Monday, July 06, 2009

Russia and US agree nuclear disarmament deal wording

Russian and American negotiators have salvaged a summit between US President Barack Obama and his host Dmitry Medvedev by agreeing the text of a preliminary deal on nuclear disarmament.

By Adrian Blomfield in Moscow
Published: 11:30AM BST 06 Jul 2009



Obama in Russia: U.S. President Barack Obama, first lady Michelle Obama and daughters Sasha and Malia arrive at Vnukovo airport outside Moscow. Photo: REUTERS


Deflecting fears that the most important element of Mr Obama's two-day visit to Moscow was in danger of collapsing, diplomats on both sides said they had completed the wording of a joint proclamation that the two leaders will make later on Monday.

"The text of the document has been agreed," a Russian foreign ministry official was quoted as saying by the Interfax news agency.

Although the agreement is expected to be largely symbolic, doubts had been raised as to whether it would be signed at all after Mr Medvedev linked a nuclear arms deal to the much more contentious issue of missile defence.

As late as Sunday afternoon, Russian officials had indicated that the text of the framework agreement had not been completed.

But just hours before Mr Obama's arrival in Moscow on Monday afternoon, a US official confirmed that the two leaders would have a complete agenda to discuss.

"There is text for them to review," the official said.

Mr Obama and Mr Medvedev are to hold talks inside the Kremlin for over four hours.

They are expected to impose a December deadline on negotiators to agree a new treaty implementing substantial nuclear cuts.

But both leaders are likely to postpone discussion on a missile defence shield the United States wants to build in Poland and the Czech Republic until later in the year.

A project vigorously promoted by the Bush administration, the shield is meant to protect the United States and its allies from a nuclear attack by Iran, US officials say.

The Kremlin believes its true purpose is to weaken Russia's nuclear deterrent and the issue has become one of the most divisive factors plaguing already strained relations between the two former Cold War adversaries.

Over the weekend, Mr Medvedev hinted that Russia could walk away from a new nuclear arms deal unless Mr Obama showed "restraint" over the missile shield, which is due to be built in 2011. The US president has not yet made a decision on the project's future.

Yet both sides see the benefits of a nuclear deal. For the United States, a new pact would largely be of symbolic importance, presenting Mr Obama with a foreign policy success and allowing him to take the lead in international disarmament.

With an aging nuclear arsenal, Russia needs the deal more in practical terms. Experts estimate that Russia will be unable to sustain an arsenal of more than 500 deployed warheads by 2020.

A new pact, replacing the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) signed at the end of the Cold War, would allow Russia to maintain nuclear parity with the United States. It would also give Russia the prestige it desperately craves by resurrecting the type of top-level negotiations that marked the Soviet Union out as a superpower during the Cold War.

Mr Obama has pledged to make a fresh start with Russia after years of poor relations under the Bush administration.

But he is also likely to insist that Russia shows an equal desire for compromise.

Employing a bold but risky strategy, Mr Obama has hailed Mr Medvedev as a leader committed to progress while simultaneously criticizing Vladmir Putin, Russia's powerful prime minister, as a relic of the past who has been unable to shed his Cold War mindset.

Mr Medvedev is still very much viewed as Mr Putin's protege and the junior member of Russia's ruling duumvirate.

As part of his campaign to elevate the Russian president's importance on the international stage, Mr Obama will only meet Mr Putin for 90 minutes on Tuesday, prompting complaints from the prime minister's spokesman that the time allotted is "very short".
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Pope's new encyclical asks us to re-examine foundation of the economy

Supreme Knight Carl Anderson


New Haven, Conn., Jul 4, 2009 / 01:37 pm (CNA).- With the release of Pope Benedict XVI's encyclical just days away, the head of the Knights of Columbus is warning people not to ask how the Pope's teaching will validate their world view but how their views should change in response to the document.

The Supreme Knight of the Knights of Columbus, Carl Anderson, states that those in positions of economic influence shold take notice of "Caritas in Veritate", the Holy Father's forthcoming encyclical, to be released on July 7th.

"Commentators," Anderson says, "should avoid trying to analyze the pope’s document from their own perspectives or through a political lens. Pope Benedict XVI's comments in this encyclical, like his writing on the economy previously, concern the need for an ethical underpinning in order for any economic system to be sustainable. An ethical underpinning to economic systems must transcend politics."

Another reaction that Anderson warns against is reading the encyclical and then "asking not how it validates our worldview." Instead, he suggests asking how one's worldview should change in response to the document.

"The world deserves a market economy with a conscience. We should bear in mind that Pope Benedict XVI in a 1985 paper criticized Marxism heavily for being too 'deterministic' and warned that market economies risked collapse if they too excluded or ignored the ethical component of individual decision making. Certainly, he has been proven correct, and thus all of us, and especially those in position of economic leadership, should certainly take notice of this encyclical," the Supreme Knight recommends.

The Pope's newest teaching document asks the world to re-examine the economic crisis by looking at "the very foundation of our system – and to build on the bedrock of ethics rather than the sand of determinism," he explains.

"We could sum up the pope’s thinking on the economy this way: Each of us must answer Christ’s question, “Who do you say that I am?” If we, with Peter, answer “The Messiah,” then that should direct the axis of our life. Our most important reality must be the truth of our relationships. In this, we understand how the law and prophets could be summed up in Christ’s two commandments: that we love God totally, and love our neighbors as ourselves. Thus we are able to speak of 'caritas in veritate.'"

"If we accept this, we can no longer ask Cain’s question: 'Am I my brother’s keeper?'" notes Anderson.

"Accepting this premise, we must realize that our exercise of freedom cannot take the form of simply amassing the most wealth that we can. Rather, all that we do in freedom must reflect that reality and all our actions must take into account the effects of those actions on others. A Christian must be a person for others. In America, most people are Christian, so it is easy to see why they intuitively understand that greed is at the root of our economic crisis, and that one can be ethical and successful. This is the message we have seen already from Pope Benedict XVI, in his writings before he became pope, and specifically in Spe Salvi and Deus Caritas Est –his two previous encyclicals," the leader of the Knights says.



Source: http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/new.php?n=16463


Note: Bolds and Highlights added.
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A Call to Enlighten the Masses


A Call to Enlighten the Masses.--I have been shown that Satan is stealing a march upon us. The law of God, through the agency of Satan, is to be made void. In our land of boasted freedom, religious liberty will come to an end. The contest will be decided over the Sabbath question, which will agitate the whole world.
237
{Ev 236.3}

Our time for work is limited, and God calls us as ministers and people to be minutemen. Teachers as wise as serpents and as harmless as doves must come to the help of the Lord, to the help of the Lord against the mighty. There are many who do not understand the prophecies relating to these days, and they must be enlightened.--Letter 1, 1875. {Ev 237.1}


P.S. Highlights added.


So shall also the Son of man be in his day.


20And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation:

21Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.

22And he said unto the disciples, The days will come, when ye shall desire to see one of the days of the Son of man, and ye shall not see it.

23And they shall say to you, See here; or, see there: go not after them, nor follow them.

24For as the lightning, that lighteneth out of the one part under heaven, shineth unto the other part under heaven; so shall also the Son of man be in his day.

25But first must he suffer many things, and be rejected of this generation.

26And as it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man.

27They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all.

28Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded;

29But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all.

30Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed.

31In that day, he which shall be upon the housetop, and his stuff in the house, let him not come down to take it away: and he that is in the field, let him likewise not return back.

32Remember Lot's wife.

33Whosoever shall seek to save his life shall lose it; and whosoever shall lose his life shall preserve it.

34I tell you, in that night there shall be two men in one bed; the one shall be taken, and the other shall be left.

35Two women shall be grinding together; the one shall be taken, and the other left.

36Two men shall be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left
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37And they answered and said unto him, Where, Lord? And he said unto them, Wheresoever the body is, thither will the eagles be gathered together.

Luke 17: 20-37.

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Sunday, July 05, 2009

Trinidad and Tobago - The Concordat of 1960

The Education Concordat (1960) was "approved by cabinet" (not, it seems, the House of Representatives), it was published quietly on Christmas Day, and the Government is not revealing the other signatory (reportedly , "Fr. Pedro Valdez"). Since then this concordat has been extended to other religions.



This ecumenical building is from western Trinidad. Due to its history, Trinidad, (Spanish for "Trinity"), has a Catholic population of almost, 30%, followed by Hindus, Protestants (mostly of the exhuberant varieties) and Muslims. To try to compete with Pentacostalism, orthodoxy has been relaxed in favour of a "Catholic Charismatic Renewal".


