Wednesday, July 15, 2009

168 killed in Iran plane crash


By ALI AKBAR DAREINI – 1 hour ago

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — A Russian-made Iranian passenger plane carrying 168 people crashed shortly after takeoff Wednesday, smashing into a field northwest of the capital and shattering into flaming pieces. All on board were killed in Iran's worst air disaster in six years, officials said.

Before crashing, the plane's tail was on fire as it circled in the air, one witness told The Associated Press.

"Then, I saw the plane crashing nose-down. It hit the ground causing a big explosion. The impact shook the ground like an earthquake. Then, plane pieces were scattered all over the agricultural fields," Ali Akbar Hashemi, a 23-year-old who was laying gas pipes in a nearby home, told AP by phone.

The impact blasted a deep trench in the dirt field, which was littered with smoking wreckage, body parts and personal items from the Tupolev jet, according to photos from the scene. Firefighters put out the flaming wreckage, which officials said was strewn over a 200 yard (meter) area. A large chunk of a wing was visible in footage of the scene, but much of the wreckage appeared to be in small shreds.

Iran has seen numerous crashes in recent years, usually blamed on poor maintenance. Iranian officials often blame U.S. sanctions that prevent it from updating American aircraft bought before the 1979 Islamic revolution and make it difficult to get European spare parts or planes as well.

Iranian airlines and the military have turned increasingly to Russian aircraft, which are not affected by sanctions, but have seen a string of accidents. Two other Tupolev crashes in Iran this decade have killed nearly 140 people.

The Caspian Airlines Tu-154M jet had taken off from Tehran's Imam Khomeini International Airport on Wednesday morning and was headed to the Armenian capital Yerevan. It crashed at 11:30 am about 16 minutes after takeoff near the village of Jannat Abad outside the city of Qazvin, around 75 miles northwest of Tehran, civil aviation spokesman Reza Jafarzadeh told state media.

At Yerevan's airport, Tina Karapetian, 45, said she had been waiting for her sister and the sister's 6- and 11-year-old sons, who were due on the flight. "What will I do without them?" she said, weeping, before she collapsed to the floor.

The cause of the crash was not immediately known. Hossein Ayaznia, an aviation police official, said emergency workers were searching for the plane's data recorders to get evidence of the cause.

Iran's Jafarzadeh and the deputy chairman of Armenia's civil aviation authority Arsen Pogosian said there were 153 passengers and 15 crewmembers on board the plane. "In all likelihood, all on board were killed," Pogosian told reporters at Yerevan airport.

Most of the passengers were Iranians, many of them from Iran's large ethnic Armenian community, along with six Armenian citizens and two Georgian citizens, Pogosian said. The two Georgians included a staffer from the Caucasus nation's embassy in Yerevan, Georgia's military attache in the Armenian capital said.

Serob Karapetian, the chief of Yerevan airport's aviation security service, said the plane may have attempted an emergency landing, but reports that it caught fire in the air were "only one version." He did not elaborate. A police official told Iran's semi-official ISNA news agency that several witnesses reported seeing the plane's tail on fire in the air as it circled to find a place to land.

The plane was completely destroyed in the crash and shattered to pieces, Qazvin emergency services director Hossein Behzadpour told the state news agency IRNA.

"The force of the crash was so serious that pieces of the aircraft were thrown over a 200 meter area. Unfortunately, all the bodies were totally destroyed," Behzadpour said.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad issued a statement expressing condolences "to the supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamanei and the families of the dead" over what he called a "heart-wrenching tragedy" and ordered an investigation into the cause. Armenia's president, Serge Sarkisian, also expressed his condolences and declared Thursday a day of mourning.

Also among the passengers were eight members of Iran's national youth judo team, along with two trainers and a delegation chief, who were scheduled to train with the Armenian judo team before attending competitions in Hungary on Aug. 6, state TV said.

The crash is the worst since February 2003, when a Russian-made Ilyushin 76 carrying members of the elite Revolutionary Guards crashed in the mountains of southeastern Iran, killing 302 people aboard.

Caspian Airlines is an Iranian-Russian joint venture founded in 1993 whose fleet is made up of Tupolevs.

Soviet-built Tupolev and Antonov planes have long been the mainstays of the civil air fleets in Russia and former Soviet republics. Once considered reliable aircraft, the most widely used models — like the Tu-154 — have in recent years gone largely unmodified or updated by aircraft designers.

The Soviet collapse resulted in the sharp decline in government funding for aircraft spare parts manufacturers and for the aircraft manufactures themselves, and many airlines fell behind in maintenance programs for the planes.

Iran has about a dozen Soviet-built Tu-154 airliners. In 2006, Russia negotiated the sale of five Tu-204s to Iran.

In February 2006, a Russian-made Tu-154 operated by Iran Airtour, which is affiliated with Iran's national carrier, crashed during landing in Tehran, killing 29 of the 148 people on board. Another Airtour Tupolev crashed in 2002 in the mountains of western Iran, killing all 199 on board.

The crashes have also affected Iran's military. In December 2005, 115 people were killed when a pre-1979 U.S.-made C-130 plane, crashed into a 10-story building near Tehran's Mehrabad airport. In Nov. 2007, a Russian-made Iranian military plane crashed shortly after takeoff killing 36 Revolutionary Guards members.

AP writer Avet Demourian in Yerevan, Armenia, contributed to this report.
.
.

Source: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5i7qca3d8PElLgPytZU1tjeppF_SwD99EV8O82
.

Soldier balks at deploying; says Obama isn’t president


Tuesday, Jul. 14, 2009


Soldier balks at deploying; says Obama isn’t president


Says he shouldn’t have to go to Afghanistan because Obama is not a U.S. citizen

By Lily Gordon


U.S. Army Maj. Stefan Frederick Cook, set to deploy to Afghanistan, says he shouldn’t have to go.
His reason?
Barack Obama was never eligible to be president because he wasn’t born in the United States.




Cook’s lawyer, Orly Taitz, who has also challenged the legitimacy of Obama’s presidency in other courts, filed a request last week in federal court seeking a temporary restraining order and status as a conscientious objector for her client.

In the 20-page document — filed July 8 with the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Georgia — the California-based Taitz asks the court to consider granting his client’s request based upon Cook’s belief that Obama is not a natural-born citizen of the United States and is therefore ineligible to serve as commander-in-chief of the U.S. Armed Forces.

Cook further states he “would be acting in violation of international law by engaging in military actions outside the United States under this President’s command. ... simultaneously subjecting himself to possible prosecution as a war criminal by the faithful execution of these duties.”

Cook, a reservist, received the orders mobilizing him to active duty on June 9.

