from Pelosi and Reid and even the PGA Tour. CBS issued a statement that said, "Feherty's column for a Dallas magazine is an unacceptable attempt at humor and is not in any way condoned."


It remains to be seen whether Feherty, whose work on television I usually like, and whose writing I like a lot, will be forced to issue an apology. Or if he might even lose his job over this. This is what Pelosi's spokesperson, Nadeam Elshami, said about the things Feherty wrote in D magazine, in what was supposed to be a piece about George W. Bush moving back to Dallas:
"Such comments are beyond the pale and an insult to our patriotic men and women in uniform."
Really? It sounds like they are a whole lot more insulting to Speaker Pelosi and Sen. Reid. But if context does matter here - which it only occasionally does when the thought police get righteously cranked up about something and turn into vigilantes - it is worth pointing out that Feherty has become a tireless, passionate advocate for injured soldiers. Pelosi went to Iraq this weekend? Feherty has been there, too.

It doesn't get him over on what he said. We'll probably find out soon enough exactly how much trouble he has gotten himself into. He thought Pelosi, liberal Democrat, was fair game. Limbaugh thinks everybody who disagrees with him is fair game.

Wanda Sykes thought Limbaugh, a loudmouth white conservative, was big game, thought she could say whatever she wanted because she had the bully pulpit for a night, and she didn't have to take it from Limbaugh anymore, she could dish it out.

And if Nancy Pelosi had been in the room, she would have laughed along with everybody else, for the best reason in the world: It wasn't about her.
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Copy of Three Early Visions


Copy of Three Early Visions

I saw that we must wake up, wake, and cry earnestly for the arm of the Lord to be revealed. It is fatal to sleep now. Time is almost finished. I saw that it was a shame for us to refer to the scattering for examples to govern us now in the gathering time; for if God does no more for us now than He did then, we shall never be gathered. In the scattering, Israel were torn and smitten, but now God will bind up and heal them. {SpM 1.1}

I saw that God had stretched out His hand the second time to recover the remnant of His people. They are these who have been covered up in the "rubbish" since 1844. I saw that efforts to spread the truth should now be put forth, such as in 1843 and 1844. In the scattering, efforts to spread the truth had but little effect--accomplished but little or nothing--but now in the gathering time, when God has set His hand to gather His People, efforts to spread the truth will have their designed effect; and all should be zealous and united in the work. I saw that a paper was needed, and all should feel interested in it. {SpM 1.2}

I saw that the truth should be made plain upon tables, that the earth and the fullness thereof is the Lord's, and that necessary means should not be spared to make it plain. I saw that the old chart was directed by the Lord, and that not a figure of it should be altered except by inspiration. I saw that the figures of the chart were as God would have them, and that His hand was over and hid a mistake in some of the figures, so that none should see it till His hand was removed. {SpM 1.3}

I saw that the two-horned beast had a dragon's mouth, and that his power was in his head, and that the decree would go out of his mouth. Then I saw the Mother of Harlots; that the mother was not the daughters, but separate and distinct from them. She has had her day, and it is past, and her daughters, the Protestant sects, were the next to come on the stage and act out the same mind that the mother had when she persecuted the saints. I saw that as the mother has been declining in power, the daughters had been growing, and soon they will exercise the power once exercised by the mother. {SpM 1.4}

I saw the nominal church and nominal Adventists, like Judas, would betray us to the Catholics to obtain their influence to come against the truth. The saints then will be an obscure people, little known to the Catholics; but the churches and nominal Adventists who know of our faith and customs (for they hated us on account of the Sabbath, for they could not refute it) will betray the saints and report them to the Catholics as those who disregard the institutions of the people; that is, that they keep the Sabbath and disregard Sunday.


-2- {SpM 1.5}

Then the Catholics bid the Protestants to go forward, and issue a decree that all who will not observe the first day of the week, instead of the seventh day, shall be slain. And the Catholics, whose numbers are large, will stand by the Protestants. The Catholics will give their power to the image of the beast. And the Protestants will work as their mother worked before them to destroy the saints. But before their decree bring or bear fruit, the saints will be delivered by the Voice of God. Then I saw that Jesus' work in the sanctuary will soon be finished
.
And after His work there is finished, He will come to the door of the first apartment, and confess the sins of Israel upon the head of the Scape Goat. Then He will put on the garments of vengeance. Then the plagues will come upon the wicked, and they do not come till Jesus puts on that garment, and takes His place upon the great white cloud. Then while the plagues are falling, the Scape Goat is being led away. He makes a mighty struggle to escape, but he is held fast by the hand that leads him. If he should effect his escape, Israel would lose their lives. I saw that it would take time to lead away the Scape Goat into the land of forgetfulness after the sins were put on his head. {SpM 2.1}

The great white cloud I saw was not the holy place, but entirely separate from the holy and most holy place, entirely separate from the sanctuary. {SpM 2.2}

Then the angel repeated these words, and said, "This is the time spoken of in Isaiah. He saw that there was not man, and wondered that there was no intercessor. He had no mediator between God and man, and these plagues could be withheld no longer, for Jesus had ceased to plead for Israel, and they were covered with the covering of the Almighty God, and then they could live in the sight of a holy God, and those who were not covered, the plagues fell upon them, for they had nothing to shelter or protect them from the wrath of God."