"Clause 2 states that materials or books to which the denominational authority formally objects will not be introduced or imposed in their schools. In a multi-religious democracy such as ours this is an untenable imposition in schools that receive public funding and which cater for students of all faiths." -- Senator Professor John Spence




The Concordat of 1960

Assurances for the Preservation and Character of Denominational Schools



As approved by Cabinet



The Minister of Education and Culture wishes to clarify for general information some of the proposals on Education with reference to the re-organization of Education so far as those proposals affect the Denominational Boards of Management, the Governing Bodies and Principals of Assisted Secondary Schools.

1. In relation to property, the ownership and right of direct control and management of all denominational primary and secondary schools will be assured to the denominations in whatever modifications of the existing system that may subsequently be introduced in the New Education Ordinance, and all existing rights, so far as property is concerned, will be respected.

2. In denominational schools, no books or apparatus to which the denominational authority formally objects, will be introduced or imposed.

3. In denominational schools (unless the Denomination concerned otherwise gives its consent) the religion of the particular denomination which owns the school will be taught exclusively and by teachers professing to belong to that Denomination. In Government Schools all recognized religious denominations will have access through their accredited representatives during the times specified in the time-table for the teaching of Religion to the pupils belonging to their faith. Pupils attending the schools of a denomination not of their own faith will not be compelled to take part in the religious exercises or lessons of that denomination.

4. The right of appointment, retention, promotion, transfer and dismissal of teachers in Primary Schools will rest with the Public Service Commission. A teacher shall not be appointed to a school if the denominational board objects to such an appointment on moral or religious grounds. Similarly, if a teacher be found unsatisfactory on these very grounds, moral or religious, the denominational authority shall have the right to request his removal to another school after due investigation. For these reasons it is proposed (provided the legal and constitutional arrangements allow) "that vacancies as they occur in all schools should be advertised and applications submitted in the first instance to the respective Board of management which will examine them and forward them all, with their recommendations, to the Public Service Commission for final action."

Secondary Schools

5. The existing relationship between Government and the Governing Bodies and teachers in Assisted Secondary Schools will remain subject however, to negotiated changes inevitable with the introduction of Free Secondary Education and to a system of inspection of these schools by persons authorized to do so by the Ministry of Education and Culture. The Governing Bodies of these schools will continue to be responsible for the administration of these schools and for their maintenance, repair and furnishing. Those schools will continue to qualify for Government Aid. The Principals of Assisted Secondary Schools will make available a minimum of 80 per centum of the First Form entry places to those who, by passing the test, qualify on the results of the Common Entrance Examination for free secondary education. The Principals will be represented on the panel of examiners to be set up to administer the test. The Principals will be free to allocate up to 20 per centum, the remaining places as they see fit provided normally that the pass list of the Common Entrance Examination serves to provide the pupils. Entry above the First Form will be under the control of the Ministry of Education and Culture and will require the approval of the Minister.

6. Where the need arises for disciplinary reasons or unsatisfactory progress to remove a pupil from the school, the right to request such removal will remain with the Principal who may for the same reasons suspend a pupil pending investigation. Authority to expel a pupil is vested solely in the Cabinet. For disciplinary reasons the same principle will apply to Primary Schools.

7. All new Central Schools may be established only by Government for the simple reason that these schools are to be fed from the Primary Schools of all Denominations, as well as Government Schools, which may be in the area served by the Central School. Where, however, the need arises for converting an existing denominational school into a secondary school, the denominational character of that school will be allowed to remain.

8. The selection of teachers for training at the teachers' college is to remain solely with the Ministry of Education and Culture. Selection of teachers for training in the existing denominational training colleges may be made by the Denominational Boards, but such selection must be approved by the Ministry of Education and Culture.

9. It is the desire of the Government that all teachers be trained at the teachers' college under Government supervision and administration. Government will however respect the rights of the existing training colleges conducted by the denominations; but no expansion of those facilities will be allowed without the expressed permission of Government.



Signed by Hon. J.S. Donaldson,
Minister of Education & Culture,
on behalf of Cabinet on 22 December 1960,
and published on 25 December, 1960
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P.S. Bolds and Highlights added.
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Dominican Constitution amended in line with Church doctrines

On 21 April 2009 constitutional amendments were passed which enshrine key doctrines of the Catholic Church and could limit human rights, especially those of women and gays. The Dominican government has posted the amended constitution online in Spanish.


Latin America's penchant for tampering with constitutions is unmatched. [...]
The Dominican Republic leads with 29 constitutions. [1]



This constitutional turmoil has given the Vatican the opening it was looking for and allowed it to get its "pro-life" (or "anti-choice") policies cemented more firmly than they would be in national legislation alone. What failed in Poland in 2006 succeeded in the Dominican Republic three years later.


On 18 September 2008 the President of the Dominican Republic introduced constitutional amendments to the Senate which



  • guarantee the right to life and defines life from the moment of conception until death. (Art 30)

  • define the family as the fundamental unit of society (Art 44)

  • define marriage as the union of one man and one woman (Art 44 paragraph 1)



Because these constitutional amendments also let the President seek a third consecutive term in office, [2] he had every reason to try hard to get them through. He needed a two-thirds vote of both houses and his ruling party was only 19 votes short of this. [3]


The new Article 30, approved by a large majority of 167-32, states "the right to
life is inviolable from conception until death. The death penalty cannot be
established, pronounced, nor applied, in any case."

For weeks the Catholic bishops, led by Cardinal Archbishop Nicolas de Jesus Lopez of Santo Domingo, promoted the pro-life article through marches, television speeches, and protests outside of government buildings and in other places. "The Crusade for
Life" included collecting one million signatures to present to the National
Congress. [...]

Referring to abortion supporters and the constitutional reform process, the Archbishop of Santo Domingo said on his Sunday homily: "We know that there are butcher doctors, there are legislators who like to trade in life, there are people who have authority who make a living from that." [...] He said that abortion is a "crime," that it "exploits women" and that it is "terrorism."

The Cardinal Archbishop Nicolas de Jesus Lopez went further. He attacked members of Parliament, saying that Minou Tavares and Víctor Terrero, were ‘abortionists' (pro-abortion). [4]



On the day of the vote the Church stepped up the pressure on the lawmakers. At 7 AM two priests began a mass on the small boulevard in front of the Congress, and afterwards the group was bolstered by other friars, priests and deacons from several parishes and remained in the area to conduct a vigil. [5]

By contrast, when a crowd of women gathered to protest the amendments, a truck full of female police officers dressed in black riot protection gear pulled up to confront and control them. Not that this was necessary: the hundreds of women confined themselves to standing behind the barrier in front of the Senate in the afternoon sun, carrying signs such as "No Rosaries on our Ovaries" and chanting slogans against Article 30. [6] (The subtext on the poster says "The right to decide over our bodies is not a question of faith. It's a question of democracy.")


Lillian Fundera, a gynecologist, explained that the constitutional amendment will make some forms of contraception such as the IUD and the "morning-after" pill illegal and also condemn to certain death any woman who has an extopic pregnancy. [7] A report by the country's Society of Obtetricians and Gynecologists notes that, as it now stands, one in five maternal deaths there are due to botched abortions. The new constitutional amendments will increase this shocking maternal mortality rate, since therapeutic abortion will be penalized and unsafe abortions will proliferate still further. [8]

Notes

1. Marcela Sanchez, "A Penchant for Rewriting Democracy", Washington Post, 1 August 2008. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/31/AR2008073101274.html
Latin America's penchant for tampering with constitutions is unmatched. According to one count by University of Illinois political science professor Zachary Elkins, nearly half of the 801 new constitutions adopted in the world since 1789 have been written in Latin America. The Dominican Republic leads with 29 constitutions. [...] The writing of constitutions for political purposes is a "perversion" of the region's democratic tradition, according to Arturo Valenzuela, director of the Center for Latin American Studies at Georgetown University [...] "A democratic constitution is not meant to give guarantees to a fleeting majority," said Valenzuela. It must withstand the whims of a leader or a majority at any given time and it has to "give assurance to everyone," particularly minorities.
2. Art. 104 of the Amendment repeats the phrase about allowing the president a “second term”, quietly dropping the qualifying “only one”. Cf. Art. 49 of the 2002 Constitution. http://pdba.georgetown.edu/Constitutions/DomRep/domrep02.html
3. “Dominican Constitutional amendment math=19”Dominican Today, 18 September 2008http://www.dominicantoday.com/dr/local/2008/9/19/29473/Dominican-Constitutional-amendment-math19
4. Angela Castellanos, "Dominican Republic: Catholic Republic? 'Right to Life' Enters Constitution", RH Reality Check, 1 May 2009. http://rhrealitycheck.org/blog/2009/04/30/dominican-republic-catholic-republic-right-life-enters-constitutio
5. "Catholics hold mass in front of Dominican Congress", Dominican Today, 21 April 2009.http://www.dominicantoday.com/dr/local/2009/4/21/31754/Catholics-hold-mass-in-front-of-Dominican-Congress
6. Elizabeth Eames Roebling, "Dominican Republic: Church Pushes Draconian Abortion Law", Inter Press Service, 23 April 2009. http://ipsnews.net/print.asp?idnews=46605
7. Ibid.