According to this document, which accompanies Cook’s July 8 application for a temporary restraining order, he has been ordered to report to MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Fla., on Wednesday. From there, the Florida resident would go to Fort Benning before deploying overseas.

Documents show Obama was born in Hawaii in 1961, two years after it became a state.

A hearing to discuss Cook’s requests will take place in federal court here Thursday at 9:30 a.m.

.
.
.

Go ye forth of Babylon,..



Isaiah 48


1Hear ye this, O house of Jacob, which are called by the name of Israel, and are come forth out of the waters of Judah, which swear by the name of the LORD, and make mention of the God of Israel, but not in truth, nor in righteousness.

2For they call themselves of the holy city, and stay themselves upon the God of Israel; The LORD of hosts is his name.

3I have declared the former things from the beginning; and they went forth out of my mouth, and I shewed them; I did them suddenly, and they came to pass.

4Because I knew that thou art obstinate, and thy neck is an iron sinew, and thy brow brass;

5I have even from the beginning declared it to thee; before it came to pass I shewed it thee: lest thou shouldest say, Mine idol hath done them, and my graven image, and my molten image, hath commanded them.

6Thou hast heard, see all this; and will not ye declare it? I have shewed thee new things from this time, even hidden things, and thou didst not know them.

7They are created now, and not from the beginning; even before the day when thou heardest them not; lest thou shouldest say, Behold, I knew them.

8Yea, thou heardest not; yea, thou knewest not; yea, from that time that thine ear was not opened: for I knew that thou wouldest deal very treacherously, and wast called a transgressor from the womb.

9For my name's sake will I defer mine anger, and for my praise will I refrain for thee, that I cut thee not off.

10Behold, I have refined thee, but not with silver; I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction.

11For mine own sake, even for mine own sake, will I do it: for how should my name be polluted? and I will not give my glory unto another.

12Hearken unto me, O Jacob and Israel, my called; I am he; I am the first, I also am the last.

13Mine hand also hath laid the foundation of the earth, and my right hand hath spanned the heavens: when I call unto them, they stand up together.

14All ye, assemble yourselves, and hear; which among them hath declared these things? The LORD hath loved him: he will do his pleasure on Babylon, and his arm shall be on the Chaldeans.

15I, even I, have spoken; yea, I have called him: I have brought him, and he shall make his way prosperous.

16Come ye near unto me, hear ye this; I have not spoken in secret from the beginning; from the time that it was, there am I: and now the Lord GOD, and his Spirit, hath sent me.

17Thus saith the LORD, thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel; I am the LORD thy God which teacheth thee to profit, which leadeth thee by the way that thou shouldest go.

18O that thou hadst hearkened to my commandments! then had thy peace been as a river, and thy righteousness as the waves of the sea:

19Thy seed also had been as the sand, and the offspring of thy bowels like the gravel thereof; his name should not have been cut off nor destroyed from before me.

20Go ye forth of Babylon, flee ye from the Chaldeans, with a voice of singing declare ye, tell this, utter it even to the end of the earth; say ye, The LORD hath redeemed his servant Jacob.

21And they thirsted not when he led them through the deserts: he caused the waters to flow out of the rock for them: he clave the rock also, and the waters gushed out.

22There is no peace, saith the LORD, unto the wicked.

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Alex Jones & the Jesuits

Craig Oxley's Forum Website, the BEST Ever:http://z10.invisionfree.com/The_Unhiv...YouTube user Kennedy1op has the full seventeen (17) parts audio of this Craig Oxley recording.http://www.youtube.com/user/Kennedy1op
video from: http://www.youtube.com/user/GiveMeNoLies


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q_amrnlTnBUhttp://

Albert Pike


Albert Pike (1809-1891) born on Dec 29. US lawyer, historian, general. Masonic author. Brig General, (Confederate Army), died in 1891. Well-known Masonic author (Morals and Dogma) and composer of the ritual for the concordant body, the Scottish Rite, Southern Jurisdiction, he was elected Sovereign Grand Commander of that body in 1859, an office he held until his death. Appointed Grand Orator of the Grand Lodge of Arkansas on November 7, 1864, from 1853 onward he was, at various times, chairman of numerous committees and boards, as well as Grand Representative of four jurisdictions. The Main founder of the Ku Klux Klan (KKK)

Albert Pike created the 33rd degree of Masonry. Confessed LUCIFERIAN and founder of the K.K.K. The Ku Klux Klan is an organization which prided itself ( and still does) in the torture and murder of men for the color of their skin. This is Demonic in itself. So we have a confessed LUCIFERIAN (666) who created the 33rd degree of masonry and founded the KKK. K is the eleventh number of the Alphabet. In other words the KKK can be represented as 11, 11, 11. 11+11+11=33. The same occult numbers of the World Trade Center attack is represented here by a confessed Luciferian. Albert Pike addressing the 23 Supreme Councils of the world on July 14, 1889:- "To you, Sovereign Grand Instructors General, we say this, that you may repeat it to the Brethren of the 32nd, 31st and 30th degrees: 'the Masonic Religion should be, by all of us initiates of the high degrees, maintained in the purity of the LUCIFERIAN Doctrine. . ."

"Magic is the science of the ancient magi.... ``Magic unites in one and the same science, whatsoever Philosophy can possess that is most certain, and Religion of the Infallible and the Eternal. It perfectly ... reconciles these two terms ... faith and reason ... those who accept [magic] as a rule may give their will a sovereign power that will make them the masters of all inferior beings and of all errant spirits; that is to say, will make them the Arbiters and Kings of the World....'' Albert Pike Morals and Dogma
.
.
.
.

Trinidad and Tobago Insight Guide


Trinidad and Tobago Insight Guide
ISBN: 9812581472
Pub Date: 29 Oct 2004


Learn what it is or was that gave Trinidad and Tobago the cosmopolitan enticements of one of the most fascinating and sophisticated cities in the Caribbean. Discover the true origins (yes true origins) of Trinidad's exuberant bacchanalia of Carnival, its tumultuous past and wealthy and literate present.

Discover why Trinidad and its sister isle have the social pecking order seen today, from the cocoa payols to the "French Creoles", the 'jamets'. Learn of the real history of the carnival, the many mutinies and revolts. Why are the people of Laventille and Belmont are so "bad'? And not least what were the roles of the east Indians (so-called "coolies"), the indigenous Amerindians , and of course Captain Cipriani.

This book provides everything you will ever need to know about TnT - everything you weren't thought at school! Know your history - Get the facts!

Authentic, colourful, and even nostalgic, unhyped - you feel as if you were there while reading it. This is a work every child, youth and adult of TnT should read! Visitors and tourists to the Islands will love and appreciate this book.


.
.

Ousted Honduran president gives ultimatum


Deposed Honduran President Jose Manuel Zelaya says he must be returned to power.