-2A- {SpM 2.3}


The Nations

Thou wouldst not want him to step out if thou knewest thy situation. That desire is to disenthrone those kings, but that could not be, for kings must reign till Christ begins to reign. {SpM 2A.1}

I saw in Europe just as things were moving to accomplish their desires, there would seemingly be a slackening up once or twice: thus the hearts of the wicked would be relieved and hardened; but the work will not settle down, only seem to, for the minds of kings and rulers were intent on overthrowing each other, and the minds of the people to get the ascendency. {SpM 2A.2}

I saw that all things are intensely looking and stretching their thoughts on the impending crisis before them. The sins of Israel must go to judgment beforehand. Every sin must be confessed at the sanctuary, then the work will move. It must be done now. The remnant in the time of trouble will cry, My God, My God, why hast Thou


-3-

forsaken me? {SpM 2A.3}

The latter rain is coming on those that are pure -- all then will receive it as formerly. {SpM 3.1}

When the four angels let go, Christ will set up His kingdom. None receive the latter rain but those who are doing all they can. Christ would help us. All could be overcomers by the grace of God, through the blood of Jesus. All heaven is interested in the work. Angels are interested. {SpM 3.2}

Think ye that He will bring His hand unto Himself until He has accomplished the object for which He stretched it out? Yea, more bitter hatred against those that keep the law than against the Catholics. Truth, the truth, let it shine. Hold them by the side of truth. What are they rich in? They seek falsehood, deception and cunning. Behold where is their strength? Is it in the truth? A mere knowledge of the truth will never save. {SpM 3.3}

How long then, angel of God, before the message will go with a loud voice? Other things to be accomplished. They must make themselves more vile. If Jesus should make His appearance in their midst, they would despise Him. They advocate their errors for awhile, until the people get disgusted with it, then they add another. Nights upon their beds, horror gets hold upon them. Can ye not see it? Live unto God. He has got them safe in the snare. The honest are getting disgusted. Satan works at the very ones that do Him the most harm. God can make them a host against their enemies. Ye give up too quick. Ye let go too soon. That arm, the arm of God is mighty. Satan works in different ways to steal the mind off from God. {SpM 3.4}

Victory! victory, we must have it over every wrong. A solemn sinking into God. Get ready! Set thine house in order.


March 18, 1852


.................................. {SpM 3.5}

Vision of August 24, 1850

Said the angel, Can ye stand in the battle in the day of the Lord? Ye need to be washed, and live in nearness of life to God. {SpM 3.6}

Then I saw those whose hands are engaged in making up the breach and are standing in the gap, that have formerly since 1844 broken the commandments, and have so far followed the pope as to keep the first day instead of the seventh, and who have since the light shone out of the Most Holy Place, changed their course, given up the institution of the pope, and are keeping God's Sabbath, would have to go down into the water, and be baptized in the faith of the sanctuary, and keeping the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus. {SpM 3.7}

I saw those who have been baptized as a door into the churches,

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would have to be baptized again as a door into the faith. Those who have not been baptized since 1844 will have to be before Jesus comes. And some I saw would not make progress till the duty was performed. {SpM 3.8}

The angel said, some tried too hard to believe. Faith is so simple they look above it. Satan has deceived some, and got them to looking at their own unworthiness. I saw they must look away from self to the worthiness of Jesus, and throw themselves just as they are, needy, dependent upon His mercy, and draw by faith strength and nourishment from Him. {SpM 4.1}

Said the angel, The desolations of Zion are accomplished -- the scattering time is past. Should the living go to the dead for knowledge? The dead know not anything. They have departed from the living God to converse with the dead. I saw that our minds must be stayed upon God, and we must not fear the fear of the wicked. Evil angels are around us trying to invent a new way to destroy us. The Lord would lift up a standard against him (the devil). We must take the shield of faith.


Washington, N. H., September, 1852. {SpM 4.2}

You are getting the coming of the Lord too far off. I saw the latter rain was coming as [suddenly as] the midnight cry, and with ten times the power. - {SpM 4.3}


Spalding and Magan Collection (1985), E. G. White.


U.S. soldier kills 5 at US base in Baghdad-US


Mon May 11, 2009 10:39am EDT


(Adds U.S. identity for shooter)

BAGHDAD, May 11 (Reuters) - A U.S. soldier opened fire on fellow troops at one of the main U.S. bases in Baghdad on Monday, killing five, the U.S. military said.

"The shooter is a U.S. soldier and he is in custody," said Marine Corps Lieutenant Tom Garnett, a U.S. military spokesman.

A U.S. military statement said the shooting took place around 2 p.m. local time at the sprawling base, Camp Liberty, located next to Baghdad airport.

Earlier this month, two U.S. soldiers were killed by a man wearing an Iraqi Army uniform at an Iraqi military training centre in northern Iraq.