8. Castellanos, ibid.

In addition to the files below, the document can be found on the government site at www.presidencia.gob.do/app/banners/anteproyecto.doc as "Proyecto de Reforma de la Constitution" (Draft Reform of the Constitution").

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P.S.Highlights added.
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Saturday, July 04, 2009

Pay-for-Chat Plan Falls Flat at Washington Post

By RICHARD PÉREZ-PEÑA
Published: July 2, 2009

For generations, The Washington Post has been a scrupulous watchdog over the capital’s cozy world of power networking. For a short time, it almost became the network’s host.

The Post decided Thursday to cancel plans to charge lobbyists and trade groups $25,000 or more to sponsor private, off-the-record dinner parties at the home of its publisher, Katharine Weymouth, events that would have brought together lobbyists, business leaders, Post journalists and officials from the Obama administration and Congress.

The revelation of the parties early Thursday morning by Politico.com appalled members of The Post newsroom and put the paper squarely in the cross hairs of journalism ethicists. In response, Ms. Weymouth canceled the first dinner, scheduled for July 21.

A flier describing the events promised corporate sponsors conversation (“Spirited? Yes. Confrontational? No.”) at the Washington home of Ms. Weymouth. Sponsors were asked to pay $25,000 to attend an event, or underwrite a series of 11 for $250,000.

The July 21 event, focusing on health care reform, “guaranteed” a “collegial evening” with health industry advocates, Post journalists covering the field and administration officials involved with its policies.

The Politico article prompted an immediate newsroom reaction. The Post’s ombudsman, Andrew Alexander, wrote on his blog that “this comes pretty close to a public relations disaster.”

Valerie Strauss, a reporter who, unlike some, was willing to speak on the record, said, “I don’t believe the newsroom would ever go along with that.”

With the print business in tough straits, many news organizations have turned to conferences and other events to raise revenue and their profiles. But the planned Post events seem particularly audacious, not only acting essentially as a paid conduit between lobbyists and government officials, but also providing sponsors the opportunity to make their case to Post journalists.

It was not entirely clear Thursday how the salon idea had developed, how much people inside the company knew about it or who planned to attend. Soon after the news broke, Marcus W. Brauchli, executive editor of The Post, sent a memo to his staff saying that “the language in the flier and the description of the event preclude our participation.”

In an interview, Mr. Brauchli said he had intended to go to the dinner and knew the company was seeking paying sponsors. But he said he did not see the promotional flier, or know that the event might have a single sponsor. Invitations to the event stated it was “underwritten by Kaiser Permanente.”

Sybil Wartenberg, a Kaiser spokeswoman, said that despite what was written on the invitation, “we were in discussions about the event, but there was no final agreement for us to participate.”

Mr. Brauchli said that in talking to The Post’s marketing arm, “we have always been explicit that there are certain parameters that are elemental for newsroom participation” in special events. Among those, he said, “we do not limit our questions, and we reserve the right to allow any ideas that emerge in an event to shape or inform our coverage.”

A few officials at the Department of Health and Human Services had been invited to the gathering, but no senior White House officials, administration aides said. Robert Gibbs, the White House press secretary, said during his daily press briefing, “I do not believe, based on what I’ve been able to check, that anybody has accepted the invitations.”

In midafternoon, Ms. Weymouth sent a memo to employees, saying: “A flier went out that was prepared by the marketing department and was never vetted by me or by the newsroom. Had it been, the flier would have been immediately killed, because it completely misrepresented what we were trying to do.” She added that other salon dinners would not involve the newsroom.

The Post recently hired a marketing executive, Charles Pelton, to begin organizing conferences, and executives said the flier came from his group. He did not return calls seeking comment.

The Post’s ombudsman, Mr. Alexander, in his blog, quoted Mr. Pelton as saying that the nature of the events had been “well developed with the newsroom,” but that “what was not developed was the marketing message to potential sponsors.”

News of the planned events dominated discussion across the nation’s capital Thursday, and inspired wisecracks.

At that White House briefing, when a Post reporter, Michael Shear, asked about the president’s health care plan, Mr. Gibbs joked: “The counsel’s office has advised me to ask Mike exactly how much each of these questions is costing. I seem to have forgotten my AmEx card.”

In the Post’s newsroom, editors and reporters reacted with dismay. Marc Fisher, the enterprise editor for local news, said people in the newsroom knew the company was considering conferences, “but I don’t think that anybody envisioned that we would attempt to sell access in a very limited way, with the implication that there would be inside information only to those who ponied up big money.”

Most often, events held by journalism organizations are on the record and the public can attend by buying a ticket. Even Politico, which broke The Post story, has done some such events.

“We have not done anything quite like this,” said John F. Harris, the editor in chief of Politico, referring to The Post’s plan. In December 2007, for instance, Politico hosted a panel at George Washington University that was sponsored by the A.C.L.U.

During last year’s presidential conventions, Politico had panels sponsored by Yahoo.

Since 2003, The Wall Street Journal has held the All Things Digital Conference, which gathers executives and others for “informal but pointed conversations” for an audience of paying customers.

The New York Times, too, has considered holding paid business-sponsored forums involving Times journalists, but only on conditions that would avoid any real or apparent conflicts of interest, company officials said.

What has made The Post’s proposed events different is the setting — in the privacy of the publisher’s home — and that they were aimed at connecting lobbyists, trade associations and other influential capital players.

Loren Ghiglione, a professor of journalism ethics at Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, said the episode was “disappointing but not surprising,” at a time when news organizations are casting about for ways to replace lost revenue. “So it’s not surprising that people got, let’s say, a little too creative about how to do that,” he said.

Jeff Zeleny and Tim Arango contributed reporting.


Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/03/business/media/03post.html
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Holiday marked by anti-tax Tea Parties


Protests demonstrate their independence across U.S.

By (Contact) Sunday, July 5, 2009




http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/jul/05/fourth-of-july-marked-by-anti-tax-tea-parties/


Fourth of July "Tea Party" rallies, picnics, marches and other demonstrations were scheduled across the country Saturday to protest what organizers say is record federal spending and taxes by the Obama administration that enlarges government and threatens the nation's prosperity.

Whether the turnout would match or exceed the hundreds of April 15 Tea Party protests remained to be seen, though a survey of dozens of publicized events from Maine to California suggested the grass-roots movement had not lost its energy and support.

The April 15 demonstrations drew an estimated 600,000 people to more than 600 events throughout the country, organizers said. Since then, the movement has remained localized, resisting efforts to turn itself into a national organization, and spawning hundreds of local, citizen-led groups that shun professional politicians at their meetings and public events.

While little media attention has been paid to the movement since then and some have suggested that its numbers were eroding, Tea Party leaders who have been monitoring the groups and this weekend's activities dispute that.

"I don't think this movement's eroding," said Adam Bitely, director of new media at Americans for Limited Government.

"When the president's cap-and-trade energy bill came up in the House, a lot of the Tea Party groups were doing local work, calling members of Congress to urge them to vote against the bill," said Mr. Bitely, whose NetRight Nation Web site tracks Tea Party activities.

"Most of these people don't want to be connected to any one group. They are trying to run their own local political organizations and don't need one national organization to do that," he said.

Not all of them held their events on the Fourth, either, because many families were traveling over the long Fourth of July weekend, activists said. In Nashville, for example, about 800 people gathered in front of the Capitol on Monday. In Atlanta, the site of one of the largest demonstrations last April, planners canceled their event for the Fourth when they could not obtain permits, and have rescheduled their rally later this month.

In Washington, organizers said they expected several thousand people to attend a midday rally at the Capitol Saturday to hear speakers from conservative grass-roots groups such as American Majority, National Taxpayers Union, Americans for Limited Government, FreedomWorks and the Ayn Rand Center for Individual Rights.

Other events throughout the country were billed as patriotic family affairs with picnics, barbecues, musical groups, children's games and rides and fireworks.

In Augusta, Maine, groups called the Maine Patriots and Paint Maine Red were scheduled to hold a daylong event at Capitol Park to hear speeches by representatives from local organizations and watch a performance by Mike Willette, billed as "a Las Vegas-style cabaret singer."