Ousted Honduran president gives ultimatum

Story Highlights
Ousted Honduran leader will resort to other means if talks fail to return him to power
Jose Manuel Zelaya did not elaborate on what other means he would explore
Zelaya was deposed in a military-led coup on June 28
Both sides are currently in mediated talks to resolve situation


updated 10:17 p.m. EDT, Mon July 13, 2009
Next Article in World »


(CNN) -- Deposed Honduran President Jose Manuel Zelaya on Monday gave the interim government that ousted him an ultimatum: if ongoing negotiations do not restore him to power, he will consider the talks failed and resort to other means.


Zelaya's remarks came at a news conference in Managua, Nicaragua. He did not elaborate on what other means he might explore.

The statement puts pressure on the next round of mediation between the two sides, expected to take place Saturday in Costa Rica.

Zelaya demanded that "the explicit mandates of the international organizations be carried out," referring to resolutions passed by the Organization of American States and United Nations calling for his return as president.

Since the June 28 military-led coup, Zelaya and interim Honduran President Roberto Micheletti have drawn hard stances. Both claim that the democratic process is on their side.

Both Micheletti and Zelaya accepted an offer from Costa Rican President Oscar Arias to mediate talks. Both men met individually with Arias last week, but they did not meet face-to-face.

Micheletti said Monday he expected talks between the two delegations to resume on Saturday in Costa Rica.

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon spoke with Arias Monday and gave his support for his mediation efforts.

"The Secretary-General has offered technical assistance for the mediation and agreed to work together with President Arias to help the parties reach an agreement," a U.N. statement said. "The Secretary-General is confident that an open dialogue and international support will help resolve the current crisis."

Micheletti has adamantly denied there was a coup, insisting instead that Zelaya was ousted through a constitutional process in which the supreme court and the national assembly participated.

Zelaya, a leftist who took office in 2006 on a narrow victory, had been at odds with Honduran lawmakers, the country's supreme court and the military over a referendum he had planned to hold last month. Congress had forbidden it and the supreme court ruled it illegal.

Zelaya sought the referendum to see if voters wanted a measure on November's ballot to establish a constitutional assembly to study whether a president could run for re-election. Under the current charter, a president can serve only one four-year term.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, a Zelaya ally, won a similar referendum this year and many Hondurans thought Zelaya was trying to maneuver a way to seek re-election in November -- an assertion he has denied.

Zelaya vowed to hold the vote anyway, but was toppled before the voting started.

After 18 years of nearly uninterrupted military rule, Honduras returned to civilian control in 1981. Since then, the military had not seemed interested in holding power in the nation of more than 7 million people, about 70 percent of whom live in poverty.


.
.

Sotomayor would be part of court's Catholic shift

If confirmed, Sonia Sotomayor would be the sixth Catholic justice on the U.S. Supreme Court.


Sotomayor would be part of court's Catholic shift

Story Highlights
If confirmed, Judge Sonia Sotomayor would be Supreme Court's sixth Catholic
Five current Catholic justices were appointed by Republican presidents
Catholic League president says Sotomayor would lean more left than other justices


updated 11:09 a.m. EDT, Wed May 27, 2009

By Lisa DesjardinsCNN

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- As Supreme Court hopeful Sonia Sotomayor breaks ground for Hispanics, she is poised to add an exclamation point to another historic demographic shift: the move to a Catholic court.

If confirmed, Sonia Sotomayor would be the sixth Catholic justice on the U.S. Supreme Court.

Sotomayor was raised Catholic and if she is confirmed, six out of nine, or two-thirds of the justices on the court will be from the faith. Catholics make up about one-quarter of the U.S. population.
"It's most unusual," said Barbara Perry, a government professor at Sweetbriar College who was already writing a book about Catholics on the Supreme Court when Sotomayor was named as the next nominee.
"Presidents used to reserve a Catholic seat and a Jewish seat on the Supreme Court," Perry told CNN Radio. "Now we've moved from a Catholic seat on the court to a Catholic court."
Of the 110 people who have served on the Supreme Court, 11 have been Catholic. Five of those justices -- Samuel Alito, Anthony Kennedy, Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas and Chief Justice John Roberts -- are currently on the court.
"It is more than a random selection process that yielded the current five Catholics on the bench," Perry said.
The five current Catholic justices were appointed by Republican presidents, which Perry notes may be a key reason why so many Catholics have joined the high court in recent years.
"It's their tie to conservative Catholicism which made them agreeable to (Republican) presidents' ideology," she said.
Perry sees Catholics as swing voters with a base of socially conservative principles, and therefore naturally attractive for Republican presidents.

Don't Miss
In Depth: Obama's Supreme Court nominee
Who is Sonia Sotomayor?
Time: GOP's plan for Sotomayor: Play for time

Catholic League President Bill Donohue goes further, hypothesizing that Catholics have conservative credentials on issues such as abortion, without the political baggage of terms such as the "religious right" or "evangelicals."
"Is it safer to nominate a Catholic as opposed to an evangelical to get votes? I think the answer is decidedly yes," Donohue said.
Donohue also suggests the vigorous education in Catholic schools during the 20th century produced sharp legal minds.
"I think there might be a certain kind of Catholic edge, so to speak, as a residual property of a Catholic education," he said.
Roberts, Scalia and Thomas attended Catholic school as children, as did Sotomayor. Watch more about Sotomayor's personal history »


Underlying causes aside, Perry sees the fast shift as a sign that centuries of American concern about Catholics are over.
In 1985, a lone Catholic justice, William J. Brennan, Jr., sat on the court. A generation later, that number is poised to become six.
"What that tells is that in our politics, religion doesn't matter anymore," Perry said. Then she added: "I don't think our politics are ready for an Islamic justice at this point."
The current court is composed of two Jewish members -- Justices Stephen Breyer and Ruth Bader Ginsburg. If Sotomayor joins the bench, Justice John Paul Stevens would be the solitary Protestant on a court once dominated by white Protestant men. Learn about the other Supreme Court justices »


Court observers wonder what, if anything, six Catholic justices would mean for Supreme Court decisions.
The five Catholics currently on the bench concurred in a 2007 decision, Gonzales v. Carhart, which upheld a state ban on late-term abortions.
Sotomayor has faced few abortion cases, and no tests on issues such gay rights or the death penalty. However, Donohue expects a Justice Sotomayor to lean more left than her fellow Catholics on the court. Read about Sotomayor's record »


"I think she's more reliably liberal," Donohue said.
Donohue said he still would like to see Sotomayor join the bench.
"Even though I'm a conservative and she is not, there's still a certain way that you do root for the home team," he said.

Source: http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/05/27/sotomayor.catholic/index.html

.