Violence has dropped sharply in Iraq, but insurgent attacks continue, and a rash of major bombings has raised questions about security less than two months before U.S. forces are due to withdraw combat troops from urban bases.

Thirteen U.S. soldiers were killed in combat in April, including five who were killed in a single attack in the restive northern city of Mosul. (Additional reporting by David Morgan in Washington; editing by Ralph Boulton)



Jamie Oliver putting U.S. city on a diet

Mon May 11, 2009 4:46am EDT


Celebrity chef Jamie Oliver (C) carries out food for a G20 leaders dinner at Downing Street in London April 1, 2009. ....REUTERS/Christopher Furlong/Pool


By James Hibberd

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - ABC is teaming with British chef Jamie Oliver and Ryan Seacrest for a new series that gives healthy makeovers to an entire city.

Oliver will travel to the unhealthiest places in America and find ways to use nearby resources to improve local eating habits. The network has ordered six hours of the project from Ryan Seacrest Productions.

The series is loosely inspired on Oliver's acclaimed school lunch project in the U.K., where the chef set about to improve kids' nutrition. His effort to improve one school's offerings, documented in the 2005 series "Jamie's School Dinners," shamed educators into passing new measures to ban certain junk foods.

Seacrest said he talked about school lunches during a segment on his KISS-FM morning radio show in Los Angeles and was struck by the amount of listener response. Then he heard Oliver was looking to bring his public service campaign stateside. The resulting ABC show will not only tackle a city's schools, but workplaces and other avenues for change.

"I couldn't do what I do in terms of my schedule if I didn't eat right and exercise right," Seacrest said. "As a kid I was chubby, and I'm a firm believer that the fuel we put into our body results in a healthy lifestyle. Jamie's going to come over here, roll up his sleeves and use the resources of each town to help condition living habits to make it a better and healthier place."

Oliver previously appeared as a judge on ABC's successful one-off series "Oprah's Big Give," where his personality impressed the network. Though health and fitness reality genre (dominated by NBC's "The Biggest Loser") has proved a tough nut for networks to crack, ABC's co-head of alternative series Vicki Dummer points out that Oliver benefits from having successful experience doing this sort of program in the UK.

"Jamie has been through this mission before," she said. "He will be an advocate for change, but not act like, 'I'm from Britain and you Americans are fat.' I think he's really equipped to make a change and knock on the right doors."

The target city hasn't yet been named, but it's expected to be a place that has been cited on "fattest cities" lists. ABC expects to air the as-yet-untitled show sometime next year.

(Editing by Dean Goodman)
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Wisconsin court upholds GPS tracking by police



By RYAN J. FOLEY Associated Press Writer
2:42 PM CDT, May 7, 2009


MADISON, Wis. - Wisconsin police can attach GPS to cars to secretly track anybody's movements without obtaining search warrants, an appeals court ruled Thursday.

However, the District 4 Court of Appeals said it was "more than a little troubled" by that conclusion and asked Wisconsin lawmakers to regulate GPS use to protect against abuse by police and private individuals.

As the law currently stands, the court said police can mount GPS on cars to track people without violating their constitutional rights -- even if the drivers aren't suspects.

Officers do not need to get warrants beforehand because GPS tracking does not involve a search or a seizure, Judge Paul Lundsten wrote for the unanimous three-judge panel based in Madison.

Picking a GPS That means "police are seemingly free to secretly track anyone's public movements with a GPS device," he wrote.

One privacy advocate said the decision opened the door for greater government surveillance of citizens. Meanwhile, law enforcement officials called the decision a victory for public safety because tracking devices are an increasingly important tool in investigating criminal behavior.

The ruling came in a 2003 case involving Michael Sveum, a Madison man who was under investigation for stalking. Police got a warrant to put a GPS on his car and secretly attached it while the vehicle was parked in Sveum's driveway. The device recorded his car's movements for five weeks before police retrieved it and downloaded the information.

The information suggested Sveum was stalking the woman, who had gone to police earlier with suspicions. Police got a second warrant to search his car and home, found more evidence and arrested him. He was convicted of stalking and sentenced to prison.

Sveum, 41, argued the tracking violated his Fourth Amendment protection against unreasonable search and seizure. He argued the device followed him into areas out of public view, such as his garage.

The court disagreed. The tracking did not violate constitutional protections because the device only gave police information that could have been obtained through visual surveillance, Lundsten wrote.

Even though the device followed Sveum's car to private places, an officer tracking Sveum could have seen when his car entered or exited a garage, Lundsten reasoned. Attaching the device was not a violation, he wrote, because Sveum's driveway is a public place.

"We discern no privacy interest protected by the Fourth Amendment that is invaded when police attach a device to the outside of a vehicle, as long as the information obtained is the same as could be gained by the use of other techniques that do not require a warrant," he wrote.

Although police obtained a warrant in this case, it wasn't needed, he added.

Larry Dupuis, legal director of the ACLU of Wisconsin, said using GPS to track someone's car goes beyond observing them in public and should require a warrant.

