Monday, June 07, 2010

Scalia Lends Some Italian Help to Sotomayor


Monday, 07 Jun 2010 07:19 PM



WASHINGTON — It's not just what you say, but how you say it, Justice Antonin Scalia often advises lawyers.

So when Justice Sonia Sotomayor was having trouble with an Italian word Monday, she turned to Scalia, the court's resident language maven. And one New Yorker to another, they sorted it out right there on the bench in front of an amused audience.

Sotomayor hesitated as she was about to say the name of an Italian cruise line that figured in the opinion she was summarizing involving a woman who broke her leg on a cruise.

"Costa Cruises responded that she should have sued a related company called Costa — I'm going to ask my colleague Justice Scalia to say it right," Sotomayor said. The company's name is Costa Crociere.

"Kroo-chee-ER-ay," said Scalia, the son of a professor of Romance languages at Brooklyn College.

"Kroo-chee-ER-ay," the Bronx-born Sotomayor repeated, adding, "I want to put the Spanish accent on it." .

.

.

Inside the Secret Bilderberg Group


Inside the Secret Bilderberg Group


June 7th, 2010 at 2:28 pm by David Frum


The Bilderberg group met this past weekend in the town of Sitges, near Barcelona, exciting conspiracy buffs into frenzies of thrilled horror.

Back in the 1990s, I attended 3 or 4 Bilderberg meetings as a guest of Conrad Black, the Canadian media magnate.

Based on that experience, I well understand the group’s intense need for secrecy: If Bilderberg meetings were open to the public — if they were carried live on C-SPAN — the intense global fascination with the mysterious group would vanish at a puff.

I don’t mean that Bilderberg meetings are boring. They aren’t, not especially. They are precisely as interesting as any other conference that focuses on global economic data, the urgency of European integration, and the ever-rising menace of populist conservatism in the United States. I cannot recall ever hearing anything said in off-the-record conversations that the person speaking would not have said on-the-record. And in fact, everything said at Bilderberg is published in a summary volume, only with names redacted. Thus you can read in full the impassioned speech delivered at the plenary session urging more pressure on Israel to make concessions to the Palestinians. You will be left in ignorance only whether those words were spoken by the Croatian finance minister or the former editor of the second-largest newspaper in Spain.

The idea of Bilderberg as a shadow world government is rather funny. Bilderberg itself demurs, on grounds that the group only hosts discussions, never adopts resolutions or anything like that. But that’s not the real rebuttal. Unlike Davos, Bilderberg is a membership organization: Most attendees return every year. Over time, this practice has given Bilderberg a distinct yesteryear quality. You were much more likely to meet an “ex” this or “former” that than anyone in office today. Guests too tended to reflect the interests and enthusiasms of prior decades. You wouldn’t meet Bono at Bilderberg. (Or rather – you wouldn’t have in the 1990s. Maybe you would now!)

For this reason, already it was true in the 1990s that Bilderberg felt itself being overtaken by glitzier competitors, especially the World Economic Forum in Davos. Nobody would ever describe Bilderberg as glitzy. Meetings were decidedly low-tech: panel discussions, not powerpoints. The group met in comfortable but hardly sumptuous resort hotels. Meals were served buffet style, with the group’s patron, the Queen of the Netherlands, carrying her own plate and joining the queue.

It was precisely the anachronistic quality of Bilderberg that always fascinated me most and that looms largest in my own memory.

Scene: I’m in the hotel bar after a Bilderberg session in Belgium. I get into conversation with an elderly fellow-attendee, a wealthy German businessman. Then: “You know, I was a Nazi.” Weren’t a lot of people? “Oh yes. But I was especially ardent. I volunteered for service in Russia.” What happened? “My parents were aghast. They thought the war was madness. They were influential people – and so my father got me an assignment as military attaché in Portugal. That’s the only reason I’m alive now.”

Scene: At my first meeting, I met David Rockefeller, now dead. During a long conversation I was able to ask, “Tell me about your father’s relationship with Mackenzie King.” I should mention for Americans: Mackenzie King was Canada’s longest serving prime minister. He began his career as a student of labor relations, worked for the Rockefeller family, and is often harshly described in Canadian history books as some kind of servitor of the Rockefeller interests. Not according to David Rockefeller: “Mackenzie King was my father’s best friend. Yet in all the years they knew each other, they never called each other by their first names. It was always, ‘Mr. King’ and ‘Mr. Rockefeller.’”

Scene: Conrad Black was chatting with Lord Cranborne, the eldest son of the Marquis of Salisbury, and the leader of the Conservatives in the House of Lords. The Salisbury clan are lineal descendents of Queen Elizabeth I’s most trusted adviser, William Cecil, and a family that has held onto its collected gains for getting on half a millennium. The Conservatives were just collecting themselves after the catastrophe of 1997, and Cranborne was suggesting that they should adapt a theme from the Labour playbook, the “stakeholder society.” Black laughed. “Seems to me,” he said, “that the Cecils are the ultimate stakeholders!”

Scene: I am stepping out of the minibus into the security cordon at the hotel hosting the Bilderberg. Beyond the cordon are a group of photographers equipped with super-telephoto lenses. They are snapping photos of attendees. These photoshoots are regular features of the meetings: the same people return year after year, building an archive of faces for some conspiracy database somewhere. They snap mine too. Briefly I consider walking over and telling them that they are wasting their time. Then I rethink. I discover I rather like being mistaken for an international man of mystery. I decide I’ll keep the secret a little bit longer. .
.

..

Police: Fla. Gunman Kills Wife and 3 Others, Then Self

Crime
Police: Fla. Gunman Kills Wife and 3 Others, Then Self




David Lohr
Contributor

AOL News (June 7) -- A 38-year-old man reported to be the half brother of a former Major League Baseball star went on a shooting rampage in Florida late Sunday night, killing his wife and three other women, police say.

Police have identified the man, who was found dead from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound near the scene, as Gerardo Regalado of Coral Gables. According to The Miami Herald, he is the half-brother of pitcher Orlando "El Duque" Hernandez.

Regalado was seen arguing with his wife, 24-year-old Liazan Molina, in a parking lot outside the Yoyito Restaurant in Hialeah around 10:15 Sunday night, The Associated Press reported.

"It was some sort of domestic dispute," said Hialeah police Detective Eddie Rodriguez.

Police say the dispute turned violent when Regalado pulled out a .45-caliber handgun and shot his wife dead, then entered the restaurant and shot six women inside, killing three.

Regalado ignored two male bystanders and "went straight for the women," Rodriguez said.

The women killed inside the restaurant have been identified as Maysel Figueroa, 32, Lavina M. Fonseca, 47, and Zaida Castillo, 56. All were residents of Hialeah.

The three survivors have been hospitalized in critical condition. According to the online media outlet American Chronicle, they are Mayra Delacaridad, 55, of Hialeah Gardens; Ivet Coronado Fernandez, 36, of Miami; and Yasmine Dominguez.