Clinton getting her second wind

Clinton getting her second wind

Mon, 07/13/2009 - 11:09am



As the six-month mark of her tenure approaches and she recovers from a broken elbow, Secretary Clinton is getting her second wind this week as she prepares for a major foreign-policy speech Wednesday and trips to India and Thailand this weekend. It's great that Clinton is now healthy enough to travel overseas after her canceled trips to Russia, Italy, and Greece.

The speech and trips -- which include the annual meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) -- are opportunities to raise her profile after some have said she "toils in the shadows." Clinton "hasn't been the face of America abroad," said Ben Smith, the reporter for the Politico article "Clinton Toils in the Shadows," on National Public Radio this weekend.

Smith said that there was an expectation that Clinton was offered the secretary-of-state job because Obama would be busy trying to fix domestic problems, namely the Great Recession. Instead, however, Obama has been able to travel abroad, and when he does, people go wild with Obamamania. Obama and his identity have been riveting symbols overseas -- think about his speeches in Cairo and Ghana. "I don't think you can upstage Barack Obama," Wendy Chamberlin, a former U.S. ambassador and now head of the Middle East Institute, told Agence France-Presse.

Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice had it easier when it came to her profile overseas. No one liked George W. Bush, so she had the spotlight all to herself. Nevertheless, it now looks like Clinton, with her second wind, is will be emerging into the limelight to make her mark and be another face of America abroad.

Photo (Clinton at NATO summit, April 3, 2009): MICHAEL KAPPELER/AFP/Getty Images
.
Source:http://hillary.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2009/07/13/clinton_getting_her_second_wind

_________78_________

*Hillary Clinton plans to reassert herself with high-profile speech

By BEN SMITH 7/14/09 4:38 AM EDT

In the first six months of the Obama administration, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has brought her star power to the world stage and cemented her position as a serious internal player. Now, according to her aides, she is ready to articulate her own policy agenda, one that focuses in part on strengthening Americans’ capacity for what has been called “smart power.” The speech she is scheduled to give Wednesday to the Council on Foreign Relations is expected to serve as an explanation and framework of the administration’s foreign policy and a tour of its busy first half-year. But it will sound some themes closely associated with Clinton’s former life as first lady and U.S. senator.1

“She is bringing the concept of ‘it takes a village’ to foreign policy,” said Brookings Institution President Strobe Talbott, invoking the title of a well-received book that Clinton wrote while her husband was in the White
House.

“She thought it was a good time to try to give a framing speech to take some perspective, talk about what we have been doing, what we plan to do – the administration and her as secretary – and how these issues fit together as part of a larger strategy,” said an administration official familiar with the draft speech, who said it would tour a breakneck half-year’s diplomatic efforts everywhere from Iran to North Korea, Iraq, Pakistan, and the Middle East.

“It’s an opportunity to take a step back and talk about how this all fits together,” the official said.
The speech will include “strong discussion of development and a forward-looking overview of how we think about U.S. relations with [and] management of the great powers in a way that gets more comprehensive than what they are doing on this or that crisis,” said another Democratic foreign policy official.

One official said the speech has been long in the making and has been labored over by Director of Policy Planning Anne-Marie Slaughter — a former academic who has emerged as a key Clinton policy adviser — along with speechwriter Lissa Muscatine.2, 3

But another official suggested an additional motivation: Beating back a persistent perception that Clinton has been kept in the administration’s shadows. Tina Brown wrote on The Daily Beast on Monday that President Barack Obama had confined Clinton to a kind of “wifehood of the Saudi variety” and that it is “time for Barack Obama to let Hillary Clinton take off her burqa.”

Officials at the White House and State Department reject the notion that Clinton has been marginalized — and note that much of the low profile is of Clinton’s choosing. She has made, for instance, just one appearance on a Sunday morning talk show — and none until last month — but they insist that’s an absence as much of her choosing as of the White House’s. The White House press office sought to book her on Sunday shows three times before, an official said, but she declined each time, twice because she was overseas and once because she was in New
York for Mother’s Day.

Her visibility was also affected by a broken elbow, which required surgery and extensive
physical therapy, and prevented her from accompanying Obama on his most recent foreign trip.
Having established herself within the administration and on the world stage, the logical next step for Clinton is to turn her attention to a domestic audience and explain a foreign policy different in tone and substance from George W. Bush’s administration, according to Clinton watchers such as James Goldgeier, a professor at George Washington University’s Elliott School of International Affairs.


“She is so good at explaining things that I would hope that at least part of what she’s doing is explaining to the American people why the administration has the policies that it has,” said Goldgeier.

Clinton appears increasingly comfortable expressing her views. State Department officials have suggested that she’s been a hawkish internal voice, pushing Obama toward more confrontational stances toward adversaries from Iran to Cuba. And she has shown a new willingness in recent days to throw the occasional mild elbow in public — even one directed at the White House.Read
more:
At a town hall meeting at the United States Agency for International Development on Monday, Clinton complained about the slow vetting of Harvard public-health crusader Paul Farmer for the job of running the soft-power focused agency.

“The clearance and vetting process is a nightmare, and it takes far longer than any of us would want to see,” Clinton said. “It is frustrating beyond words. I pushed very hard last week when I knew I was coming here to get permission from the White House to be able to tell you that help is on the way and someone will be nominated shortly.”

“I was unable,” she said. “The message came back: ‘We’re not ready.’”

But officials said Clinton would be careful in her speech to avoid any hint of daylight between her and the White House. “It’s a White House-dominated foreign policy,” Goldgeier said. “The president’s clearly in charge.”

But Talbott and others close to Clinton pointed to her remarks at another town-hall-style meeting with State Department employees for a sense of the themes she wants to emphasize as secretary.

“We are prioritizing development along with diplomacy as part of our global agenda,” Clinton said, announcing a Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review modeled on the military’s procedures for developing policy. “We’re working to build a world of economic stability and prosperity, clean and affordable energy, health care, housing, and education for our children, an expansion of fundamental rights, tackling the threats of global extremism, terrorism and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.”

And she intends to keep making her case domestically after Wednesday, the official familiar with her speech said.

“This is not the end of the conversation,” the official said. “In many ways this is the beginning of the conversation.”
.
Source: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0709/24893.html

1 HRC consults Brzezinski, Scowcroft
By BEN SMITH 07/14/09 1:41 PM
Greg Sargent has a list of foreign policy thinkers Clinton's been talking to before her speech. Read blog
post.


2 Lissa Muscatine
Lissa Muscatine was a speechwriter and the communications director of former First Lady Hillary Clinton. Currently, she is a speechwriter of Senator Clinton's campaign for the presidential nomination, and is one of her closest advisors, a member of Hillaryland.[1]
She is married to Washington Post editor Bradley Graham, and is on the Board of Trustees of the Sidwell Friends School[2].