"The idea that you can go and attach anything you want to somebody else's property without any court supervision, that's wrong," he said. "Without a warrant, they can do this on anybody they want."

Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen's office, which argued in favor of the warrantless GPS tracking, praised the ruling but would not elaborate on its use in Wisconsin.

David Banaszynski, president of the Wisconsin Chiefs of Police Association, said his department in the Milwaukee suburb of Shorewood does not use GPS. But other departments might use it to track drug dealers, burglars and stalkers, he said.

A state law already requires the Department of Corrections to track the state's most dangerous sex offenders using GPS. The author of that law, Rep. Scott Suder, R-Abbotsford, said the decision shows "GPS tracking is an effective means of protecting public safety."




'Electronic Police State' report cites U.S.


LIFE WITH BIG BROTHER
'Electronic Police State' report cites U.S.
Ultimate Big Brother 'basics are in place'

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Posted: May 10, 2009
9:05 pm Eastern


By Bob Unruh
© 2009 WorldNetDaily


In what may be the first assessment of its kind, a private company that offers a range of privacy products for computers and other technology is ranking the United States No. 6 in the world for having the most aggressive procedures for monitoring residents electronically.

The report, called The Electronic Police State, assesses the status of governmental surveillance in 52 nations around the globe for 2008.

The document was released Cryptohippie, Inc., which was set up in 2007 through the acquisition of several little-known but highly regarded providers of privacy technologies.

Not surprisingly, China and North Korea ranked No. 1 and No. 2, with Belarus and Russia following up. But the United Kingdom ranked fifth followed by the United States.


"Most of us are aware that our governments monitor nearly every form of electronic communication. We are also aware of private companies doing the same. This strikes most of us as slightly troubling, but very few of us say or do much about it. There are two primary reasons for this," the report said.

"We really don't see how it is going to hurt us. Mass surveillance is certainly a new, odd, and perhaps an ominous thing, but we just don't see a complete picture or a smoking gun," the report continued. Also, "We are constantly surrounded with messages that say, 'Only crazy people complain about the government.'"

The report mapped the world, showing the most advanced electronic police states in red, orange reflecting strongly developing electronic police states and yellow showing nations that are developing, but lagging:


Red nations have the most advanced electronic police state capabilites


Company spokesman Paul Rosenberg told WND the biggest obstacle, however, is that the image of a "police state" dredges up visions of Nazi Germany's thugs breaking down doors in the middle of the night and hauling people off to blacked-out trains or Stalin's USSR rounding up "offenders" for imprisonment.

"That's how things worked during your grandfather's war – that is not how things work now," the report said. "An electronic police state is quiet, even unseen. All of its legal actions are supported by abundant evidence. It looks pristine," the report said.

To create the rankings, which also included Singapore, Israel, France and Germany in the top 10, his organization searched its worldwide sources for information, checked against a number of other published reports, and assigned a value of 1 to 5 to 17 different factors:


Daily documents: How much is required day-to-day for residents to present state-issued identity documents or registration.


Border issues: What is demanded for a border entry.


Financial tracking: The state's ability to search and record financial transactions.


Gag orders: The penalties for revealing to someone else the state is searching their records.


Anti-crypto laws: Bans on cryptography.


Constitutional protections: Either a lack of protections or someone overriding them.


Data storage: The state's ability to record and keep what it uncovers.


Data search: The processes to search through data.


ISP data retention: The demand for ISPs to save customers' records.


Telephone data retention: States' requirements for communications companies to record and save records.


Cell phone records: The saving and using of cell phone users' records.


Medical records: Demands from states that medical records retain information.


Enforcement: The state's ability to use force (SWAT teams) to seize someone.


Habeus corpus: Either an absence of such rights or someone overriding them.


Police-Intel barrier: the absence of a barrier between police and intelligence organizations.


Covert hacking: State operatives meddling in data on private computers covertly.


Loose warrants: Warrants that are being issued without careful review of police claims by a truly independent judge.
The listings of China, North Korea, Belarus and Russia, all known for their repression of freedom, weren't surprising. Nor was the listing of the United Kingdom with its recent programs to copy and store virtually every telephone call, e-mail and text message within its borders.

But Rosenberg said there's more going on in the United States than many believe want to believe.

The nation's "basic system of gathering evidence and sorting it later is really dangerous," he said. "It's permanent. It's not going to go away."

It goes so far that a person's alcohol consumption actually could be tracked by government agents, if they chose, through credit card documentation, he told WND.

"In an Electronic Police State, every surveillance camera recording, every e-mail you send, every Internet site you surf, every post you make, every check you write, every credit card swipe, every cell phone ping… are all criminal evidence, and they are held in searchable databases, for a long, long time," the report said.

"Whoever holds this evidence can make you look very, very bad whenever they care enough to do so. You can be prosecuted whenever they feel like it – the evidence is already in their database," the report continued. "Perhaps you trust that your ruler will only use his evidence archives to hurt bad people. Will you also trust his successor? Do you also trust all of his subordinates, every government worker and every policeman?