In Chillicothe, Ohio, an "American Freedom Day Tea Party" was planned at the lakeside gazebo in Yoctangee Park, where participants were to hold a "discussion of key issues facing the country."

In Brevard County, Fla., several thousand people were expected to gather at an Independence Day Tea Party at Space Coast Stadium "to call attention to the fact that the government is not acting in accordance with the founding documents of this country," said Matthew Nye, chief organizer and chairman of the Republican Liberty Caucus of central east Florida.

At least 45 anti-tax, anti-spending events were scheduled Saturday across the state, officials of Tea Party Patriots said.

In Morristown, N.Y., protesters were holding a "re-declare your independence" event focusing on defeating the House-passed cap-and-trade legislation and reducing government spending.

Ariz. police say they are prepared as War College warns military must prep for unrest; IMF warns of economic riots


Wednesday, December 17, 2008


Ariz. police say they are prepared as War College warns military must prep for unrest; IMF warns of economic riots
Phoenix Business Journal - by Mike Sunnucks


A new report by the U.S. Army War College talks about the possibility of Pentagon resources and troops being used should the economic crisis lead to civil unrest, such as protests against businesses and government or runs on beleaguered banks.

“Widespread civil violence inside the United States would force the defense establishment to reorient priorities in extremis to defend basic domestic order and human security,” said the War College report.

The study says economic collapse, terrorism and loss of legal order are among possible domestic shocks that might require military action within the U.S.

International Monetary Fund Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn warned Wednesday of economy-related riots and unrest in various global markets if the financial crisis is not addressed and lower-income households are hurt by credit constraints and rising unemployment.

U.S. Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., and U.S. Rep. Brad Sherman, D-Calif., both said U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson brought up a worst-case scenario as he pushed for the Wall Street bailout in September. Paulson, former Goldman Sachs CEO, said that might even require a declaration of martial law, the two noted.

State and local police in Arizona say they have broad plans to deal with social unrest, including trouble resulting from economic distress. The security and police agencies declined to give specifics, but said they would employ existing and generalized emergency responses to civil unrest that arises for any reason.

“The Phoenix Police Department is not expecting any civil unrest at this time, but we always train to prepare for any civil unrest issue. We have a Tactical Response Unit that trains continually and has deployed on many occasions for any potential civil unrest issue,” said Phoenix Police spokesman Andy Hill.

“We have well established plans in place for such civil unrest,” said Scottsdale Police spokesman Mark Clark.

Clark, Hill and other local police officials said the region did plenty of planning and emergency management training for the Super Bowl in February in Glendale.

“We’re prepared,” said Maricopa County Sheriff Deputy Chief Dave Trombi citing his office’s past dealings with immigration marches and major events.

Super Bowl security efforts included personnel and resources from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and U.S. military’s Northern Command, which coordinated with Arizona officials. The Northern Command was created after 9/11 to have troops and Defense Department resources ready to respond to security problems, terrorism and natural disasters.

Northern Command spokesman Michael Kucharek and Arizona Army National Guard Major. Paul Aguirre said they are not aware of any new planning for domestic situations related to the economy.

Nick Dranias, director of constitutional government at the libertarian Goldwater Institute, said a declaration of marital law would be an extraordinary event and give military control over civilian authorities and institutions. Dranias said the Posse Comitatus Act restricts the U.S. military’s role in domestic law enforcement. But he points to a 1994 U.S. Defense Department Directive (DODD 3025) he says allows military commanders to take emergency actions in domestic situations to save lives, prevent suffering or mitigate great property damage.

Dranias said such an emergency declaration could worsen the economic situation and doubts extreme measures will been taken. “I don’t think it’s likely. But it’s not impossible,” he said.

The economy is in recession. Consumer spending is down, foreclosures are up and a host of businesses are laying off workers and struggling with tight credit and the troubled housing and financial markets. The U.S. Federal Reserve Bank and U.S. Treasury Department have pumped more than $8.5 trillion into the economy via equity purchases of bank stocks, liquidity infusions, Wall Street and bank bailouts and taxpayer rebates. U.S. automakers are seeking more than $14 billion in federal loans with fears they could fall into bankruptcy without a bailout. The U.S. housing and subprime lending-induced recession also has hit economies in Europe, Japan and China.

Gov. Janet Napolitano’s office declined comment on emergency planning and possible civil unrest. Napolitano is president-elect Barack Obama’s pick for secretary of Homeland Security, an agency that oversees airport security, disaster response, border security, customs and anti-terrorism efforts.

As governor, Napolitano sent National Guard troops to Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station in 2003 in response to terrorism threats.

Glendale Police spokesman Jim Toomey said the West Valley suburb developed new emergency plans with the approach of Y2K computer changeovers leading up to the year 2000 and police have updated those plans several times including after 9/11. Toomey said strategies to deal with public unrest usually involve deploying personnel and equipment to deal with specific incidents while still providing usual services.

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Jesus is tenderly calling thee home


Jesus is tenderly calling thee home—
Calling today, calling today!
Why from the sunshine of love wilt thou roam,
Farther and farther away?


Calling today! calling today!
Jesus is calling, is tenderly calling today!

Jesus is calling the weary to rest,
Calling today! calling today!
Bring Him thy burden and thou shalt be blest:
He will not turn thee away.

Jesus is waiting, O come to Him now!
Waiting today! waiting today!
Come with thy sins, at His feet lowly bow;
Come, and no longer delay.

Jesus is pleading, O list to His voice!
Hear Him today! hear Him today!
They who believe on His name shall rejoice:
Quickly arise, come away!






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Baptists and Catholics in Italy reach agreement on marriage


Baptists and Catholics in Italy reach agreement on marriage


Baptists and Roman Catholics in Italy have signed an agreement on "mixed" or interchurch marriages between members of the two Christian faith traditions, reports Michael Ireland, chief correspondent, ASSIST News Service.

According to a news release from the Baptist World Alliance (BWA), the agreement, called "A Common document for a pastoral approach to marriages between Catholics and Baptists in Italy," addresses Baptists and Catholics who marry each other, in order to help these couples in their preparation for marriage and family life.

The document also seeks to deepen couples' awareness of their rights and obligations toward each other, and clarify their relationship with their respective churches.

The BWA news release states that Anna Maffei, president of the Christian Evangelical Baptist Union of Italy (UCEBI), said that with this document "we offer to our communities and our pastors a practical guide so that the confessional difference that remains between the future spouses may not be experienced as an obstacle but as enrichment."

Maffei, who signed the agreement on the behalf of Italian Baptists, said that "respective churches should not be competitors anymore but places of listening and encouragement to communion," highlighting "all that is unifying in spirit and love of God."

Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco, president of the Italian Episcopal Conference (CEI), who signed for Italian Catholics, declared that "the document is a common step in the journey of ecumenism between the Catholic church and the Baptist churches in Italy in a particularly sensitive field" and is "likely to pave the way for further developments."

The BWA news release says the agreement holds special significance for Baptists.

"As the number of Baptists in Italy is very small, only in a few marriages are both spouses Baptists. In fact Baptists often marry Catholics and this becomes an interchurch marriage," states an accompanying document released by the UCEBI.

"In order to clarify the situation, it has become necessary to reach an agreement between the Baptist Union and the Catholic Church," the document says.

The BWA news release explains there are approximately 6,400 Baptists who hold membership within the 116 churches of the UCEBI. In contrast, more than 87 percent of the population of more than 60 million in Italy identify themselves as Roman Catholic.

The news release goes on to say: "The agreement includes aspects of marriage that are held in common between Baptists and Catholics, such as the creation of men and women in their diversity and reciprocity, marriage as a parable of the alliance between God and God's people, the love shared by the couple, and the duration of marriage.

"Pastoral care for mixed marriages is also of significance in the signed agreement, including the responsibility of the respective churches, and the need for a shared and ongoing pastoral care program by both pastor and priest."

The BWA says the document offers guidelines to be followed by mixed couples on aspects of Italian civil law, the marriage preparation process, the marriage service or ceremony, and the upbringing of children.

The agreement, which was signed on Tuesday, June 30, in Rome, is the culmination of a process that began in October 2007 with the signing of a "Joint text for the pastoral care in interchurch marriages between Roman Catholics and Baptists in Italy," by respective commissions of the UCEBI and the CEI. Both commissions met jointly to study interchurch marriages and to draft the agreement.

The agreement was voted into acceptance by the general assemblies of both the UCEBI and the CEI, which paved the way for its signing.
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Hate speech legislation in the U.S.? Christians at risk


Hate speech legislation in the U.S.? Christians at risk

Both free speech and religious freedom could be curtailed if legislation prohibiting so called "hate speech" is approved in the United States legislature, reports MNN.