3 http://www.muckety.com/Lissa-Muscatine/19544.muckety
.
.

Moses and The Prophets


And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead. ...............Luke 16:31.
.
.

Monday, July 13, 2009

Deep Underground Military Bases

http://

How sad will their awakening be...?


"We are determined, like you, to take possession of the United States and rule them; but we cannot do that without acting secretly and with the utmost wisdom. If our plans are known, they will surely be defeated. What does a skillful general do when he wants to conquer a country? Does he scatter his soldiers over the farm lands, and spend their energy and power in ploughing the fields and sowing grain? No! he keeps them well united around his banners, and marches at their head, to the conquest of the strongholds, the rich and powerful cities. The farming countries then submit and become the price of his victory without moving a finger to subdue them. So it is with us. Silently and patiently, we must mass our Roman Catholics in the great cities of the United States, remembering that the vote of a poor journeyman, though he be covered with rags, has as much weight in the scale of power as the millionaire Astor, and that if we have two votes against his one, he will become as powerless as an oyster. Let us then multiply our votes;; let us call our poor but faithful Irish Catholics from every corner of the world, and gather them into the very hearts of those proud citadels which the Yankees are so rapidly building under the names of Washington, New York, Boston, Chicago, Buffalo, Albany, Troy, Cincinnati, ect. Under the shadows of those great cities, the Americans consider themselves a giant and unconquerable race. They look upon the poor Irish Catholic people with supreme contempt, as only fit to dig their canals, sweep their streets and work in their kitchens. Let no one awake those sleeping lions, today. Let up pray God that they may sleep and dream their sweet dreams, a few years more. How sad will their awakening be, when with our out-numbering votes, we will turn them for ever, from every position of honour, power and profit! What will those hypocritical and godless sons and daughters of the fanatical Pilgrim Fathers say, when not a single judge, not a single teacher, not a single policeman, will be elected if he be not a devoted Irish Roman Catholic? What will those so-called giants think of their matchless shrewdness and ability, when not a single Senator or member of congress will be chosen, if he be not submitted to our holy father the Pope! What a sad figure those Protestant Yankees will cut when we will not only elect the President, but fill and command the armies, man the navies and hold the keys of the public treasury? It will then be time for our faithful Irish people to give up their grog shops, in order to become the judges and governors of the land. Then, our poor and humble mechanics will leave their damp ditches and muddy streets, to rule the cities in all their departments, for the stately mansion of Mayor to the more humble, though not less noble position of teacher.

"Then, yes! then, we will rule the United States, and lay them at the feet of the Vicar of Jesus Christ, that he may put an end to their godless system of education, and impious laws of liberty of conscience which are an insult to God and man!"


Fifty Years in the Church of Rome,
Charles Chiniquy, Chapter 59, pp.373-374.

P.S. Bolds and Highlights used for emphasis.


All the above objectives have been achieved by now July 2009.

Arsenio.

.

The Shaking


CHAPTER 32

The Shaking

I saw some with strong faith and agonizing cries, pleading with God. Their countenances were pale, and marked with deep anxiety, which expressed their internal struggle. There were firmness and great earnestness expressed in their countenances, while large drops of perspiration rose upon their foreheads, and fell. Now and then their faces would light up with the marks of God's approbation, and again the same solemn, earnest, anxious look settled upon them.

Evil angels crowded around them, pressing their darkness upon them, to shut out Jesus from their view, that their eyes might be drawn to the darkness that surrounded them, and they distrust God, and next murmur against him. Their only safety was in keeping their eyes directed upward. Angels were having the charge over the people of God, and as the poisonous atmosphere from these evil angels was pressed around these anxious ones, the angels, which had the charge over them, were continually wafting their wings over them to scatter the thick darkness that surrounded them.

Some, I saw, did not participate in this work of agonizing and pleading. They seemed indifferent and careless. They were not resisting the darkness around them, and it shut them in like a thick cloud. The angels of God left them, and went to the aid of those earnest, praying ones. I saw the angels of God hasten to the assistance of all those who were struggling with all their energies to resist those evil angels, and trying to help themselves by calling upon God with perseverance. But the angels left those who made no effort to help themselves, and I lost sight of them.

As these praying ones continued their earnest cries, at times a ray of light from Jesus came to them, and encouraged their hearts, and lighted up their countenances.

I asked the meaning of the shaking I had seen. I was shown that it would be caused by the straight testimony called forth by the counsel of the true Witness to the Laodiceans. It will have its effect upon the heart of the receiver of the testimony, and it will lead him to exalt the standard and pour forth the straight truth. This straight testimony some will not bear. They will rise up against it, and this will cause a shaking among God's people.

I saw that the testimony of the True Witness has not been half heeded. The solemn testimony upon which the destiny of the church hangs, has been lightly esteemed, if not entirely disregarded. This testimony must work deep repentance, and all that truly receive it, will obey it, and be purified.

Said the angel, List ye! Soon I heard a voice that sounded like many musical instruments, all sounding in perfect strains, sweet and harmonious. It surpassed any music I had ever heard. It seemed to be so full of mercy, compassion, and elevating, holy joy. It thrilled through my whole being. Said the angel, Look ye! My attention was then turned to the company I had seen before, who were mightily shaken. I was shown those whom I had before seen weeping, and praying with agony of spirit. I saw that the company of guardian angels around them had doubled, and they were clothed with an armor from their head to their feet. They moved in exact order, firm like a company of soldiers. Their countenances expressed the severe conflict which they had endured, the agonizing struggle they had passed through. Yet their features, marked with severe internal anguish, shone now with the light and glory of heaven. They had obtained the victory, and it called forth from them the deepest gratitude, and holy, sacred joy.

The numbers of this company had lessened. Some had been shaken out, and left by the way. The careless and indifferent who did not join with those who prized victory and salvation enough to agonize, persevere, and plead for it, did not obtain it, and they were left behind in darkness, and their numbers were immediately made up by others taking hold of the truth, and coming into the ranks. Still the evil angels pressed around them, but they could have no power over them.

I heard those clothed with the armor speak forth the truth in great power. It had effect. I saw those who had been bound; some wives had been bound by their husbands, and some children had been bound by their parents. The honest who had been held or prevented from hearing the truth, now eagerly laid hold of the truth spoken. All fear of their relatives was gone. The truth alone was exalted to them. It was dearer and more precious than life. They had been hungering and thirsting for truth. I asked what had made this great change. An angel answered, It is the latter rain; the refreshing from the presence of the Lord; the loud cry of the third angel.