"If some leader behaves badly, will you really stand up to oppose him or her? Would you still do it if he had all the e-mails you sent when you were depressed? Or if she has records of every porn site you've ever surfed? Or if he knows every phone call you've ever made? Or if she knows everyone you've ever sent money to?" the report asks.

"This system hasn't yet reached its full shape, but all of the basics are in place and it is not far from complete in some places," the report said.

Rosenberg told WND the organization also sought input on the status of electronic surveillance around the world from organizations including the the Electronic Privacy Information Center, Reporters Without Borders, Freedom House, the Ludwig von Mises Institute and The Heritage Foundation.

Following the top 10 were: 11. Malaysia, 12. Ireland, 13. United Kingdom, Scotland, 14. Netherlands, 15. South Korea, 16. Ukraine, 17. Belgium, 18. Australia, 19. Japan, 20. New Zealand, 21. Austria, 22. Norway, 23. India, 24. Italy, 25. Taiwan, 26. Denmark, 27. Hungary, 28. Greece, 29. Canada, 30. Switzerland, 31. Slovenia, 32. Poland, 33. Finland, 34. Sweden, 35. Latvia, 36. Lithuania, 37. Cyprus, 38. Malta, 39. Estonia, 40. Czech Republic, 41. Iceland, 42. South Africa, 43. Spain, 44. Portugal, 45. Luxembourg, 46. Argentina, 47. Romania, 48. Thailand, 49. Bulgaria, 50. Brazil, 51. Mexico, 52. Philippines.
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P.S. Let's not forget "the state sponsored scare tactics or pranks": Air Farce One Flu.
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Turmoil in the Cities



Evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived. 2 Tim. 3:13.


It was not God's purpose that His people should be crowded into cities, huddled together in terraces and tenements. In the beginning He placed our first parents in a garden amidst the beautiful sights and attractive sounds of nature, and these sights and sounds He desires men to rejoice in today. {Mar 141.1}

Light has been given me that the cities will be filled with confusion, violence, and crime, and that these things will increase till the end of this earth's history. {Mar 141.2}

It is time for our people to take their families from the cities into more retired localities, else many of the youth, and many also of those older in years, will be ensnared and taken by the enemy. {Mar 141.3}

"Out of the cities; out of the cities!"--this is the message the Lord has been giving me. {Mar 141.4}

The turmoil and confusion that fill these cities, the conditions brought about by the labor unions and the strikes, would prove a great hindrance to our work. Men are seeking to bring those engaged in the different trades under bondage to certain unions. This is not God's planning, but the planning of a power that we should in no wise acknowledge. God's word is fulfilling; the wicked are binding themselves up in bundles ready to be burned. {Mar 141.5}

We are now to use all our entrusted capabilities in giving the last warning message to the world. In this work we are to preserve our individuality. We are not to unite with secret societies or with trade-unions. We are to stand free in God, looking constantly to Christ. {Mar 141.6}

The ungodly cities of our world are to be swept away by the besom of destruction. In the calamities that are now befalling immense buildings and large portions of cities God is showing us what will come upon the whole earth. He has told us: "Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh: so likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it [the coming of the Son of man] is near, even at the doors." Matthew 24:32, 33. {Mar 141.7}

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Sunday, May 10, 2009

666: Goldman's latest bonus bears the mark of the beast


Something strange is stirring. Even the young are joining the chorus of concern that this tarnished giant is part of a financial oligarchy that holds the US in its grip, writes Stephen Foley in New York

Sunday, 3 May 2009


Something strange is afoot when Popbitch – provider of a weekly email beloved of students, stuffed full of celebrity tittle-tattle and links to the silliest miscellany of the web – breaks off from such glorious trivia to encourage readers to support GoldmanSachs666.com, a deadly serious website measuring the political tentacles of the mighty investment bank.

Something strange, too, when Simon Johnson, a former chief economist at the International Monetary Fund, becomes a hero of the internet and the satirical comedy-show circuit on cable TV, promoting his theory that the US is in the grip of a financial oligarchy.

The credit-market catastrophe that has plunged the world into recession is everywhere stirring new ways of thinking about how banking relates to the wider world, but nowhere more so than among a generation coming into political consciousness in these searing times. Something is brewing, some argue, that could make the "regulatory-financial complex" something to rail against in the same way that the military-industrial complex was in the Cold War.

And for all the impression it is giving that it has survived the credit crisis with its pre-eminent position on Wall Street intact, this should worry Goldman Sachs. More so than any other firm, it exists at the intersection of politics and high finance, and therefore has most to lose if this nascent movement turns it into the next ExxonMobil or Wal-Mart – firms whose every move could attract protest, and whose reputation could take years to repair.

"It was listening to the news coming out of AIG that got me fired up," says Mike Morgan, founder of GoldmanSachs666.com. "While politicians were screaming about $165m paid out to AIG executives in bonuses, $180bn was walking out the door."

Goldman, incidentally, has abandoned its attempts to shut the site down.