According to reports, the House Judiciary Committee will consider hate crimes legislation Wednesday. The bill, known as the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act, would amend present hate crimes laws to include violence motivated by a victim's sexual orientation, gender identity, gender or disability.

International Christian Concern is an international human rights organization dedicated to assisting and sustaining Christians who are victims of persecution and discrimination due to practicing their faith.

President of ICC Jeff King says, "There have been various attempts previously to introduce hate speech legislation to the U.S. Well now, they have a good chance to pass something."

While preventing hate is a noble thing, King says this is only a trick. "That's the brilliant positioning of calling this 'hate speech' legislation. Who's against hate? But this is an absolute tool--a strategy from the far left and the homosexual community to silence the Christian community. People shouldn't be naïve; that's exactly what's going on."

Couched in language that prohibits "hate crimes" motivated by the victim's race, color, or religion is more language that prosecutes violence based on sexual orientation and gender identity. This is where pastors are at risk.

King says, "If a pastor stands up and [preaches] on the Biblical position on homosexuality, he could be charged under the hate speech legislation. If you speak against Islam from a Biblical perspective, you can be charged."

Similar legislation already has been approved in Canada and Australia. King says a pastor in Australia was arrested. "He was changed under their hate speech laws by Muslims for holding a conference about Islam and for largely reading from the Koran and passages from the Bible about how to come to God." He spent hundreds of thousands of dollars defending himself.

Typically, ICC works in countries outside the U.S. to address religious rights issues, but now religious liberty violation issues are coming to the shores of the U.S.

King says, "Christians are the frogs in the kettle. We are getting cooked. And we need to wake up."

He's asking American Christians to make some telephone calls. "All you have to do is get on the phone and call your congressman and your senator. Let them know how you feel about this legislation. Be firm, be polite, but let them know this is outrageous."

Will there be enough votes for passage? King says, "With the shift in the congress, we are worried."



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The United States in Prophecy


I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon. Rev. 13:11.


One nation, and only one, meets the specifications of this prophecy; it points unmistakably to the United States of America. {Mar 193.1}

Here is a striking figure of the rise and growth of our own nation. And the lamb-like horns, emblems or innocence and gentleness, well represent the character of our government, as expressed in its two fundamental principles, Republicanism and Protestantism. {Mar 193.2}

The Lord has done more for the United States than for any other country upon which the sun shines. Here He provided an asylum for His people, where they could worship Him according to the dictates of conscience. Here Christianity has progressed in its purity. The life-giving doctrine of the one Mediator between God and man has been freely taught. God designed that this country should ever remain free for all people to worship Him in accordance with the dictates of conscience. He designed that its civil institutions, in their expansive productions, should represent the freedom of gospel privileges. {Mar 193.3}

But the enemy of all righteousness has designs upon God's purpose for this country. He will bring in enterprises that will lead men to forget that there is a God. Worldliness and covetousness, which is idolatry, will prevail through the working of the archdeceiver, till the law of God, in all its bearings, shall be made void. {Mar 193.4}

I have been shown that Satan is stealing a march upon us. The law of God, through the agency of Satan, is to be made void. In our land of boasted freedom, religious liberty will come to an end. {Mar 193.5}

When our nation, in its legislative councils, shall enact laws to bind the consciences of men in regard to their religious privileges, enforcing Sunday observance, and bringing oppressive power to bear against those who keep the seventh-day Sabbath, the law of God will, to all intents and purposes, be made void in our land; and national apostasy will be followed by national ruin. {Mar 193.6}
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And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.



John 8


1Jesus went unto the mount of Olives.

2And early in the morning he came again into the temple, and all the people came unto him; and he sat down, and taught them.

3And the scribes and Pharisees brought unto him a woman taken in adultery; and when they had set her in the midst,

4They say unto him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery, in the very act.

5Now Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned: but what sayest thou?

6This they said, tempting him, that they might have to accuse him. But Jesus stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground, as though he heard them not.

7So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.

8And again he stooped down, and wrote on the ground.

9And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last: and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst.

10When Jesus had lifted up himself, and saw none but the woman, he said unto her, Woman, where are those thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee?

11She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.

12Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.

13The Pharisees therefore said unto him, Thou bearest record of thyself; thy record is not true.

14Jesus answered and said unto them, Though I bear record of myself, yet my record is true: for I know whence I came, and whither I go; but ye cannot tell whence I come, and whither I go.

15Ye judge after the flesh; I judge no man.

16And yet if I judge, my judgment is true: for I am not alone, but I and the Father that sent me.

17It is also written in your law, that the testimony of two men is true.

18I am one that bear witness of myself, and the Father that sent me beareth witness of me.

19Then said they unto him, Where is thy Father? Jesus answered, Ye neither know me, nor my Father: if ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also.

20These words spake Jesus in the treasury, as he taught in the temple: and no man laid hands on him; for his hour was not yet come.

21Then said Jesus again unto them, I go my way, and ye shall seek me, and shall die in your sins: whither I go, ye cannot come.

22Then said the Jews, Will he kill himself? because he saith, Whither I go, ye cannot come.

23And he said unto them, Ye are from beneath; I am from above: ye are of this world; I am not of this world.

24I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins: for if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins.

25Then said they unto him, Who art thou? And Jesus saith unto them, Even the same that I said unto you from the beginning.

26I have many things to say and to judge of you: but he that sent me is true; and I speak to the world those things which I have heard of him.

27They understood not that he spake to them of the Father.

28Then said Jesus unto them, When ye have lifted up the Son of man, then shall ye know that I am he, and that I do nothing of myself; but as my Father hath taught me, I speak these things.

29And he that sent me is with me: the Father hath not left me alone; for I do always those things that please him.

30As he spake these words, many believed on him.

31Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed;

32And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.

33They answered him, We be Abraham's seed, and were never in bondage to any man: how sayest thou, Ye shall be made free?

34Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin.

35And the servant abideth not in the house for ever: but the Son abideth ever.

36If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.

37I know that ye are Abraham's seed; but ye seek to kill me, because my word hath no place in you.

38I speak that which I have seen with my Father: and ye do that which ye have seen with your father.

39They answered and said unto him, Abraham is our father. Jesus saith unto them,Then said they If ye were Abraham's children, ye would do the works of Abraham.

40But now ye seek to kill me, a man that hath told you the truth, which I have heard of God: this did not Abraham.

41Ye do the deeds of your father.
Then said they to him, We be not born of fornication; we have one Father, even God.

42Jesus said unto them, If God were your Father, ye would love me: for I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of myself, but he sent me.

43Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word.

44Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.

45And because I tell you the truth, ye believe me not.

46Which of you convinceth me of sin? And if I say the truth, why do ye not believe me?

47He that is of God heareth God's words: ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God.

48Then answered the Jews, and said unto him, Say we not well that thou art a Samaritan, and hast a devil?

49Jesus answered, I have not a devil; but I honour my Father, and ye do dishonour me.

50And I seek not mine own glory: there is one that seeketh and judgeth.

51Verily, verily, I say unto you, If a man keep my saying, he shall never see death.

52Then said the Jews unto him, Now we know that thou hast a devil. Abraham is dead, and the prophets; and thou sayest, If a man keep my saying, he shall never taste of death.

53Art thou greater than our father Abraham, which is dead? and the prophets are dead: whom makest thou thyself?

54Jesus answered, If I honour myself, my honour is nothing: it is my Father that honoureth me; of whom ye say, that he is your God:

55Yet ye have not known him; but I know him: and if I should say, I know him not, I shall be a liar like unto you: but I know him, and keep his saying.

56Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad.

57Then said the Jews unto him, Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham?

58Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am.

59Then took they up stones to cast at him: but Jesus hid himself, and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by.


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Friday, July 03, 2009

Vatican Writers Reveal Devious Plans For America's Takeover In "Project Vatican"


by Greg Szymanski27 Feb 2007
from ArticBeacon Website





The 18 page booklet talks about a five step plan that started 523 years ago.

The Vatican has issued a little known booklet for their private eyes only called ‘Project Vatican.’
The internal document is a blueprint for the “restoration of the global kingdom of Jesus Christ in the third millennium.” Contained within the booklet is also the Vatican’s plan for the domination of America, listing their goals and true evil purposes.
Although the booklet has been kept from prying eyes, Brother R.G. Stair of The Overcomer Ministry has obtained a copy. The document was forwarded to Stair by Brother Mark Hodgson in October 2006.