Great power was with these chosen ones. Said the angel, Look ye! My attention was turned to the wicked, or unbelievers. They were all astir. The zeal and power with the people of God had aroused and enraged them. Confusion, confusion, was on every side. I saw measures taken against this company, who were having the power and light of God. Darkness thickened around them, yet there they stood, approved of God, and trusting in him. I saw them perplexed. Next I heard them crying unto God earnestly. Through the day and night their cry ceased not. I heard these words, Thy will, O God, be done! If it can glorify thy name, make a way of escape for thy people! Deliver us from the heathen round about us! They have appointed us unto death; but thine arm can bring salvation. These are all the words I can bring to mind. They seemed to have a deep sense of their unworthiness, and manifested entire submission to the will of God, Yet everyone, without an exception, was earnestly pleading, and wrestling like Jacob for deliverance.
Soon after they had commenced their earnest cry, the angels, in sympathy would have gone to their deliverance. But a tall, commanding angel suffered them not. Said he, The will of God is not yet fulfilled. They must drink of the cup. They must be baptized with the baptism.

Soon I heard the voice of God, which shook the heavens and the earth. There was a mighty earthquake. Buildings were shaken down, and fell on every side. I then heard a triumphant shout of victory, loud, musical and clear. I looked upon this company who, a short time before were in such distress and bondage. Their captivity was turned. A glorious light shone upon them. How beautiful they then looked. All weariness and marks of care were gone. Health and beauty were seen in every counte-nance. Their enemies, the heathen around them, fell like dead men. They could not endure the light that shone upon the delivered, holy ones. This light and glory remained upon them, until Jesus was seen in the clouds of heaven, and the faithful, tried company was changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, from glory to glory. And the graves were opened and the saints came forth, clothed with immortality, crying victory over death and the grave, and together with the living saints, were caught up to meet their Lord in the air; while the rich, musical shouts of glory and victory were upon every immortal tongue, and proceeding from every sanctified, holy lip.


See Joel 2:12-17; Zechariah 12:10; Revelation 1:5.

The Great Controversy (1858), Ellen G. White.

Source: http://www.earlysda.com/gc/gc_chap32.html

,
P.S. Bolds and Highlights added by blogman.

.

“One thing is certain: Those Seventh-day Adventists who take their stand under Satan’s banner will first give up their faith in the warnings and reproofs contained in the Testimonies of God’s Spirit.”—Selected Messages, book 3, p. 84. See also Ibid., pp. 48, 83; Testimonies, vol., 4, p. 211.


.

Ichabod - The Glory Is Departed, The Rise and Fall of the SDA Church


Ichabod - The Glory Is Departed, The Rise and Fall of the Seventh-day Adventist Church: INTRODUCTION


Jerusalem would have stood forever, the elect of God. Jeremiah 17:21-25. But the history of that favored people was a record of backsliding and rebellion. They had resisted Heaven's grace, abused their privileges, and slighted their opportunities.” [1]
Great Controversy, page 19.


They forgot that “God's favor toward Israel had always been conditional on their obedience.” [2]
Prophets and Kings, page 293.


“They robbed God of His glory, and defrauded the world by a counterfeit of the gospel. They had refused to surrender themselves to God for the salvation of the world, and they became agents of Satan for its destruction. The people whom God had called to be the pillar and ground of the truth had become representatives of Satan... God could do no more for man through these channels. The whole system must be swept away.” [3]
Desire of Ages, page 36.

“Ichabod!"--the glory is departed.” [4]
Great Controversy, page 33; 1 Samuel 4:21-22.

“Already were the Saviour's words fulfilled: "Your house is left unto you desolate." Matthew 23:38.” [5]
Great Controversy, page 24.

“Therefore Jesus departed from Jerusalem, from the priests, the temple, the religious leaders, the people who had been instructed in the law, and turned to another class to proclaim His message, and to gather out those who should carry the gospel to all nations... Again and again the history of Christ's withdrawal from Judea has been repeated.” [6]
Desire of Ages, page 232.


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

But who were responsible to these fatal results?
“For the rejection of Christ, with the results that followed, they were responsible. A nation's sin and a nation's ruin were due to the religious leaders.”
Christ’s Object Lessons, p 305.

When the Jewish church rejected Christ, does it mean that God has no longer has a chosen people to bear important responsibilities in giving the Gospel?
“The Lord Jesus will always have a chosen people to serve Him. When the Jewish people rejected Christ, the Prince of life, He took from them the kingdom of God and gave it unto the Gentiles. God will continue to work on this principle with every branch of His work. When a church proves unfaithful to the word of the Lord, whatever their position may be, however high and sacred their calling, the Lord can no longer work with them. Others are then chosen to bear important responsibilities.”
Upward Look, p 131.

“The same danger exists today among the people who profess to be the depositaries of God's law. They are too apt to flatter themselves that the regard in which they hold the commandments will preserve them from the power of divine justice. They refuse to be reproved for evil, and charge God's servants with being too zealous in putting sin out of the camp. A sin-hating God calls upon those who profess to keep His law to depart from all iniquity. Neglect to repent and obey. His word will bring as serious consequences upon God's people today as did the same sin upon ancient Israel. There is a limit beyond which He will no longer delay His judgments. The desolation of Jerusalem stands as a solemn warning before the eyes of modern Israel, that the corrections given through His chosen instruments cannot be disregarded with impunity. “
Testimonies for the Church, vol 4, p 166-167.

“Jerusalem is a representation of what the church will be if it refuses to walk in the light that God has given. Jerusalem was favored of God as the depositary of sacred trusts. But her people perverted the truth, and despised all entreaties and warnings. They would not respect His counsels. The temple courts were polluted with merchandise and robbery. Selfishness and love of mammon, envy and strife, were cherished. Everyone sought for gain from his quarter. Christ turned from them, saying: "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem," how can I give thee up? "How often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!" Matthew 23:37. So Christ sorrows and weeps over our churches, over our institutions of learning, that have failed to meet the demand of God. He comes to investigate in Battle Creek, which has been moving in the same track as Jerusalem.”
Testimonies for the Church, vol 8, p 67.

With this in mind, the ultimate question is: Did the SDA Church move in the same direction as Jerusalem did? Did they depart from God and fell as did ancient Israel? Let history give a clear answer through the SDA Church records from the inspired word of the Spirit of Prophecy as penned by God’s messenger, Ellen G. White in a year by year arrangement of events.
“Regarding the testimonies, nothing is ignored; nothing is cast aside; but time and place must be considered.”
Selected Messages, book 1, p 57.



1 • 23 4 5 6 7 89 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17

18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32
.
.

None of the wicked shall understand

8And I heard, but I understood not: then said I, O my Lord, what shall be the end of these things?