Mr Morgan is referring to the government bailout of AIG, whose collapse would have sent shockwaves through the markets. The Federal Reserve and the then-treasury secretary, Hank Paulson, decided to funnel public funds to AIG, and its counterparties were paid in full. You don't have to scratch far into the internet to find conspiracy theories: Mr Paulson was chief executive of Goldman before going into government; he appointed Edward Liddy, formerly of Goldman, to run AIG; Goldman was AIG's biggest counterparty, receiving $12.9bn from AIG after the bailout. (It says it was hedged and would not have lost even if AIG did go under.)

Mr Morgan is not the sort of young hot head you find protesting against the G8. He is a 53-year-old registered financial adviser from Florida, but he has attracted a handful of volunteers to beef up the website and to amass information on the Goldman alumni network and its power. "Goldman dipped into taxpayer funds via AIG," he says. "Who gets paid off 100 cents on the dollar these days? Only Goldman it seems. It is all about looking at the connections. Where do all the Goldman Sachs executives go? I see them as running the world. They are like the Standard Oil of the last century, too big and too powerful, with people flocking from Goldman to government and from government to Goldman."

It is a point that is being made forcibly by a growing number of people, from the lowliest bloggers to the most respected economists. Mr Johnson's claims of oligarchy are echoed by Nobel Prize winner Joseph Stiglitz, for example, and the notion is going mainstream. The New York Times devoted acres to a forensic investigation of Tim Geithner's diary from when the Treasury Secretary was running the New York Federal Reserve and appeared to have what it claimed were "unusually close ties with Wall Street executives", including those at Goldman Sachs and Citigroup, thanks to his mentor, Robert Rubin, a former treasury secretary who has been a senior figure at both banks.

Goldman has swung into action to try to arrest a public-relations nightmare in the making, and its chief executive, Lloyd Blankfein, knows precisely what is at stake. He has been most outspoken among Wall Street bosses in speeches and newspaper op-ed columns about Wall Street's need to change. At a speech to the Council of Institutional Investors last month, he said the disasters of the past year have been "humbling", and that pay practices on the Street look "self-serving and greedy in hindsight". He has argued that bonus practices should be changed, to reflect longer-term performance rather than one-year profits, which we all now know can be wiped away in future years. But reducing the psychological primacy of the bonus culture on Wall Street does not appear to be on his corporate agenda, and Goldman's first-quarter results revealed it was setting aside $4.7bn (£3.2bn) to pay salaries and bonuses for the quarter – 18 per cent more than in the same period a year ago, despite a 7 per cent fall in the number of staff.

"It is not about what you say, it is about what you do," says Anthony Johndrow, the managing director of the Reputation Institute, a New York consultancy. "Financial services firms cannot simply run a warm and fuzzy PR or ad campaign. The challenge is to find a way to make a statement and to address the trust that has been violated, to promise action that proves the company 'gets it'. The authentic enterprise takes responsibility for its actions and their impact."

Authenticity has become one of marketing's hottest concepts. Advertising executives insist that any message that does not reflect what a company really stands for is doomed to backfire. In the PR world, the "authentic enterprise" is one that understands how changing its image requires changing the fundamental way it does business. For Goldman, its reputation on Wall Street is that it is the smartest, best-connected and most lucrative place to be. Beyond Wall Street, is that enough to satisfy?

Mr Johndrow's Reputation Institute has just conducted research that suggests it is not – far from it. In its annual survey of the public reputation of 153 of the biggest companies in the US, released a few days ago, Goldman has plunged into the bottom six, in with oil companies and Dick Cheney's old oil-services firm, Halliburton. The survey gives a score based on public ratings of the trust and good feelings they have for each firm, and Goldman's rating fell 17 per cent. Only AIG's fell more.

Goldman Sachs's spokesman, Lucas van Praag, says: "We think our reputation is critically important, particularly in our hiring activities. The Reputation Institute survey is mainly focused on retail brands and we are not a retail firm. Although we were disappointed, we were not particularly surprised."

Mr Johndrow explains: "The world of Wall Street is a small world, and up to now it seems executives have considered that the reputations of the banks only really matter to a few people within that world. The reputation of Goldman Sachs versus, say, Credit Suisse, is the most important thing, and its regard for the general public as a stakeholder has been minimal. But now the public has a stake as taxpayers, yet the banks have not yet done anything to acknowledge what that means."

Reputation is an "intangible asset" whose diminution could have profound business consequences, he adds. Public fury can quickly be channelled through politicians into harsh new regulations and restrictions.

And it could, ultimately, hit Goldman's ability to attract the brightest graduates. As Mr Johndrow explains: "When you go back to your home town or your school, it stops being about how many expensive cigars and yachts and mansions you have. Justifying your job involves talking about its wider impact on society."





Annual Elite Conclave, 58th Bilderberg Meeting to be held in Greece, May 14-17


Annual Elite Conclave, 58th Bilderberg Meeting to be held in Greece, May 14-17
By Kris Millegan

The 2009 Bilderberg Group Conference will be held at the five-star Nafsika Astir Palace Hotel in Vouliagmeni, Greece, May 14-17, according to author Daniel Estulin. Insiders have told Estulin that rooms have been booked and flight plans made. He has also confirmed the location and dates with sources in Greece. Estulin is the world’s foremost investigative authority on this annual secretive and exclusive assembly, having investigated and infiltrated their meetings for over ten years.