“This is a revealing document of the Vatican’s true purposes,” said Brother Stair on his web site. “Project Vatican is dedicated to the restoration of the Global Kingdom of Jesus Christ in the third millennium.”
The Vatican blueprint of world domination has a five-prong approach, including:
  1. The Jesuit infiltration of the English colonies on the North American continent
  2. Jesuit control of Christian schools and universities
  3. Roman Catholic Control exercised through Vatican operatives in the United States military, judiciary and media
  4. The weakening of the U.S. military, both in strength and resolve, in preparation for the Vatican-led One World Government
  5. Total control of all institutions and resources on earth, including political, military, economic, educational systems for the purpose of ensuring global peace, prosperity and order.

“Phase 1 through Phase IV have taken 523 years to complete and at the dawn of the third millennium is poised to launch Phase V. This will necessitate cooperation of the citizens of every nation on the planet on a massive scale and in previously untested numbers,” said the Vatican writers’ introduction to Project Vatican.
The writers of the 18 page booklet dedicated their efforts to Phase V, saying strategies have been in full effect albeit for varying lengths of time.

Further, they claimed the execution of their first strategy of Phase V began more than 150 years ago, the strategy being listed as,

“Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and to the Immaculate Heart of Mary through the perpetuation of visions, miracles and revelations.”

Other strategies under the Vatican’s Phase V for world domination include:
Dilution of the eschatological models of Biblical prophesy.
  • The alignment of the homosexual agenda with religious and racial equality, guaranteeing a support base sufficient in number to Biblical Christian fundamentalism into the category of “hate speech.”
  • In the core section of this point, Vatican writers reveal how they plan to obtain loyalty to the Pope, saying,

“The Protestants’ lack of a governing authority has resulted in a
sheep-like obedience to civil governments. Such social compliance, coupled with
capitalistic greed has made Christian fundamentalists extremely vulnerable
to social engineering.”

International monopolistic control of all financial institutions and transactions. This began January 1, 1993 with the creation of the European Roman Empire (ERE). Visa Corporation is poised to label every citizen with identifying barcode technology.
Regarding the global financial takeover and VISA, Arctic Beacon reader Greg Colon added:

“Brethren are you aware about the Visa card?
Info source Project: Vatican
VI - Roman numeral = 6
S - Egyptian symbol = 6 = we perish = anyone who takes the mark on hand or forehead
A - Sanskrit = 6
“There is a long story to how this info originally came into my hands. What happened was one of the residents on my property asked me to hang a picture for her but it had to be on my time not the companies. She showed me a picture of what is known in Catholic circles as the sacred heart of Jesus and Mary. She was told that she would have info in black and white in her hands by Monday explaining that it is the heart of Baal not Jesus.
“This happened on Friday afternoon and that night by the leading of the Holy Spirit according to Ps. 32: 8 the information on Project: Vatican was in my hands. The original source is not available any longer. This one was just furnished by the Holy Spirit. We have to lift Jesus even higher in these last days for he will draw all men unto himself.. 888 = Jesus, greater is he that is in me than he that is in the world = 666 This is a short version of the incident but it needs to shared now.”

The global Eucharistic community, meaning with rampant materialism, environmental destruction and military instability of the capitalist systems, the Vatican backed Roman Catholic Ecumenical Assemblies (RCEA) will be in the position to compel international compliance to Eucharistic adoration and communion… The Global Eucharistic Community (GEC) was formally invoked by the Vatican on Dec. 31 1999, which will preside over the WTO, the GEC and RCEA.
The last section tells Vatican loyalists what they can do in order to speed-up Rome’s plans, adding,

“Attend non-Catholic churches that are not yet RCEA affiliates for the purpose of encouraging their ministries to join the RCEA. Make audio recordings of their responses and deliver these recordings to your RCEA representative. Report all statements by non-Catholics of a racially-biased, homophobic or anti Catholic nature to your RCEA representative."
To read the remainder of the Project Vatican, go here.
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Holy Smoke and Mirrors


By David G. Guyatt
Nexus Magazine, Volume 7, Number 5
August-September 2000

In its zeal to stamp out communism, the Vatican set up alliances during World War II with various secret societies, fascist groups and spying agencies and has maintained these networks ever since.



Contents
The Mafia, The CIA and The Vatican’s Intelligence Apparatus
From Ratlines to Drug Smuggling Routes
The Octopus and The Spider
The Business of God
Acknowledgements


THE MAFIA, THE CIA, AND THE VATICAN’S INTELLIGENCE APPARATUS
Albert Vincent Carone is one of those people who spent his life dancing between raindrops and turning invisible wherever a shadow lingered. He existed and also didn’t exist. Al Carone--unlike his near namesake, Al Capone--truly was a paradox wrapped in a mystery concealed behind an enigma.Carone was a detective in the New York Police Department, but this didn’t stop him from becoming a "made" man in the Genovese crime family. He knew all the leading Mafiosi of his day, including Vito Genovese, Sam Giancana, Santos Trafficante, Joe Colombo and Pauley Castellano amongst others. To Carone’s daughter, Dee, they were all known as "Uncle". When she got married, her father arranged two different reception rooms to separate the Mob guests from the NYPD guests. But this was more window-dressing than anything else. One of Carone’s principal functions in the NYPD was to act as the "bagman" in protecting shipments of CIA drugs to the various Mafia families.Carone died in 1990 under mysterious circumstances. This followed a period of great personal disenchantment with his life, following a secretive mission to Mexico in 1985 when a large number of innocent women and children died unnecessarily. His death was horrific, reports Mike Ruppert, editor of From The Wilderness newsletter, who has investigated Carone’s life story and written a special report on it (see acknowledgements).Meanwhile, another "Uncle" was Bill Casey, Director of the Central Intelligence Agency during the Reagan Administration. Casey had been with the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) during World War II. During the 1970s, he became Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) which regulates the US investment industry. During his tenure in that role, Casey used Carone as a "cut out" to pass sensitive insider information to Mob capo Pauley Castellano, says his daughter, Dee.Carone was also a Full Colonel in the US Army, where he had operated in the Army’s Counter Intelligence Corp (CIC). Unsurprisingly, in view of his close friendship with Bill Casey, he was also a covert operative for the CIA. But that wasn’t half of it. Carone was also a Grand Knight of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta (SMOM), which historically has been the military arm of the Vatican and is regarded as a separate State with full powers of statehood, including issuing its own diplomatic passports. In more recent decades SMOM has acted as a funding conduit, a black market gold channel and money laundry for the CIA, amongst others, and is known to act as the Vatican’s intelligence arm. It was alleged to be involved in, for example, the disappearance of Russia’s gold reserves--over 2,000 metric tonnes--which vanished during 1991, around the time that Soviet Premier Mikhail Gorbachev was ousted from office.Malta knighthoods are awarded to many leading individuals who are part of the military and intelligence community. The CIA’s Bill Casey, for example, was a Knight of Malta. Former NATO General and later US Secretary of State Alexander Haig is also a Malta Knight. Another is General Vernon Walters, the former Deputy Director of the CIA under DCI George Bush, and later appointed a roving ambassador during the Reagan Administration. The legendary head of the OSS (the WWII precursor of the CIA), "Wild" Bill Donovan, was made a Knight along with his wartime compatriot and later CIA Chief of Counterintelligence, James Jesus Angleton.

And John McCone, another prominent member of the US "spook" agency, was also distinguished with a Malta knighthood. The list goes on. Most interesting is Reinhard Gehlen, the former Nazi intelligence expert recruited by the US in 1945-46 to head the Gehlen Org--a secret, German-based intelligence arm of the United States that was composed of former SS and Gestapo agents, many of whom, including Klaus Barbie, were wanted Nazi war criminals. The foregoing names amount to a listing of some of the most powerful and influential members of the Western intelligence community over the last five decades.One Vatican group that has extremely close ties to the Knights of Malta is the ultra-right-wing Opus Dei. This is an immensely powerful faction in the Vatican today, and its public "do good" activities eclipse a plethora of the darkest political and financial machinations known to man. It will not come as a surprise, perhaps, that Carone was closely associated with Opus Dei and, in particular, with a covert operation that had its origin back in 1944.

This was Operation Amadeus.




FROM RATLINES TO DRUG SMUGGLING ROUTES
This highly secretive operation was part of the Operation Sunrise negotiations conducted between Allen Dulles--the then senior wartime OSS officer in Switzerland, but later to become the Director of the CIA--and SS General Karl Wolff. This debonair and well-connected SS officer commanded the SS and Gestapo contingents in Italy at the time.The result of these negotiations (at least those parts that are now known about) was an agreement affording amnesty to an extensive roster of SS-Gestapo forces, in exchange for their agreement to shift their allegiance to the West in the pre-planned, covert battle aimed at defeating the Soviet communist "menace"--in other words, the "Cold War".One spin-off of these Dulles-Wolff arrangements were the Vatican-run "ratlines" that aided wanted Nazi war criminals to slink to safety. Tens of thousands of SS and other Nazis escaped capture as a result of the ratlines. These included such figures as Franz Stangl, commandant at Treblinka extermination camp, and his friend Gustav Wagner, who ran the Sobibor death camp. Others to escape in this manner included Adolf Eichmann, the architect of the Holocaust.