9And he said, Go thy way, Daniel: for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end.

10Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly: and none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand.

11And from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away, and the abomination that maketh desolate set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days.

12Blessed is he that waiteth, and cometh to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty days.

13But go thou thy way till the end be: for thou shalt rest, and stand in thy lot at the end of the days.


Daniel 12:8-13.
,
,

Sunday, July 12, 2009

Republicans call Obama’s stimulus plan a flop, oppose a second package


By Associated Press
July 13, 2009

WASHINGTON - Republicans lined up yesterday to oppose a second economic stimulus package, a demonstration of unity from an out-of-power party in search of a rallying cry against President Obama.

Republicans called Obama’s $787 billion spending plan a “flop’’ and said it hasn’t fulfilled its hype. They criticized the White House for increasing the federal deficit and doing little to combat an unemployment rate that hit 9.5 percent in June.

“The reality is it hasn’t helped yet,’’ said Senator Jon Kyl, Republican of Arizona. “What I proposed is, after you complete the contracts that are already committed, the things that are in the pipeline, stop it.’’

Obama urged patience with his program, which administration officials acknowledge was designed with incorrect or incomplete economic data.

Yet the stimulus package “is working exactly as we had anticipated,’’ Obama told CNN. “We always anticipated that a big chunk of that money then would be spent not only in the second half of the year, but also next year. This was designed to be a two-year plan and not a six-month plan,’’ he said.

Republicans, though, were not willing to sit by.

“I do think it is fair to say that the stimulus is a flop,’’ said Representative Eric Cantor, a Virginia Republican. The goal, he said, “was unemployment wouldn’t rise past 8.5 percent, and what we see now is businesses just aren’t hiring. Even the best projections have us losing 750,000 more jobs this year.’’

Billionaire Warren Buffet and other have called for a second round of spending to steady the economy. Obama has said it’s too early to decide.

Kyl appeared on ABC’s “This Week,’’ and Cantor on “Fox News Sunday.’’




P.S.

1. Bolds added for emphasis.


2.I hate to say, I told you so! But, I had a premonition that there would be another bail-out scheme once President Obama returned from his Educational Foray abroad. It's the next 'boot to drop'.


More billions will be printed by the Treasury, then the Federal Reserve will "lend" it to the U.S.

Brace yourselves for mega-hyper-inflation!


.

Shuttle Launching Delayed Until Monday



By THE NEW YORK TIMES
Published: July 12, 2009
.
.
The space shuttle Endeavour was ready on Sunday, but the weather was not.

Gene Blevins/Reuters
Lightning struck the mast of the Endeavour launching pad during thunderstorms in Cape Canaveral, Fla., on Friday.
/
/




The shuttle was supposed to take off at 7:14 p.m. But, as the launch time approached, lightning and showers encroached within 20 miles of the Kennedy Space Center, too close if the Endeavour needed to make an emergency landing. NASA will try again at 6:51 p.m. Monday.

The delay is only the latest in a series of them. Last month, two launch attempts were called off because of a hydrogen leak. Engineers fixed that problem, but then lightning struck the launching pad Friday, postponing a Saturday attempt as the shuttle’s electrical systems were checked. On Sunday, no technical problems arose during the countdown, but then the clouds moved in.


Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/13/science/space/13shuttle.html
.
.

It's The Religion,...Stupid!


It's the Religion,...Stupid!
5 on 1 in the works
(U.S. Supreme Court)
*

Now that the dust has settled from the New Haven Firemen Reverse Discrimination case, and the Latina Woman can handle that situation better issue has been laid to rest; This week Sonia Sotomayor, the Puerto Rican Roman Catholic Lawyer from New York will now begin her final ascent to the Supreme Court; With a perfect alibi: a fractured ankle and crutches. Bendito!
*
*
Synchronicity?
.
WASHINGTON - US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is set to return to the world stage this week when she delivers a major policy speech and resumes foreign travel after a she was sidelined by a broken elbow. http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle08.asp?xfile=data/international/2009/July/international_July973.xml&section=middleeast.
.
Wow, two injured D.C. movers and shakers on the disabled list! What a coincidence?
.
Space Shuttle blast-off
.
The Space Shuttle is due to take-off in about 3 hours on another one of those joint venture missions with the USSR (Russia). Personally, I think they will hold it off until tomorrow, Monday the 13th.
.
Whirlwind Presidential Junket
.
President Obama is back from his historic European-African Tour. The President began with a Russian Roulette Rendezvous with the Politburo (politicos), then the L'Aquila G8 Sessions with the NWO (newly revived Holy Roman Empire plus North America and Japan); Then, Obama proceeded to have a private audience with Joseph Ratzinger, the bishop of Rome at the Vatican Compound; Finally, he wrapped up the venture with a brief visit to Ghana in Africa, for a second tour to the continent in just a few weeks (Egypt speech?).
.
Now that Obama picked-up few pointers from the powers that be on the other side of the pond; It will now be time to implement some of those insights and written directives (Caritas in Veritate) he had handed to him over there. Here comes the end-run!
It's bottom of the Ninth (no outs), one man on third base and the score is 5 to 4; and it's the RED Team's game.
.
The Real Deal (Religion)
.
On Monday the 13th, Sonia Sotomayor's Confirmation Hearings (Induction Rituals) begin on Capitoline Hill.
.
.
Is all this just a happenstance?
  1. Fractured limbs
  2. Space Missions
  3. Global Flag Jet Lag
  4. Obama's Caritas in Veritate autographed copy
  5. Back to Africa, again

Or just WMD's? Weapons of Mass Distraction?

Look, what's that over there? I made you look, tactics?

Diversionary techniques, or just part of "The Celebration"?

The Dawn of Aquarius that was heralded way back in 1969!

"That's one small step for man; one giant leap for mankind"- Neil Armstrong.

We will probably see mock procedures, or a charade-like confirmation hearing sessions. But, I can almost assure you that by Monday the 20 (The Moon Landing Anniversary), it will be a done-deal; Sotomayor will be a 6. Win-Win! The Supreme Court will have 6 Catholics!

I will paraphrase the catchy slogan (like Change) that won so many smiles, and the White House for (James Carville) ex-President Bill Clinton (current U.S. Envoy to Haiti); Yeah, the other Clinton.

In order to keep the campaign on message, Carville hung a sign in Bill Clinton's Little Rock campaign headquarters that said:


Change vs. more of the same
The economy, stupid
Don't forget health care.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/It

"It's the economy, stupid"

This time it's not the economy, or the oil; Not change, not the firemen, nor health care!

At this point I will change a word in that slogan, and paraphrase what we see before our eyes:

It's the religion, stupid!

Arsenio.