Police say Regalado drove off after the shooting in an SUV owned by one of the victims. That vehicle was later found parked several blocks away, with Regalado's body inside.

Hernandez was unavailable for comment today, but NBC Miami did print a statement from him.

"On behalf of the Hernandez family we would like to offer our deepest sympathy to all of the families involved in this terrible tragedy," the statement read. "It is with great pain that we reach out to everyone affected and offer our prayers in this time of sorrow."

Police say a motive in the killing spree is not yet known.
.

http://www.aolnews.com/crime/article/police-florida-gunman-gerardo-regalado-kills-wife-and-3-others-then-self/19506655

.

Sunday, June 06, 2010

Pelosi Welcomes Church's Role — When Convenient

Written by Raven Clabough
Thursday, 13 May 2010 14:40



Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi on May 6 addressed the Catholic clergyman at the Catholic Community Conference on Capitol Hill, where she attempted to use the Christian leaders' belief system to push her liberal agenda.

Pelosi remarked, “The cardinals, the archbishops, the bishops that come to me … say, ‘We want you to pass immigration reform,’ and I said, I want you to speak about it from the pulpit. Some (who oppose) immigration reform are sitting in those pews, and you have to tell them that this is a manifestation of our living the gospels.”

Speak from the pulpit? Educate parishioners sitting in their pews? Up until now, hasn't the Speaker of the House been a major proponent of the “separation of church and state”? Yes, indeed. In fact, when ranked by the AU, Americans United for Separation of Church and State, she was assigned a grade of 100 percent for her strict adherence to this maxim.

Of course, anyone who has read the Constitution knows that the axiom “separation of church and state” is nowhere to be found. The Constitution’s reference to religion is simply that Congress cannot establish a national religion, nor prohibit the free exercise of religion. But for years, the constitutional language has been misconstrued to serve the progressive agenda and the First Amendment morphed into the liberal rallying cry “separation of church and state.”

But all of a sudden, believes Pelosi, the Church and state are partners. Pelosi obviously wants to use the church to push the agenda of the state, but she would like to pick and choose when the church can play such a role. She said, “I think the Church is going to have to play a very major role in how we, in how people, are treated.”

Yet, that role is completely discretionary to Pelosi. For example, in her 2008 appearance on Meet the Press, she insisted that the church could not be the moral authority on abortion. Tom Brokaw pointed out that on the issue of abortion, “The Catholic Church at the moment feels very strongly that life begins at the point of conception.” To this, Pelosi replied, “It shouldn’t have an impact on the woman’s right to choose.”

Charles J. Chaput, the Archbishop of Denver issued a statement entitled, “On the Separation of Sense and State”, wherein he criticized Pelosi for her views on abortion. The statement reads:“Catholic public leaders inconvenienced by the abortion debate tend to take a hard line in talking about the ‘separation of Church and state’. But their idea of separation often seems to work one way.”

Chaput added that while Pelosi possesses a variety of skills, “knowledge of Catholic history and teaching does not seem to be one of them.”

In the same interview with Meet the Press, Pelosi added, “It is also true that God has given us, each of us, a free will and a responsibility to answer for our actions.”

That last statement is particularly confusing, since virtually everything on the progressive agenda involves the violation of free will, from forcing Americans to maintain a healthy diet, to “protecting” us from the overwhelming amount of information on the Internet, to forcing us to redistribute our wealth.

Progressives like Nancy Pelosi defend the violation of free will under the guise of “social justice,” which they interchange with “charity.” But they would not be able to find anything in the Bible or Judeo-Christian tradition indicating that the government should force people into charity, aka “redistributing their wealth.” In fact, forcing people to be charitable violates the very definition of charity, which necessitates a voluntary component. Senator Pelosi is free to funnel her own money into causes she deems charitble, but she is not exhibiting charity when she votes to use the power of the state to take from some to give to others.

Many conservative Catholic groups and individuals continue to call for the excomunication of Nancy Pelosi for her views on issues like abortion, embryonic stem cell research, and human cloning. Likewise, her recent hypocritical comments to the Catholic Community Conference have received a great deal of media coverage on the radio, television, and Internet, with the notable exception of certain fawning pundits at the most liberal media outlets.

Examining Pelosi’s remarks to the Catholic Community Conference does more than reveal her hypocrisy, but also exposes her disconnect from the Biblical teachings. Jesus Christ preached “justice,” not “social justice.” Progressives like Pelosi attempt to use the terms “justice” and “charity” as if they are one in the same and redirect Biblical teachings about spirituality and eternality to focus on the secular.

At least her propensity to misconstrue esablished principles is not limited to the Constitution, though that is not a very comforting sentiment.

Photo: Nancy Pelosi, along with an unidentified priest in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem in 2007: AP Images
.
.
.

Is Nancy Pelosi violating the (mythical) separation of church and state?

June 2, 1:38 PM

Atlanta Creationism Examiner
John Leonard



Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi
courtesy of Wikimedia Commons






The provocative headline speaks volumes: "Pelosi Says She Has a Duty to Pursue Policies in Keeping With the Values of Jesus, The Word Made Flesh."


How long before the hue and cry erupts about this egregious violation of the amendment which bans the establishment of any state religion?

There is little doubt if an evangelical Christian made such a claim, the protests demanding separation of church and state would be deafening.

If a conservative anti-abortion politician advocated establishing a faith-based government, calls for his or her resignation would be virtually nonstop.

Surely it will only be a matter of time before the major news outlets pick up the story.

Or will it? Pelosi is attempting to use her distorted version of her Catholicism and use God Himself to promote her liberal political agenda, but most of her policies are supported by a predominantly liberal mainstream media.

The CNS News article by Nicholas Ballasy noted, "Pelosi, who is a Catholic and who favors legalized abortion, voted against the ban on partial-birth abortion that was enacted into law in 2003."

How on earth can anyone defend partial birth abortion as compatible with Christian beliefs? The grisly medical procedure was nothing more than legal infanticide until finally banned, and she voted against the ban!

Catholics theoretically don't even believe in birth control, but that's a topic for another day. This article isn't about bashing Catholics, but commenting on the radical liberal views of one particular Democrat leader who claims to be Catholic. Her faith is not reflected by her voting record, however. She routinely votes against key positions held by the Catholic church.

Pelosi had the gall to say, "And that Word," She said, "is, we have to give voice to what that means in terms of public policy that would be in keeping with the values of the Word. The Word. Isn’t it a beautiful word when you think of it? It just covers everything. The Word."

"The Word" doesn't refer to the Bible as the word of God. Pelosi means what the Bible calls the "Word", a euphemism for Jesus Christ. That translates to using her personal interpretation of his teachings, not what's in the Bible or taught by her church. So in reality, Pelosi isn't promising to lead a Bible-based government, but one configured according to her own liberal interpretation of "What Would Jesus Do?"