Eichmann was later captured by Israeli intelligence agents, smuggled to Tel Aviv where he stood trial and was eventually executed. In comparison, Dr Joseph Mengele--known as "the White Angel", a war criminal wanted for his cruel and inhuman experiments on death camp inmates at Auschwitz--escaped to Argentina and lived a long life.Operation Amadeus was exclusively concerned with the flight of SS and Nazi war criminals to the South American continent and their later ferocious covert actions against the indigenous populations justified under the banner of "anti-communism". One individual engaged in Amadeus activities was former Gestapo officer Klaus Barbie, known to the world as "the Butcher of Lyon".The principal means of funding Operation Amadeus activities was the hugely profitable narcotics business. Large stocks of SS morphia had been smuggled out of Europe and into "Catholic" South America at the end of the War in accordance with the Sunrise agreement. The morphia was accompanied by looted SS gold and large quantities of counterfeit British banknotes, forged in concentration camps by captive but skilled counterfeiters as part of an SS scheme known as Operation Bernhardt.The escape "lines" used to move wanted men around South America, away from the prying eyes of Israeli agents, also proved ideal as smuggling routes for drugs. Decades later, the stocks of heroin smuggled into the United States for distribution by the CIA-protected Mafia would be complemented with locally grown cocaine.One of the figures to emerge into the spotlight during the 1980s who was deeply involved in this narcotics traffic was Colonel Oliver North, who authorized the exchange of guns for drugs to finance Contra operations. Oliver North was known to Al Carone under his "work" name, "John Caffrey". This was the time when Carone was engaged in CIA-controlled cocaine transactions with Joe "Pickles" Percilia, a member of the Colombo crime family.These curious and usually concealed connections between governments (in the form of the military and intelligence community), organized crime, the Vatican and Nazi war criminals have some significant history. Not least was the secret agreement reached between US Naval Intelligence officers and Mafia don Charles "Lucky" Luciano during World War II. This resulted in the Mafia’s decision to aid and assist the Allies by contacting Mob figure Vito Genovese in 1943 to prepare the way for the Allied landing in Sicily. As earlier outlined, it was primarily those SS-Gestapo units located in Italy under command of SS General Wolff that were initially concerned in the Operation Sunrise negotiations.And while large numbers of former Nazis were fleeing south to fight the communist menace in Latin America--and, more importantly, to profit personally from their involvement in the lucrative drug and gun business--in Europe, the spadework was being laid to overthrow or thwart democratically elected governments via a network of fascist-manned "Stay Behind units", organized under the aegis of Operation Gladio. Not surprisingly, this would also lead to certain involved figures making personal fortunes out of other people’s misery--a circumstance that is so commonplace it is barely worth mentioning.These neo-fascist activities would come to prominence in the early 1980s following the collapse of Banco Ambrosiano and the death of Italian banker Roberto Calvi, who was "suicided" and left hanging under London’s Blackfriars Bridge. This would lead to sensational disclosures about the role of the Vatican Bank, the IOR, in Calvi’s financial empire and would quickly grow to include the activities of Mafia financier Michele Sindona--whose activities, in turn, would implicate leading blue-blood banks in Europe and America in Mafia activities.

Both Sindona and Calvi were close to Opus Dei, which lost around $55 million when Sindona’s empire crashed. According to his family, Roberto Calvi was deeply engrossed in helping Opus Dei take control of the IOR when he was killed.Meanwhile, both Calvi and Sindona were members of the secretive Propaganda Due (P2) masonic lodge, which is said to have been a "parallel government" in waiting and which planned to effect a coup d’état in Italy following a Communist Party victory at the polls.P2 was run by former Italian fascist and member of the Nazi SS, Licio Gelli--dubbed "the Puppet Master" by the Italian press. Gelli’s connections to the ultra-hard-right and fascists in Europe and Latin America were extensive. In fact, he had been deeply involved in establishing the Vatican-run ratlines that aided the worst Nazi war criminals to escape Allied justice at the end of WWII. All told, an estimated 50,000 Nazis were helped to freedom.Gelli had numerous powerful friends, including former Italian dictator Benito Mussolini. He was also a personal friend of Argentina’s General Juan Perón, and his close associations with Argentina would later lead him to be a key figure in shipping a supply of French Exocet missiles to sink British Task Force ships during the Falklands War. In this endeavour he worked closely with Ronald R. Rewald, founder of the Hawaiian-based financial institution Bishop, Baldwin, Rewald, Dillingham & Wong--a CIA proprietary company and forerunner of the CIA-owned Nugan Hand Bank.The involvement of a CIA front company engaged in financing and providing weapons to be used against a key American ally (Britain) with the wholehearted public support of the US Government may seem somewhat duplicitous. However, in the world of "black ops", "friends" and "enemies" are interchangeable words and working both sides of the fence is accepted practice.In terms of hierarchy, Gelli reported to Umberto Ortolani, described by one writer as "the great Vatican door-opener" and "secret chamberlain of the papal household".

In addition to his P2 connections, Ortolani is also a member of the inner council of the Knights of Malta and has military intelligence connections that date back to WWII.



THE OCTOPUS AND THE SPIDER
There are numerous other masonic groups and secret societies in Europe which move in and out of focus at various times. Almost all of them are Catholic in nature.One of these is the Priory of Sion (Prieuré de Sion)--a secretive order that first came to public attention via the best-selling book, The Holy Blood And The Holy Grail, published in 1982. The Priory is closely connected with the alleged treasure of Solomon which is said to have found its way to the small village of Rennes-le-Château in southwestern France, where it is said to have been buried by the Knights Templars, forerunners of the Knights of Malta.The Priory, whose headquarters were located at Annemasse, near Geneva on the Swiss border, are styled as the "guardians" of Solomon’s treasure, but, most interestingly, they have numerous subterranean connections to fascists and those on the far right that date back to WWII. Meanwhile, it has to be noted in passing that Annemasse is said to have been the centre for the anti-communist Stay Behind units of Operation Gladio.If this is not intriguing enough, another fact stretches coincidence to the point of bursting. In recent years, the Priory of Sion has moved its headquarters to Barcelona and now boasts a Spanish Grand Master. This, one could conclude, is to enable it to be physically closer to opuhistorical heartland of Opus Dei, which was founded in Spain in 1928.If Otto Skorzeny was a leading force in running the SS Brotherhood escape routes--Der Spinne, the Spider--after the war, and SS General Karl Wolff was the lead negotiator with OSS Swiss Chief, Allen Dulles, then another Nazi, Walter Rauff, head of the Milan SD, was one of two liaisons with the Vatican involved in the establishment of the Nazi-smuggling system. Earlier in his career, Rauff had overseen the development of the Nazis’ mobile gas vans, known as "Black Ravens", which gassed to death around 100,000 Jews, mostly women and children, by pumping exhaust fumes into the back of an hermetically sealed van.Another important link between the Vatican and SS escape routes was Friedrich Schwendt, who was also the man in charge of laundering forged SS banknotes. Before WWII, Schwendt was an international arms dealer who shipped weapons to China and Russia.

He was also the investment manager of the family fortune of his first wife’s aunt, Baroness Gemmingen-Guttenberg, of the vastly wealthy Argentina-based Bunge family, of the massive transnational firm Bunge Corporation that is also known as "the Octopus".This title is interesting, for it may connect to the so-called "Octopus" that ties in to murdered freelance journalist Danny Casolaro, who at the time of his death in 1991 was investigating a number of high-level illegalities including the theft by the Department of Justice of a "tracking" computer program known as "PROMIS".