His books and reporting have helped to bring the powerful group out of the shadows, even directly affecting the very conduct and timing of the meetings … and encapsulating them in an even deeper shroud of secrecy. The Bilderberg Group started meeting in 1954, with funding from the CIA, to gather together the top Western bankers, politicians, media barons, corporate CEO’s and European royalty in annual gatherings for frank discussions on important issues of the day.


Promoting the first edition of his best-selling book, Daniel came to the United States in the fall of 2007 and told audiences about the upcoming housing mess and resulting financial turmoil, with many homeowners owing far more than their properties were worth. On a similar tour in the spring of 2008, he announced that we were just a few months from financial calamity. These predictions were based upon his understanding of the international maneuvers of the Bilderberg Group. Though the people responded, the press was largely a no-show. The same press then “failed” to report the year’s largest gathering of elites: the royalty, bankers, CEOs, media big-wigs and high government officials at the 57th annual Bilderberg meeting in June 2008. Daniel’s coverage of that meeting provides additional material for the new North American Union edition of The True Story of the Bilderberg Group, which has sold over 2.5 million copies worldwide in 48 languages.

According to Estulin’s sources, here are a few of the talking points and concerns for this year’s meeting:



  • The future of the US dollar and US economy: The plan is for the Bilderberg Group players, through their allies in Washington and Wall Street to continue to deceive millions of savers and investors who believe the hype about the supposed up-turn in the economy. They are about to be set up for massive losses and searing financial pain in the months ahead. The bank “stress tests” now being conducted by Washington are little more than a shameless hoax: Based on the irrational assumption that the economy won’t get as bad as it already is!

  • US unemployment: Solutions and assumptions (Stated as such in the pre-meeting booklet sent out to attendees.)

  • Bilderberg is quietly assuming that US unemployment numbers will hover around 14% by the end of this year, far higher than the official numbers released by the US government.

  • Depression or a prolonged stagnation? (Stated as such in the pre-meeting booklet sent out to attendees.) Bilderberg is looking at two options: Either a prolonged, agonizing depression that dooms the world to decades of stagnation, decline, and poverty … or an intense-but-shorter depression that paves the way for a new sustainable economic world order, with less sovereignty but more efficiency.

  • There will be a final push for the enactment of Lisbon Treaty, pending on Irish voting YES on the treaty in Sept or October. One of their concerns is addressing and neutralizing the anti-Lisbon treaty movement called “Libertas” led by Declan Ganley. One of the Bilderberger planned moves is to use a whispering campaign in the US media suggested that Ganley is being funded by arms dealers in the US linked to the US military.


Daniel Estulin lives in Spain, but is making himself available to North American media outlets for a limited time. Daniel is an entertaining, knowledgeable and articulate speaker. Your audience/readers will enjoy his insights and spirited dialogue.

For interviews and/or review copies please contact Kris Millegan at:
publicity@trineday.net or 1.800.556.2012



Source:http://www.conspiracyarchive.com/Blog/?p=2249


"As it was in the Days of Noe"


As it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man. Luke 17:26. I was shown that a terrible condition of things exists in our world. The angel of mercy is folding (his)her wings, ready to depart. . . . The law of God is made void. We see and hear of confusion and perplexity, want and famine, earthquakes and floods; terrible outrages will be committed by men; passion, not reason, bears sway. The wrath of God is upon the inhabitants of the world, who are fast becoming as corrupt as were the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah. Already fire and flood are destroying thousands of lives and the property that has been selfishly accumulated by the oppression of the poor. The Lord is soon to cut short His work and put an end to sin. Oh, that the scenes which have come before me of the iniquities practiced in these last days, might make a deep impression on the minds of God's professing people.

As it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be when the Son of man shall be revealed. The Lord is removing His restrictions from the earth, and soon there will be death and destruction, increasing crime, and cruel, evil working against the rich who have exalted themselves against the poor. Those who are without God's protection will find no safety in any place or position. Human agents are being trained and are using their inventive power to put in operation the most powerful machinery to wound and to kill. . . .

My brethren and sisters . . . , I make my appeal to you. . . . The lives of many are too delicate and dainty. . . . They think themselves Christians, but they do not know what practical Christian life signifies. What does it mean to be a Christian? It means to be Christlike. . . . Co-operate with God by working in harmony with Him. Expel from the soul-temple everything that assumes the form of an idol. Now is God's time, and His time is your time. Fight the good fight of faith, refusing to think or to talk unbelief. The world is to hear the last warning message.



Maranatha, E.G.W., pp.137.

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Comedian-in-Chief


Last night: May 9, 2009

Washington D.C.
That wasn't funny!