This is a clear violation of the First Amendment both Christian and atheist should unanimously oppose. While the mythical "separation of church and state" does not exist in the Constitution or any federal law, there are clear prohibitions against the establishment of a government-sponsored religion.

Everyone has the free right to worship the God of their choice. In the instance of our atheist friends, they have the right to worship no God at all but are asked to respect the rights of those who do.

Nancy's real question is apparently, "What can Jesus do that will help elect more Democrats and keep them in power?" This shameful ploy will not fool many people with faith, but will this tactic repel her secular supporters?


Source: http://www.examiner.com/x-38195-Atlanta-Creationism-Examiner~y2010m6d2-Is-Nancy-Pelosi-violating-the-mythical-separation-of-church-and-state
.
.
P.S. John Leonard: If you think the separation between Church and State is Mythical; You demostrate your lack of knowlege of the pillars, principles (Checks and Balances) that distinguish this Constitutional Republic. The country that once prided itself of having no King or Pope, is now being fooled by experts like you!

If you want this separation to disappear so that catholics and evan-jelly-cals can "bring the country back to God"; Just wait a few years: It's on track to become a theocracy like mid-evil Europe. My Bible predicts this will occur in the home of the brave, and the land of the free. It's changing before our eyes. Just look and see if you have eyes to see. You'll notice that 6 0ut of 9 supreme court justices are Roman Catholics, and soon there will be no Protestants in that body.....
.
What has happened to the land of the Pilgrims? They came here escaping the Anglicans, and the Catholics know-it-alls. Now those same people (Oxford) dominate this nation!

Arsenio.
.

Israel forced to apologise for YouTube spoof of Gaza flotilla

Israeli government press office distributed video link featuring Arabs and activists singing


Rachel Shabi in Jerusalem
guardian.co.uk, Sunday 6 June 2010 22.44 BST

The Israeli government has been forced to apologise for circulating a spoof video mocking activists aboard the Gaza flotilla, nine of who were shot dead by Israeli forces last week.

The YouTube clip, set to the tune of the 1985 charity single We Are the World, features Israelis dressed as Arabs and activists, waving weapons while singing: "We con the world, we con the people. We'll make them all believe the IDF (Israel Defence Force) is Jack the Ripper."

It continues: "There's no people dying, so the best that we can do is create the biggest bluff of all."

The Israeli government press office distributed the video link to foreign journalists at the weekend, but within hours emailed them an apology, saying it had been an error. Press office director Danny Seaman said the video did not reflect official state opinion, but in his personal capacity he thought it was "fantastic".

Government spokesman Mark Regev said the video reflected how Israelis felt about the incident. "I called my kids in to watch it because I thought it was funny," he said. "It is what Israelis feel. But the government has nothing to do with it."

The clip features a group led by the Jerusalem Post's deputy managing editor Caroline Glick, wearing keffiyehs and calling themselves the Flotilla Choir. The footage is interspersed with clips from the recent Israeli raid on the Gaza-bound aid ship, the Mavi Marmara.

The clip has been praised in Israel, where the mass-circulation daily Yediot Aharonot said the singers "defended Israel better than any of the experts".

But Didi Remez, an Israeli who runs the liberal-left news analysis blog Coteret, said the clip was "repulsive" and reflected how out of touch Israeli opinion was with the rest of the world. "It shows a complete lack of understanding of how the incident is being perceived abroad," she said. Award-winning Israeli journalist Meron Rapoport said the clip demonstrated prejudice against Muslims. "It's roughly done, not very sophisticated, anti-Muslim – and childish for the government to be behind such a clip," he said.

A similar press office email was sent to foreign journalists two weeks ago, recommending a gourmet restaurant and Olympic-sized swimming pool in Gaza to highlight Israel's claim there is no humanitarian crisis there. Journalists who complained the email was in poor taste were told they had "no sense of humour".

Last week, the Israel Defence Force had to issue a retraction over an audio clip it had claimed was a conversation between Israeli naval officials and people on the Mavi Marmara, in which an activist told soldiers to "go back to Auschwitz". The clip was carried by Israeli and international press, but today the army released a "clarification/correction", explaining that it had edited the footage and that it was not clear who had made the comment.

The Israeli army also backed down last week from an earlier claim that soldiers were attacked by al-Qaida "mercenaries" aboard the Gaza flotilla. An article appearing on the IDF spokesperson's website with the headline: "Attackers of the IDF soldiers found to be al-Qaida mercenaries", was later changed to "Attackers of the IDF Soldiers found without identification papers," with the information about al-Qaida removed from the main article. An army spokesperson told the Guardian there was no evidence proving such a link to the terror organisation.

While the debate over accounts of the flotilla raid continues, Israel is facing more boycotting. In the past week, three international acts, including the US rock band the Pixies, have cancelled concerts in Tel Aviv.

Best-settling authors Alice Walker and Iain Banks have backed the boycott campaign, with Banks announcing his books won't be translated into Hebrew. Dockworker unions in Sweden and South Africa have refused to handle Israeli ships, while the UK's Unite union just passed a motion to boycott Israeli companies.
,
,
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jun/06/israel-youtube-gaza-flotilla
.

Alexandria, Virginia "on" FEEDJIT Live Traffic Feed


LIGHTHOUSE BAPTIST CHURCH
640 × 290 - 39k - jpg
http://dcgayandlesbianweddingvenues.blogspot.com


I reiterate that there is an entity in Alexandria Virginia, that is meticulously reviewing and possibly scanning every label, title, name in EndrTimes. This has been under way for more than 2 weeks.


Now, who might that be? And, what do they want?


I'd like to ask them as they used to say a few years ago: Are you writing a book?


Again, I ask myself who might be so interested in the contents of this humble blog?.


I'll give you three guesses...


Could its name or number begin with a 6?


Here's the point:



FEEDJIT Live Traffic Feed


A visitor from Altamonte Springs, Florida
viewed "EndrTimes" 23 secs ago

A visitor from Alexandria, Virginia
viewed "EndrTimes: Morgan Robertson" 4 mins ago

A visitor from Alexandria, Virginia
viewed "EndrTimes: Morgan Robertson" 5 mins ago

A visitor from Alexandria, Virginia
viewed "EndrTimes: Morgan Robertson" 7 mins ago

A visitor from Bangkok, Krung Thep
viewed "EndrTimes: Glenn Beck: A Savvy Fraud Who Knows Just How to Please His Audience of Conservative Suckers" 8 mins ago

A visitor from Alexandria, Virginia
viewed "EndrTimes: Morgan Robertson" 8 mins ago

A visitor from Alexandria, Virginia
viewed "EndrTimes: Morgan Robertson" 10 mins ago

A visitor from Alexandria, Virginia
viewed "EndrTimes: Morgan Robertson" 11 mins ago

A visitor from Port Elizabeth, Eastern Cape
left "EndrTimes" via religiouscounterfeits.org 12 mins ago

A visitor from Port Elizabeth, Eastern Cape
left "EndrTimes" via toolong.com 17 mins ago
.