The Jesuit Infiltration of the SDA Church (Bob Trefz)

'>http://


The video above is no longer available; A dead link...

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

*****UPDATE*****

Avalanche of Spiritual Formation in the SDA Church
by: thewatchmendailynews [1 videos »]


Watch
Avalanche of Spiritual Formation in the SDA Church in Faith & Lifestyle | View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com

964
Also known as "The Jesuit Infiltration of the SDA Church", Elder Bob Trefz (a Historical SDA) exposes how the Jesuit Order through the years have infiltrated the Seventh-day Adventist Church.

.


Tremors Detected on San Andreas Fault

U.S. Geological Survey
A seismologist at the University of California, Berkeley, first discovered tremors deep in the San Andreas Fault in 2005


Tremors Detected on San Andreas Fault


By ALICIA CHANG, AP
posted: 9 HOURS 5 MINUTES AGO


LOS ANGELES (July 9) - Scientists have detected a spike in underground rumblings on a section of California's San Andreas Fault that produced a magnitude-7.8 earthquake in 1857.
What these mysterious vibrations say about future earthquakes is far from certain. But some think the deep tremors suggest underground stress may be building up faster than expected and may indicate an increased risk of a major temblor.

Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, monitored seismic activity on the fault's central section between July 2001 and February 2009 and recorded more than 2,000 tremors. The tremors lasted mere minutes to nearly half an hour.
Unlike earthquakes, tremors occur deeper below the surface and the shaking lasts longer.
During the study period, two strong earthquakes hit — a magnitude-6.5 in 2003 and a magnitude-6.0 a year later. Scientists noticed the frequency of the tremors doubled after the 2003 quake and jumped six-fold after 2004.
Tremor episodes persist today. Though the frequency of tremors have declined since 2004, scientists are still concerned because they are still at a level that is twice as high as before the 2003 quake.

The team also recorded unusually strong rumblings days before the 2004 temblor.
Results of the research appear in Friday's issue of the journal Science. The work was funded by the U.S. Geological Survey and National Science Foundation.
"The fact that the tremors haven't gone down means the time to the next earthquake may come sooner," said Berkeley seismologist and lead researcher Robert Nadeau.
Nadeau first discovered tremors deep in the San Andreas Fault in 2005. Before that, the phenomenon was thought only to occur in Earth's subduction zones, where one tectonic plate dives beneath another.
USGS seismologist Susan Hough found the latest observations intriguing, but said it's too soon to know what they mean.
"We don't have enough data to know what the fault is doing in the long term," said Hough, who had no part in the research.




..

A Backsliding Church...

This morning as I signed on to begin to post articles for the day, I discovered a comment by an anonymous brethren on one of the Bacchiocchi articles. I moderated it and posted it on my blog. I want to share this comment with you; it is a quote of a statement written by Ellen G. White:

It is a backsliding church that lessens the distance between itself and the Papacy.
Signs of the Times, vol. 3, 99
How true that is. Thank you, anonymous; It is well understood!

Sligo Seventh-day Adventist Church

Rev. Rebecca Brillhart of the Sligo Seventh Day Adventist Church on why her congregation recently hosted a gathering of over 1,000 interdenominational social activists.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TO2g21aHy5ohttp://

Pope confronts economic injustice


Pope confronts economic injustice
Bruce Duncan July 10, 2009

Pope Benedict's new encyclical is not the strident critique of capitalism some were expecting, but it is nonetheless a robust critique of abuses in the global economy, particularly in financial markets. The Pope also highlights the scandalous contrast between the ostentatious wealth and profligacy by richer people and countries, and the acute deprivation of many millions of others.
Benedict has written this 30,000-word encyclical, Caritas in Veritate (Charity in Truth), commemorating Pope Paul VI's 1967 encyclical, Development of Peoples, to inject into current debates the Church's alarm at the injustice inflicted on hundreds of millions of people, and its concern the plight of impoverished peoples will be ignored.

Development of Peoples was aptly named, and caused a sensation throughout many developing countries, invigorating Church and community groups everywhere to prioritise the urgent demands of world development. In Pope Benedict's view, Development of Peoples set a fresh course for human endeavour.

Though he does not use the term 'neoliberalism', Benedict is critical of the free market ideology which extolled wealth creation but ignored the need for equity and social justice. Astonishing wealth was accumulated in the hands of a few, and the great opportunity to redistribute wealth more widely to wind back hunger and poverty rapidly has been jeopardised at the cost of millions of unnecessary deaths.

Benedict sees commitment to improving human wellbeing as essential to Christian religious belief. Indeed, Paul VI recognised in the notion of development 'the heart of the Christian message'

Benedict is careful to distance this effort from political messianism or utopian ideologies, since he knows we can never achieve a perfect world on earth. Nevertheless he writes that it is the task of Christians to build up the 'earthly city' to embody human values more fully, prefiguring the final Reign of God which only God can bring.

The Pope insists that the Church must help promote 'integral human development', adopting a public role in addition to her activity in charitable and education work. Indeed he sees the task of human development as a vocation, a call from God, for each of us, which 'involves a free assumption of responsibility in solidarity on the part of everyone'. The Pope places this vocation in the framework of transcendence before God, recognising other people are made in the image of God, with immense dignity and the rights that spring from that.

He also insists on the need for distributive justice and social justice in the market economy, since without these forms of internal solidarity and trust the market will fail. Hence the market must be directed by the State and civil society to ensure that wealth is ethically distributed. He writes that recent developments in market economies are threatening the redistributive functions of states.

'The processes of globalisation ... open up the unprecedented possibility of large-scale redistribution of wealth on a world-wide scale; if badly directed, however, they can lead to an increase in poverty and inequality, and could trigger a global crisis. Indeed, he warns that the benefits of globalisation 'have ended up largely in the hands of people from developed countries', and he warns against the power of 'private interests'.

None of this will surprise people familiar with Catholic social teaching. You will also find in the encyclical his strong support for trade unions and their rights to represent their members. The Pope urges unions to take a greater role in advocacy also for non-members and other disadvantaged groups.

All is not gloom and doom for Benedict. He recognises that the human race has tremendous resources, including skills and technology, to bring to the fight against hunger and poverty. But to succeed we will need to be smart in how we remodel our societies, taking special care for the environment and the prospects for future generations. We will need to live more modestly, adopting new lifestyles so that everyone can have enough for a decent life.

As Benedict concludes: 'The current crisis obliges us to re-plan our journey, to set ourselves new rules and to discover new forms of commitment, to build on positive experiences and to reject negative ones. The crisis thus becomes an opportunity ... to shape a new vision for the future.'


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

Fr Bruce Duncan is one of the founders of the advocacy organisation Social Policy Connections and director of the Yarra Institute for Religion and Social Policy.
.
.