As I watched this morning's NBC Today (noose), I saw and heard a video snippet of President Barack Obama kidding (chiding) from a podium at The White House Correspondent's Annual Dinner. I was disgusted to hear him make light of the Air Force One fly-under in New York City Harbor; He fabricated a tall-tale about his two little girls taking the presidential plane for a joy-ride for which they were being punished. What? He didn't even wink. Obama showed a disdain for truth, and a vivid imagination when it comes to lying.

Boo hoo, New Yorkers....It was a be-lated April
fools Joke on you.

What gall? He didn't have to go there! His true colors finally showed for the whole world who has eyes to see.

This prank was more befitting a comedian, not a president. 'BO' may have thought he was Sammy Davis Jr. at a Dean Martin roast; or maybe Richard Pryor, or Eddie Murphy (Raw) un-plugged. Either way, he was w.........ay off base!


The more I watch Obama (O-Bomber), the more I see that the strings that manipulate him, are the same ones that controlled George "W" Bush: The Jesuits.


The joke was on all those that thought that a change would be something good;

Stay tuned for more Laffs {not laughs}......More Monkey shines......On wit' the show....


Arsenio.


Here's the CNN story:

Obama touched on a few gaffes during his short time in office, from Vice President Joe Biden's verbose tendencies to an unfortunate Air Force One photo op that frightened New Yorkers -- playfully pointing his finger at his young daughters.
"Sasha and Malia aren't here tonight because they're grounded," he said. "You can't just take Air Force One on a joyride to Manhattan -- I don't care whose kids you are."
Watch Obama deliver laughs at dinner »
Watch celebrities mingle before dinner »*



*http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/05/09/obama.correspondents.dinner/
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The adversary hath spread out his hand upon all her pleasant things


Lamentations 1


1How doth the city sit solitary, that was full of people! how is she become as a widow! she that was great among the nations, and princess among the provinces, how is she become tributary!

2She weepeth sore in the night, and her tears are on her cheeks: among all her lovers she hath none to comfort her: all her friends have dealt treacherously with her, they are become her enemies.

3Judah is gone into captivity because of affliction, and because of great servitude: she dwelleth among the heathen, she findeth no rest: all her persecutors overtook her between the straits.

4The ways of Zion do mourn, because none come to the solemn feasts: all her gates are desolate: her priests sigh, her virgins are afflicted, and she is in bitterness.

5Her adversaries are the chief, her enemies prosper; for the LORD hath afflicted her for the multitude of her transgressions: her children are gone into captivity before the enemy.

6And from the daughter of Zion all her beauty is departed: her princes are become like harts that find no pasture, and they are gone without strength before the pursuer.

7Jerusalem remembered in the days of her affliction and of her miseries all her pleasant things that she had in the days of old, when her people fell into the hand of the enemy, and none did help her: the adversaries saw her, and did mock at her sabbaths.

8Jerusalem hath grievously sinned; therefore she is removed: all that honoured her despise her, because they have seen her nakedness: yea, she sigheth, and turneth backward.

9Her filthiness is in her skirts; she remembereth not her last end; therefore she came down wonderfully: she had no comforter. O LORD, behold my affliction: for the enemy hath magnified himself.

10The adversary hath spread out his hand upon all her pleasant things: for she hath seen that the heathen entered into her sanctuary, whom thou didst command that they should not enter into thy congregation.

11All her people sigh, they seek bread; they have given their pleasant things for meat to relieve the soul: see, O LORD, and consider; for I am become vile.

12Is it nothing to you, all ye that pass by? behold, and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow, which is done unto me, wherewith the LORD hath afflicted me in the day of his fierce anger.

13From above hath he sent fire into my bones, and it prevaileth against them: he hath spread a net for my feet, he hath turned me back: he hath made me desolate and faint all the day.

14The yoke of my transgressions is bound by his hand: they are wreathed, and come up upon my neck: he hath made my strength to fall, the LORD hath delivered me into their hands, from whom I am not able to rise up.

15The LORD hath trodden under foot all my mighty men in the midst of me: he hath called an assembly against me to crush my young men: the LORD hath trodden the virgin, the daughter of Judah, as in a winepress.

16For these things I weep; mine eye, mine eye runneth down with water, because the comforter that should relieve my soul is far from me: my children are desolate, because the enemy prevailed.

17Zion spreadeth forth her hands, and there is none to comfort her: the LORD hath commanded concerning Jacob, that his adversaries should be round about him: Jerusalem is as a menstruous woman among them.

18The LORD is righteous; for I have rebelled against his commandment: hear, I pray you, all people, and behold my sorrow: my virgins and my young men are gone into captivity.

19I called for my lovers, but they deceived me: my priests and mine elders gave up the ghost in the city, while they sought their meat to relieve their souls.

20Behold, O LORD; for I am in distress: my bowels are troubled; mine heart is turned within me; for I have grievously rebelled: abroad the sword bereaveth, at home there is as death.

21They have heard that I sigh: there is none to comfort me: all mine enemies have heard of my trouble; they are glad that thou hast done it: thou wilt bring the day that thou hast called, and they shall be like unto me.

22Let all their wickedness come before thee; and do unto them, as thou hast done unto me for all my transgressions: for my sighs are many, and my heart is faint.