Arsenio.
,.

Saturday, June 05, 2010

Pope, in Cyprus, Appeals for Embattled Christians

VOA News 05 June 2010

Photo: AP
Pope Benedict XVI walks alongside Cypriot President Dimitris Christofias during a welcoming ceremony at the Presidential Palace in Nicosia, Cyprus, 05 Jun 2010

Pope Benedict has urged the diverse groups on the island of Cyprus and the surrounding region to strive for peace and reconciliation.

The pontiff met Saturday with Cypriot President Dimitris Christofias and the island's Maronite Christian community. Maronite Archbishop Youssef Soueif asked the pope to help return displaced Maronites to their homes in the northern, Turkish-held part of Cyprus.

President Christofias denounced the 1974 Turkish invasion of northern Cyprus, echoing the words of Orthodox Archbishop Chrysostomos. The leader of the island's Orthodox Christian community spoke with the pope shortly after his arrival in Cyprus Friday.

Pope Benedict did not comment on the division of Cyprus, but he urged its people to find harmony. The Vatican had said peace would be the key theme of the pontiff's three-day pilgrimage to the Mediterranean island.

Many bishops from the region have traveled to Cyprus to meet with the pope.

A leading Turkish Catholic bishop was killed Thursday in eastern Turkey before his departure for Cyprus. Turkish officials said his driver was charged with his murder, which they say was not politically motivated. They say the suspect is mentally unstable.

Pope Benedict expressed "sadness" about the killing of Bishop Luigi Padovese, but he said it should not hurt Catholic dialogue with Islam, or reflect on Turkey and its people.

Pope Benedict is not scheduled to visit the Turkish-controlled part of Cyprus during this visit.

The island is split between a Greek Cypriot south and a Turkish Cypriot north. Greek Cypriots have accused the Turkish north of destroying Orthodox churches or turning them into shops and restaurants. The Turkish side says the Greeks have wrecked mosques in the south.

The majority of Cypriots are Greek Orthodox Christians, who sometimes also clash with the Roman Catholic minority.


Some information for this report was provided by AP, AFP and Reuters.


..

Revolution - Prayer Of St Thomas at Seventh day adventist Florida Hospital Church

http://

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYbZYO7wKlk

RossandAzadFHC — August 10, 2009 — This video was taken at Seventh day adventist Florida Hospital Church. this song was written by Trinity vineyard, and we decided to make a cover. very good song, the song is very Worshipful.

Members in this video Are:
Azad- Acoustic guitar, Lead Vocal.
Ross- Electric Guitar, vocals, Harmony
Zack & Josh- Drums
David- Bass guitar
Lori- Harmony
Anna- Back up Vocals
Ellina- Back up Vocals
Casey-Back up vocals
. .

boise oasis seventh day adventist song service pt2

http://

doedeedum — February 09, 2008 — the boise oasis church song service please excuse poor audio. i had a hp photosmart m737 and the mic hole is the size of a pin head. i now have a fuji film camera and audio is perfect on that camera. the oasis church starts at 10:00 am. i'll add the address later.
.

Fear and reverence God


To secure worldly gains and honors, the church was led to seek the favor and support of the great men of earth; and having thus rejected Christ, she was induced to yield allegiance to the representative of Satan --the bishop of Rome.

It is one of the leading doctrines of Romanism that the pope is the visible head of the universal church of Christ, invested with supreme authority over bishops and pastors in all parts of the world. More than this, the pope has been given the very titles of Deity. He has been styled "Lord God the Pope" (see Appendix), and has been declared infallible. He demands the homage of all men. The same claim urged by Satan in the wilderness of temptation is still urged by him through the Church of Rome, and vast numbers are ready to yield him homage.

But those who fear and reverence God meet this heaven-daring assumption as Christ met the solicitations of the wily foe: "Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve." Luke 4:8. God has never given a hint in His word that He has appointed any man to be the head of the church. The doctrine of papal supremacy is directly opposed to the teachings of the Scriptures. The pope can have no power over Christ's church except by usurpation.

Romanists have persisted in bringing against Protestants the charge of heresy and willful separation from the true church. But these accusations apply rather to themselves. They are the ones who laid down the banner of Christ and departed from "the faith which was once delivered unto the saints." Jude 3.

Satan well knew that the Holy Scriptures would enable men to discern his deceptions and withstand his power. It was by the word that even the Saviour of the world had resisted his attacks. At every assault, Christ presented the shield of eternal truth, saying, "It is written." To every suggestion of the adversary, He opposed the wisdom and power of the word. In order for Satan to maintain his sway over men, and establish the authority of the papal usurper, he must keep them in ignorance of the Scriptures. The Bible would exalt God and place finite men in their true position; therefore its sacred truths must be concealed and suppressed. This logic was adopted by the Roman Church. For hundreds of years the circulation of the Bible was prohibited. The people were forbidden to read it or to have it in their houses, and unprincipled priests and prelates interpreted its teachings to sustain their pretensions. Thus the pope came to be almost universally acknowledged as the vicegerent of God on earth, endowed with authority over church and state.

The detector of error having been removed, Satan worked according to his will. Prophecy had declared that the papacy was to "think to change times and laws." Daniel 7:25. This work it was not slow to attempt. To afford converts from heathenism a substitute for the worship of idols, and thus to promote their nominal acceptance of Christianity, the adoration of images and relics was gradually introduced into the Christian worship. The decree of a general council (see Appendix) finally established this system of idolatry. To complete the sacrilegious work, Rome presumed to expunge from the law of God the second commandment, forbidding image worship, and to divide the tenth commandment, in order to preserve the number.
.

The Great Controversy (1911), E. G. White, pp.50-52.

World Health Organization Scientists Linked to Swine Flu Vaccine Makers


Investigation Raises Questions About WHO's Handling of H1N1 Pandemic


By TODD NEALE, MedPage Today
June 5, 2010

Scientists who advised the World Health Organization on its influenza policies and recommendations—including the decision to proclaim the so-called swine flu a "pandemic" had close ties to companies that manufacture vaccines and antiviral medicines like Tamiflu, a fact that WHO did not publicly disclose.

The links between the advisors and the companies that make money from vaccines and flu treatments were detailed in a report published online by the British medical journal BMJ, which investigated the advisors' role in WHO's policy.

The report by Deborah Cohen, features editor of BMJ, and Philip Carter, a journalist with the Bureau of Investigative Journalism in London, acknowledged that flu experts do "need to work with industry to develop the best possible drugs for illnesses," but said that allowing industry experts to have a role in the formulation of public health policy was a slippery slope.
And worse, Cohen and Carter said, was the failure of WHO officials to disclose the conflicts of interest or even identify the members of its advisory committee.

In a statement, WHO's secretary-general Margaret Chan, MD, MPH, said the purpose of keeping the committee members anonymous "is to protect the integrity and independence of the members while doing this critical work — but also to ensure transparency by publicly providing the names of the members as well as information about any interest declared by them at the appropriate time."