Casolaro was writing a book about what he had discovered. He originally titled it "Behold, A Pale Horse", but later modified it to "The Octopus". In a draft page of the book, he described this group as an "international cabal whose freelance services covered parochial political intrigue, espionage, sophisticated weapon technologies that included biotoxins, drug trafficking, money laundering and murder-for-hire". Casolaro further stated that this cabal was "spawned thirty years ago in the shadow of the Cold War".After Casolaro’s death, journalist Carol Marshall (a pen name) followed up his investigation and wrote an (as yet) unpublished manuscript, titled "The Last Circle". In this, Marshall describes her investigation of Robert Booth Nichols--one of the central figures of the Octopus, whom she describes as being part of a secretive group known as "the Chosen Ones" and who wore "skull and crossbones rings and shared a common interest, if you could call it that, in the old German SS occultism, its tribal and inner circle rites".During her continuing investigation into the Octopus, Marshall found that the SS occultism outlined above was connected to Lt. Col. Michael A. Aquino, a former US Green Beret who is a self-professed Satanist and who held a Top Secret security clearance for his work in military intelligence and on classified psychological warfare matters. Aquino officiated at SS black-magic ceremonies held at Wewelsburg, the castle once used by SS chief Heinrich Himmler to create an SS order of Teutonic knights based on the Knights Templars.The foregoing connections lend themselves to a larger picture of global, interlocking, right-wing fascist groupings that operate in the shadow-land of deniable military and intelligence operations associated with profit during WWII and, later, throughout the Cold War.In this respect, it is intriguing to note that the Priory of Sion, one of the foremost Catholic groups under discussion, uses as a symbol something that is variously described as an octopus or a spider (araignée) on its documents. The Priory’s association with the octopus could easily relate to the so-called Octopus described above, where organized crime works hand in glove with operatives from US intelligence and the military.

If one decides, on the other hand, that the Priory symbol is a spider, there is the intriguing notion of the Vatican-run Nazi escape lines of Austrian Catholic Otto Skorzeny and his SS Brotherhood’s Der Spinne (the Spider).



THE BUSINESS OF GOD
Al Carone was, as mentioned earlier, a "made" man of the Genovese Mob in addition to his other associations. It is curious, therefore, to note that one of the leading lights of the Octopus, according to writer Carol Marshall, was ultra-right-wing oil tycoon Clint Murchison, owner of the Dallas Cowboys football team. Murchison’s oil company, Murchison Oil Lease Company, was 20 per cent owned by Gerardo Catena, the chief lieutenant of the Genovese crime family.Throughout the Second World War and thereafter there was, according to author Charles Higham in his book, Trading With The Enemy, a,
"general agreement of certain major figures of American, British and German commerce to continue their relations and associations after Pearl Harbor".

Higham adds that he also learned that "certain figures of the warring governments had arranged to assist in this [activity]".
Higham’s subsequent research proved that this high cabal--which he dubbed "the Fraternity"--not only existed but benefited handsomely throughout WWII. This led the author to ask:
What would have happened if millions of Americans and British people, struggling with coupons and lines at the gas stations, had learned that in 1942 Standard Oil of New Jersey managers shipped the enemy’s fuel through neutral Switzerland and that the enemy was shipping Allied fuel?
Suppose the public had discovered that the Chase Bank in Nazi-occupied Paris after Pearl Harbor was doing millions of dollars’ worth of business with the enemy with the full knowledge of the head office in Manhattan?
Or that Ford trucks were being built for the German occupation troops in France with authorization from Dearborn, Michigan?
Or that Colonel Sosthenes Behn, the head of the international American telephone conglomerate ITT, flew from New York to Madrid to Berne during the war to help improve Hitler’s communications systems and improve the robot bombs that devastated London?
Or that ITT built the Focke-Wulfs that dropped bombs on British and American troops?
Or that crucial ball-bearings were shipped to Nazi-associated customers in Latin America with the collusion of the Vice-Chairman of the US War Production Board, in partnership with Göring’s cousin in Philadelphia, when American forces were desperately short of them?
Or that such arrangements were known about in Washington and either sanctioned or deliberately ignored?
Higham’s "Fraternity" has similar characteristics to the so-called "Octopus", and also shows certain similarities to Colonel Oliver North’s "Enterprise". All have engaged in the most dubious and illegal activities for profit, and all operate hand in glove with organized crime. All lean so far to the right, ideologically speaking, that the word "fascist" can be used without reservation. Meanwhile, none of them cares very much for the woes of humanity and, indeed, they appear committed to stomping on ethics and moral values wherever they meet them.The octopus--or "Oct Opus", as one European documentary film producer renders the spelling when referring to Opus Dei (which began life on 2 October 1928)--has eight arms that surround its mouth (ensuring a constant supply of food) and three hearts, and is therefore not prone to starving or dying. But it can also be identified by these oddities. Opus Dei, the group that is now in control of the Vatican, is undoubtedly one arm of this global criminal network, in this writer’s view.
Or are the three hearts of the octopus more vital to identify?
Could they be analogous to the "Church, State and Mafia, the forces that prevail beneath the play of the shadows of the world"
(as described by Nick Tosches in his book, Power On Earth, which tells the life story of murdered Mafia financier Michele Sindona)?
There is yet another interesting twist to this accumulation of associations: Prince Bernhard of The Netherlands. The Prince was the founding chairman of the publicity-shy Western power elite, the Bilderbergers. This shadowy and secretive group meets over a weekend in May/June each year, under an almost total media blackout. Powerful and very influential figures from the world of banking, business, politics, the media, trades unions and academia are invited. Included regularly, for example, are Dr Henry Kissinger, David Rockefeller, and Italy’s "king-maker", Gianni Agnelli. The first meeting took place in May 1954.This, strangely, was the same year that Prince Bernhard became head of the Johanitter Orde in Nederland, one of four orders that make up the Chivalric Alliance of Orders of Saint John (Alliance de Chevalerie des Hospitaliers de Saint Jean de Jérusalem). The stated purpose of these four, known as "the Alliance"--which is composed of northern European nations Germany, The Netherlands, Sweden and Great Britain, the latter being an ancient order known as "the Most Venerable Order"--is "to reduce to silence the enemies of Christ". The headquarters of the Alliance are located in Switzerland.These are Protestant orders rather than Catholic, but it is of significance that, on 26 November 1963, the Alliance was,
"consolidated with the signing of a joint declaration between the Sovereign Military Order of Malta and the Most Venerable Order, at St John’s Gate, London, by the Grand Chancellor of the SMOM, the Prince of Resuttano, and Lord Wakehurst, Lord Prior of the Most Venerable Order".
In other words, the Catholic and Protestant orders bound themselves to work together to "silence the enemies of Christ"--a clear reference to communism.Interestingly, it has been suggested that the Knights Templars were "infected" with the Johannite or Mandaean heresy that denounced Jesus as a "false prophet" and in his place recognized John the Baptist as the true Messiah. Meanwhile, two early Grand Masters of the Priory of Sion are said to have had Johannite tendencies: Leonardo Da Vinci and Sir Isaac Newton. Notwithstanding that, the famous founder of the Knights Templars, Hughes de Payens, has been accused by the Vatican of being a Johannite.Leaving aside this brief foray into esoteric history, it is as well to note that Prince Bernhard, in addition to his Bilderberg role and as head of the Dutch Johannite Order, was also an honorary member of Himmler’s SS and worked in NW7, the global intelligence arm of I.G. Farben which acted in the interests of the Nazi cause. The activities of NW7 in Latin America before, during and after World War II are deeply interwoven in this story.In facilitating and aligning itself with many of the foregoing activities, the Vatican aimed to help eradicate a communist ideology that despised Christianity. Opus Dei and a host of other Catholic-cum-fascist secret groups engaged in a litany of murder, money laundering, drug peddling, arms trafficking, concealment of WWII loot, embezzlement, manipulation of financial markets and many other consummate illegalities. The purpose of all these activities was, arguably, to allow the Vatican to remain the spiritual bulwark of the Christian West.But if such business is the business of a Church preaching of a God in Heaven, then Caesar on Earth had better watch out. A new landlord has fallen into town.

AcknowledgementsIn preparing this essay, I drew upon an indispensable group of published/unpublished work and sources, as follows:
The full account of the unique story of Al Carone, by Mike Ruppert (available to order online at http://www.copvcia.com/).
Trading With The Enemy, by Charles Higham (St Edmundsbury Press, Suffolk, UK, 1983).
Their Kingdom Come, by Robert Hutchison (St Martin’s Press, New York, 1997).
Web of Gold, by Guy Patton and Robin Mackness (Sidgwick & Jackson, London, 2000).
Ratlines, by Mark Aarons and John Loftus (Mandarin, London, 1991).
The Bormann Brotherhood, by William Stevenson (Arthur Baker, London, 1973).
Unpublished manuscript by Peter Dale Scott on Barbie, Dulles and Operation Sunrise. It details how the OSS-SS preserved each other while serving their true masters: transnational corporations.
The Last Circle, an unpublished manuscript by Carol Marshall, which investigates the so-called "Octopus".
My thanks also go to Catherine Austin Fitts (http://www.solari.com/) for her invaluable help.


Source: http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/vatican/esp_vatican16.htm

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