And in the U.S. a spokesperson for the Department of Health and Human Services defended WHO's handling of the pandemic.

"The WHO handled the outbreak in a very measured and appropriate manner," he said. "Their decisions were driven by the existing and evolving conditions at the time and what the best scientific information was telling us. It's very easy to look back through a 20-20 lens and essentially be an armchair quarterback."

Addressing the possibility of industry-influence on WHO's decisions, the spokesman said, "The WHO based its decisions on strong public health considerations and I don't think there was any indication from our perspective that their decisions were influenced by industry in any way."

The H1N1 pandemic, which will mark its one-year anniversary on June 11, "could, of course, have been far worse," Cohen and Carter wrote. "Planning for the worst while hoping for the best remains a sensible approach. But our investigation has revealed damaging issues. If these are not addressed, H1N1 may yet claim its biggest victim — the credibility of the WHO and the trust in the global public health system."

And the medical journal wasn't the only entity going on record with a critical assessment of WHO. A report from the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly published on the same day the BMJ report was released called into question WHO's handling of the H1N1 pandemic.

An official Council of Europe inquiry led by Paul Flynn, a British member of parliament, concluded that the "Parliamentary Assembly is alarmed about the way in which the H1N1 influenza pandemic has been handled, not only by the World Health Organization (WHO), but also by the competent health authorities at the level of the European Union and at national level."
.
.
Source: http://abcnews.go.com/Health/SwineFlu/swine-flu-pandemic-world-health-organization-scientists-linked/story?id=10829940
...

The Children of Israel Did Secretly Those Things That Were Not Right Against The Lord Their God


2 Kings 17


1In the twelfth year of Ahaz king of Judah began Hoshea the son of Elah to reign in Samaria over Israel nine years.

2And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, but not as the kings of Israel that were before him.

3Against him came up Shalmaneser king of Assyria; and Hoshea became his servant, and gave him presents.

4And the king of Assyria found conspiracy in Hoshea: for he had sent messengers to So king of Egypt, and brought no present to the king of Assyria, as he had done year by year: therefore the king of Assyria shut him up, and bound him in prison.

5Then the king of Assyria came up throughout all the land, and went up to Samaria, and besieged it three years.

6In the ninth year of Hoshea the king of Assyria took Samaria, and carried Israel away into Assyria, and placed them in Halah and in Habor by the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes.

7For so it was, that the children of Israel had sinned against the LORD their God, which had brought them up out of the land of Egypt, from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and had feared other gods,

8And walked in the statutes of the heathen, whom the LORD cast out from before the children of Israel, and of the kings of Israel, which they had made.

9And the children of Israel did secretly those things that were not right against the LORD their God, and they built them high places in all their cities, from the tower of the watchmen to the fenced city.

10And they set them up images and groves in every high hill, and under every green tree:

11And there they burnt incense in all the high places, as did the heathen whom the LORD carried away before them; and wrought wicked things to provoke the LORD to anger:

12For they served idols, whereof the LORD had said unto them, Ye shall not do this thing.

13Yet the LORD testified against Israel, and against Judah, by all the prophets, and by all the seers, saying, Turn ye from your evil ways, and keep my commandments and my statutes, according to all the law which I commanded your fathers, and which I sent to you by my servants the prophets.

14Notwithstanding they would not hear, but hardened their necks, like to the neck of their fathers, that did not believe in the LORD their God.

15And they rejected his statutes, and his covenant that he made with their fathers, and his testimonies which he testified against them; and they followed vanity, and became vain, and went after the heathen that were round about them, concerning whom the LORD had charged them, that they should not do like them.

16And they left all the commandments of the LORD their God, and made them molten images, even two calves, and made a grove, and worshipped all the host of heaven, and served Baal.



17And they caused their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire, and used divination and enchantments, and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the LORD, to provoke him to anger.

18Therefore the LORD was very angry with Israel, and removed them out of his sight: there was none left but the tribe of Judah only.

19Also Judah kept not the commandments of the LORD their God, but walked in the statutes of Israel which they made.

20And the LORD rejected all the seed of Israel, and afflicted them, and delivered them into the hand of spoilers, until he had cast them out of his sight.

21For he rent Israel from the house of David; and they made Jeroboam the son of Nebat king: and Jeroboam drave Israel from following the LORD, and made them sin a great sin.

22For the children of Israel walked in all the sins of Jeroboam which he did; they departed not from them;

23Until the LORD removed Israel out of his sight, as he had said by all his servants the prophets. So was Israel carried away out of their own land to Assyria unto this day.

24And the king of Assyria brought men from Babylon, and from Cuthah, and from Ava, and from Hamath, and from Sepharvaim, and placed them in the cities of Samaria instead of the children of Israel: and they possessed Samaria, and dwelt in the cities thereof.

25And so it was at the beginning of their dwelling there, that they feared not the LORD: therefore the LORD sent lions among them, which slew some of them.

26Wherefore they spake to the king of Assyria, saying, The nations which thou hast removed, and placed in the cities of Samaria, know not the manner of the God of the land: therefore he hath sent lions among them, and, behold, they slay them, because they know not the manner of the God of the land.
27Then the king of Assyria commanded, saying, Carry thither one of the priests whom ye brought from thence; and let them go and dwell there, and let him teach them the manner of the God of the land.

28Then one of the priests whom they had carried away from Samaria came and dwelt in Bethel, and taught them how they should fear the LORD.

29Howbeit every nation made gods of their own, and put them in the houses of the high places which the Samaritans had made, every nation in their cities wherein they dwelt.

30And the men of Babylon made Succothbenoth, and the men of Cuth made Nergal, and the men of Hamath made Ashima,

31And the Avites made Nibhaz and Tartak, and the Sepharvites burnt their children in fire to Adrammelech and Anammelech, the gods of Sepharvaim.

32So they feared the LORD, and made unto themselves of the lowest of them priests of the high places, which sacrificed for them in the houses of the high places.

33They feared the LORD, and served their own gods, after the manner of the nations whom they carried away from thence.

34Unto this day they do after the former manners: they fear not the LORD, neither do they after their statutes, or after their ordinances, or after the law and commandment which the LORD commanded the children of Jacob, whom he named Israel;

35With whom the LORD had made a covenant, and charged them, saying, Ye shall not fear other gods, nor bow yourselves to them, nor serve them, nor sacrifice to them:

36But the LORD, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt with great power and a stretched out arm, him shall ye fear, and him shall ye worship, and to him shall ye do sacrifice.

37And the statutes, and the ordinances, and the law, and the commandment, which he wrote for you, ye shall observe to do for evermore; and ye shall not fear other gods.

38And the covenant that I have made with you ye shall not forget; neither shall ye fear other gods.

39But the LORD your God ye shall fear; and he shall deliver you out of the hand of all your enemies.

40Howbeit they did not hearken, but they did after their former manner.

41So these nations feared the LORD, and served their graven images, both their children, and their children's children: as did their fathers, so do they unto this day.


King James Version (KJV)

The Counterfeit Revival


Easter Sunday "Jesus Resurrect"
Welcome from the Celebration Center family!
A Seventh-day Adventist Church
1137 Bryn Mawr Avenue, Redlands, CA 92374



This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, . . . having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away. 2 Tim. 3:1, 2, 5.


Before the final visitation of God's judgments upon the earth there will be among the people of the Lord such a revival of primitive godliness as has not been witnessed since apostolic times. The Spirit and power of God will be poured out upon His children. At that time many will separate themselves from those churches in which the love of this world has supplanted love for God and His word. Many, both of ministers and people, will gladly accept those great truths which God has caused to be proclaimed at this time to prepare a people for the Lord's second coming. The enemy of souls desires to hinder this work; and before the time for such a movement shall come, he will endeavor to prevent it by introducing a counterfeit. In those churches which he can bring under his deceptive power he will make it appear that God's special blessing is poured out; there will be manifest what is thought to be great religious interest. Multitudes will exult that God is working marvelously for them, when the work is that of another spirit. Under a religious guise, Satan will seek to extend his influence over the Christian world.

In many of the revivals which have occurred during the last half century, the same influences have been at work, to a greater or less degree, that will be manifest in the more extensive movements of the future. There is an emotional excitement, a mingling of the true with the false, that is well adapted to mislead. Yet none need be deceived. In the light of God's word it is not difficult to determine the nature of these movements. Wherever men neglect the testimony of the Bible, turning away from those plain, soul-testing truths which require self-denial and renunciation of the world, there we may be sure that God's blessing is not bestowed. And by the rule which Christ Himself has given, "Ye shall know them by their fruits" (Matthew 7:16), it is evident that these movements are not the work of the Spirit of God.


Maranatha, Ellen G. White, page 33.
.

Friday, June 04, 2010

West Coast Worship Conference





Chris Oberg is the Senior Pastor at Calimesa Seventh-Day Adventist Church, just east of Loma Linda, Ca. Chris describes her assignment at Calimesa one of life’s grandest blessings, “to be among people for whom Church, and worship, matters. Chris is a double-alumnus of La Sierra University, School of Religion, completing both a BA and an MA in Religion, with an emphasis in New Testament Studies and Ethics. Chris, and her husband Kerby, have two college age daughters.

.Read more @ http://www.westcoastworshipconference.com/speakers

..

Just Do It


Giant Shears,

Jump Shot,

TopKill,

I'm Furious...

BP is going to be around for a long time...

A giant Funnel,

The president is going back to the Gulf Coast,




Everyday for the past 45 days (actually seems as forever) they have been chattering on the radio and on the Internet about what they will do to stop the "mysterious" explosion/leak of the deep water horizon platform.
Well, I say just fix it! Stop all the gratuitous propaganda. As the catchy Nike cliche states: Just Do It!

Or, as the recent 'country' metaphor goes: Git 'er done!

No more real time "Puppy Cams"...

No more chit chat; There are hundreds of news worthy occurrences that are being glossed over in order to cover (24 o' 7) this Non-News (publicity stunt) event.

Arsenio.
,.

The mission to Mars that will never leave Earth


AP
The six 'astronauts' will live for 520 days in the spartan conditions of a spaceship and follow a regimen of experiments and exercise



Yesterday, six men were locked into a spaceship simulator and will not be released for 17 months. Their challenge? To test the viability of a return trip to the Red Planet


By Shaun Walker


Friday, 4 June 2010


Amid much pomp and ceremony in Moscow yesterday, six carefully selected would-be astronauts began a 520-day mission to boldly go absolutely nowhere at all. The multinational sextet, who yesterday lunchtime had the doors to their small capsule sealed, will spend the next 17 months enclosed in the cylindrical mock-up spaceship, located inside a scientific institute in north Moscow. The experiment will simulate the conditions of a flight to Mars.

Despite the fact that a real manned journey to the Red Planet is believed to be at least two decades away, the scientists organising the experiment say it will help them to understand how well human beings would cope with such a long journey in isolation. The crew will have no access to telephones, television or any other modern luxuries, and will be able to communicate with the experiment's control room only by emails, which will have a gradually increasing time delay as the "journey" goes on and the craft "moves" further from Earth. All food and supplies for the mission have been loaded, and nothing will go in or out for the duration of the experiment. The six – three from Russia, one each from France and China, and one Italian-Colombian – will see no sunlight and no other people for the entire 520 days.

"Like lots of little boys, I always wanted to be an astronaut," said 31-year-old Romain Charles, a French engineer, before boarding the craft. "I kept this dream alive when I grew up so that I would have the skills if the opportunity ever came up. To answer the question of whether man is able to go to Mars is very exciting for me."

"Today is a celebration of science," added Igor Ushakov, director of the Institute of Biomedical Problems, the Russian institute that is leading the project. "We have been preparing for this day for many years."

The project is being run in cooperation with the European Space Agency and other international partners, notably the Chinese Astronaut Research and Training Centre, which is sending one of its trainers aboard the mission. During the 520 days, the crew will carry out 105 experiments to determine their psychological and physical state and chart the effects of such prolonged isolation on their minds and bodies.

"We all know that this won't be an easy experiment," said Martin Zell of the European Space Agency. "But it's very important for understanding how long-distance human exploration missions into space will work. We have to learn to live in extreme environments with limited resources and communications."

The mock-up spacecraft has four modules – one containing the living quarters, one for storage, one medical module where all the scientific experiments will take place, and one "landing" module. After the long "journey", three of the crew will emerge onto the "surface of Mars", where they will don heavy spacesuits and spend 30 days conducting experiments. The remaining three crew will stay on board the craft, supposedly orbiting the planet. The recreation of Mars itself is a small, enclosed space with a sandy floor and a starry ceiling, and it looks rather more Red Dwarf than Red Planet. The living quarters for the crew are very simple. Each "astronaut" has a bedroom of six square metres, with a bed, a desk, and a very small closet.

The crew's captain is Alexei Sitev, a 38-year-old Russian who has worked at Russia's Star City training cosmonauts. Recently married, he said it was not a huge problem to leave his wife for such a long period of time. "Of course it's hard to say goodbye to your family, but many travellers who discovered new lands disappeared for long periods. They all came back, their families waited for them, so I don't see any big problems," he said.

The crew are taking plenty of reading material to keep them busy, and photographs of their families to remind them of home. Diego Urbina, the Italian-Colombian, says he hopes to read the complete works of Gabriel Garcia Marquez during the mission, while Sukhrob Kamolov, a former heart surgeon, said he is taking a medical manual in 14 parts. Mr Urbina said he has also taken some video games, which he looks forward to playing with the other crew members.

"I've bought one of those books you always want to read but never have time for," said Mr Charles, the French participant. "It's on art history. I never know what to think when I look at paintings, so hopefully I'll have time to read it... I've also taken a guitar, just to annoy the other guys," he joked.

The build-up to the project has not been without controversy. Some reports suggested that while the five European volunteers will all be paid 3 million roubles (around £66,000) for their time in the capsule, the Chinese participant Wang Yue, put forward by the country's Space Agency, could well get much less. When Mr Wang was asked yesterday how much he would earn for the experiment, the organisers refused to let him answer, instead assuring the assembled journalists that all six crew members had signed identical contracts.

The organisers hope that all six will stick out the experiment, but their contracts state that they are free to leave at any time. Yesterday, the six insisted they would be able to tough it out, though participants in previous, shorter experiments using the same module said it would be hard.

"It was very difficult to see the light at the end of the tunnel and to keep motivated," said Oliver Knickel, an officer in the German Army who took part in one of the preliminary experiments, and was aboard the module for 105 days last year. "For these guys, of course, it will be even harder." Mr Knickel said that during his experiment, arguments frequently broke out, mainly over how long people spent using the exercise equipment, but that they were always resolved peacefully. The six volunteers from that experiment are now "friends for life", he said.

A spokesman for the European Space Agency said that there had been nearly 6,000 applications to take part in the project, 20 per cent of which were from women. The applicants were whittled down to a shortlist of 50; 15 were interviewed before the final six were chosen.

The organisers denied having a specific policy not to admit women and said that an all-female experiment might take place in the future. A single-sex crew was likely to be more harmonious, they said, and would avoid sexual tension.

All the non-Russian crew speak English, and have been given Russian-language dictionaries to communicate with the Russians, while the Russians have English dictionaries to help them. "I think everybody here knows the importance and difficulty of this experiment," said Mr Wang, 27.

A real mission to Mars, however, remains a distant dream, as the US and Russia struggle to find the huge sums of money required for space research and exploration.

"It will definitely happen; the only questions are when and who," said Christer Fuglesang, a Swedish physicist and astronaut, who has been on two Shuttle missions and was present at the launch yesterday. "The technology could be ready 15 years from now, but it's more an economic and a political question than a technological one. Realistically, we might see a manned mission to Mars in 20 or 25 years."

The team: Space explorers keeping their feet on the ground

Wang Yue, China, 27 – Researcher

Wang studied medicine in Nanjing before transferring to China's astronaut centre where he trains the country's astronauts. He is the only member not to have come from the open selection programme but to have been proposed by his country's government. He says he is taking special Chinese inks and paper on board to practise his calligraphy skills. He plans to learn Russian during the experiment.

Diego Urbina, Ita/Col, 27 – Researcher

Urbina has a master's degree in Space Studies, and has spent time at the Mars Desert Research Station in Utah. His list of hobbies include scuba diving, fitness training and football – which could prove tricky within the confines of the experiment.

Alexei Sitev, Russia, 38 - Captain

Sitev qualified as a naval engineer. After training officers of Russia's Black Sea Fleet in deep-sea diving, he gave training in diving and weightlessness to the crews of the International Space Station. His wife's views on his 18 months away are not recorded.

Moscownauts in numbers

520 Number of days the earthbound astronauts will be separated from the outside world

£66,000 Payment for the full 18 month experiment for each participant - although there are reports that the Chinese volunteer, Wang Yue, will earn significantly less

180 Total space available, in square metres, to the sextet in their five-compartment habitat

36m Minimum distance, in miles, from Earth to Mars

20 Artificial time delay, in minutes, built into communications with earth to simulate satellite relay

110 Approximate weight of the space suits, in kilograms, the subjects will wear when they venture out to the surface of "Mars"

2030 Earliest likely date for a real mission to Mars
.
.
.
P.S. Meanwhile back in the new USSR, the blame game continues. Who should pay for the leak?
And as they overhaul the whole nine yards, they depart farther and farther from the Constitution. Forget about space!
.

What are the Bilderberg Group really doing in Spain?


ALAMY
Sitges, near Barcelona, is the venue for this year's Bilderberg Group conference


Security is so tight at the annual cabal of the world's elite that conspiracy theories about what is discussed – and who's invited – are rife

By Anita Brooks in Sitges

Friday, 4 June 2010


If the conspiracy theorists are on to something, they could be plotting the invasion of Iran, planning the funeral of the Euro or scheming to wipe out French poodles in pink sweaters at this very minute.

Or perhaps the world's financial and political leaders are simply schmoozing about their golf game as they enjoy a "chocolate massage" followed by the "honey body scrub" and the "spectacular oxygen Echo2 facial" at the Dolce Hotel's spa in Sitges.

It is also possible that the world's executives, media moguls, and financial gurus came to the elegant seaside town near Barcelona to study the booming gay tourist market there (although they missed the wild Carnival celebration by a few months) and to sneak a preview of next year's international horror film festival.

But ordinary citizens can only guess at the goings-on at the annual meeting of the secretive Bilderberg Group, a media-barred pow-wow of the global elite that in the past has reportedly attracted former US President Bill Clinton, Tony Bill Clinton, Tony Blair and David Cameron, and US treasury secretary Timothy Geithner. Even the late Enoch Powell once attended.

The heavyweight weekend retreat kicked off yesterday with hordes of police security and a gag order for employees at the luxury Dolce, whose aptly-named presidential suites overlook the Mediterranean. None of the illustrious guests posed for photos or spouted prepared statements for the media. Instead, activists, journalists and bloggers attempted to stake out positions in the surrounding hills to catch glimpses of this year's participants, guerrilla-warrior style.

"We just dropped two people by the hills and they are trying to run for cover so they aren't spotted by the snipers," said Hannah Borno, co-founder of an activist agency, Trilever, which is calling for transparency on the Bilderberg deliberations and offers information (also known as leaks) to the press. "I hope they're OK."

Ms Borno paid €135 for the hotel's cheapest room for the chance to see the preparations – as well as swarming secret service agents – before being forced to leave for a nearby campsite, surrounded by police. Overhead: a no-fly zone.

"The public is paying for this security," she added. "I can see 20 to 30 police vans right now. We are offering a pro-bono lawyer in case any of the activists or bloggers are arrested."

Some people consider the Bilderberg Group, founded in 1954, an innocent brainstorming session, but the cloak-and-dagger theorists scored a point this week when the self-appointed Bilderberg expert Daniel Estulin addressed the European Parliament on the invitation of an Italian member, Mario Borghezio.

Mr Estulin, an investigative journalist who has written two best-selling books on the subject, contends that "the Bilderberg Club" is not a classic conspiracy but a potentially dangerous meeting of minds with a common goal: to centralise global economic power to benefit corporations. He defined it as "a virtual spider web of interlocking financial, political and industrial interests".

"It isn't a secret society," he said. "No matter how powerful they are, no group sits around a table holding hands and deciding the world's future. It is an ideology."

Secret society or not, the speculation surrounding Bilderberg rivals the eternal question of who shot JFK – to the extent that one Spanish activist vowed he has sighted freemasonry symbols on the Sitges hotel . Being the meeting is secret, it is impossible to confirm which executives and lawmakers have checked into the spiffy Dolce, in the heart of golf-and-sunbathing territory. Politicians often deny participation. But according to press leaks, this year's A-list participants include Queen Beatrix of Holland, Spain's Queen Reina Sofia (supposedly a regular), World Trade Organisation Director Pascal Lamy, European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet, former NATO chief Jaap de Hoop Scheffer and former Spanish vice president Pedro Solbes, known during his stint as an EU commissioner as "Mr Euro".

Meanwhile, Extremadura Progresista, a left-wing newspaper from Extremadura, one of Spain's poorest regions, published a list of participants on its website, including former Secretary of State for Business Peter Mandelson and the Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne (although he's currently in Asia), plus executives from Siemens AG, Microsoft, Royal Dutch Shell, Chase Manhattan Bank and Morgan Stanley International.

And what might this all-star cast be discussing between forkfuls of paella and sips of cava on a warm summer's eve? Topics reportedly include everything from the possible failure of the euro and the creation of a global currency, to a military strike against Iran.

Another issue supposedly on the agenda is the financial meltdown in Greece, where last year's brainstorming session was held. The irony is not lost on Spanish activists, who hope the Bilderberg "witches' Sabbath" does not brew bad tidings for the troubled Spanish economy. "We joke that the horror film festival is starting early," Didac Sanchez, an activist with the organisation EcoXarxa Montseny, told The Independent over the phone amid background chanting. "The monsters are here."

Thursday's protests, which attracted about 100 demonstrators, were paltry compared to previous anti-globalisation rallies in Catalonia – partly because chic-and-wealthy Sitges is not the sort of place to get ruffled about whatever a bunch of CEOs do in their spare time. But Bilderberg's low profile also played a part.

"It's so secretive that not even people in the leftist movements know about it," Mr Sanchez said. "And it's so frightening that people can't even believe that it's real. Some people theorise that they want to kill off half the world; others believe they're directing the world's finances. But we're here to say it is real, it is happening."

He expects momentum to build throughout the weekend, however. The carnival-inspired theme of the protest is "unmasking Bilderberg". "We will set up a healing camp," he said. "It will be a festival of cleansing."


The guests...
Peter Mandelson, Ex-Business Secretary
Jean Claude Trichet, European Bank President
Reina Sofia, Queen of Spain


... and the alumni
Bill Clinton, US President
Tony Blair, Prime Minister
Enoch Powell, Conservative minister


Source: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/what-are-the-bilderberg-group-really-doing-in-spain-1991021.html

.

An inconvenient truth...



"The world is a stage"

... And some play their parts superbly!

.


.

Thursday, June 03, 2010

Secretive Bilderberg Club ready for protests

From The Times June 3, 2010

Secretive Bilderberg Club ready for protests


(Sergio Perez/Reuters)
Spanish prime mininster Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero is expected to open this year's meeting of the Bilderberg club, near Barcelona



Graham Keeley, Barcelona


Splash! Could that be the sound of Lord Mandelson hitting one of the Dolce hotel’s four pools? Or Robert Zoellick of the World Bank? Paul Volcker of the US Economic Recovery Advisory Board? Or merely the euro taking another dive?

That is the thing about the Bilderberg group’s top secret meetings: you never know quite what is going on behind the police checkpoints.

Across the world, secretaries to the rich and the powerful have blocked out the next three days in their bosses’ calendars for their annual gathering, this time at the Dolce in Sitges, one of Spain’s most exclusive resorts.

Normally, every minute of their working lives is accounted for but, each year, a couple of hundred of the world’s financial elite and the more business-friendly members of the political class disappear from view; supposedly to save the planet from the dangers of parochialism, the nationalist genie.

It is all terribly confidential — breathe a word about it and you’re out of the club — but the Bilderberg watcher Daniel Estulin claims to have a copy of the agenda. The big question this time around is whether the euro will survive. “They are afraid that the countries in trouble will leave and the euro will fall apart,” said Mr Estulin. “The biggest nightmare is if EU members return to nationally orientated policies.”

That would certainly explain why the keynote address is being given by José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, the Spanish Prime Minister. The Piigs — Portugal, the Republic of Ireland, Italy, Greece and Spain — are of concern to the Bilderbergers. After all, the club was set up in 1954 by a Polish exile, Joseph Retinger, to create a European bulwark against the spread of communism. It provided the germ of the European idea; Franco-German reconciliation, the entry of West Germany into Nato, the Maastricht treaty — all were cooked up in annual fireside chats.

Now, according to Mr Estulin’s information, the Bilderbergers are nervous that the erosion of the euro could nudge the world back into recession while public services cuts could trigger unrest and radicalise the political climate.

Plenty to talk about at the Dolce, then. The Bilderberg protesters, sure that they can smell a good oldfashioned capitalist conspiracy, will be holding fringe meetings in the town. The hunt will be on to find a chambermaid ready to ransack hotel litter bins for evidence that evil work is afoot. It has been easier to get nuggets of information out of Bilderberg since hotel staff started to read Dan Brown and talk about the illuminati.

Could it be, though, that the Bilderbergers are simply having fun, away from their spouses, on their annual jamboree? The secret of Bilderberg could be that there is no secret. Certainly, the hotel offers plenty of distractions for stressed CEOs: qi-gong courses, excellent fish, fine wines and bicycle tours.

Henry Kissinger, 87, the former US Secretary of State, and David Rockefeller, 95, the former chairman of the Chase Manhattan Bank, are the elder statesmen of Bilderberg — but the leaked invitation list reveals that the gathering is made up primarily of elderly white gents.

Remember Richard Perle, 68, George Bush’s erstwhile Prince of Darkness? He could perhaps form a Prince of Darkness sub-group with Lord Mandelson. Paul Wolfowitz, 66, formerly of the World Bank? Mario Monti, 67, EU commissioner for the single market between 1995 and 1999?

Only the possible attendance of George Osborne, 39, the British Chancellor, will reassure hotel staff that they are not dealing with a Saga Holidays tour. Other members of this clandestine coven include Queen Sofia of Spain and Queen Beatrix of Holland. No doubt their views will be sought on the Swedish royal wedding later this month. Is it right, for example, that a young princess should marry her personal trainer? Fortunately, the Dolce has a team of personal trainers on hand ready to chip into the debate.

Last year Bilderberg held its meeting at the Nafsika Astir Palace hotel in Greece and apparently failed to spot how close their host country was to melting down. Watch out, Spain!

The weather forecast is for three days of sunshine — time for the Bilderbergers to slink out of the shadows.
.
.
.

Wednesday, June 02, 2010

Diary: The sultan of sitting


By High Street Ken
Wednesday, 2 June 2010


* Conspiracy theories abound in the corridors of the European Parliament, where yesterday Room 0A50 was booked for a press conference, apparently hosted by Nigel Farage and fellow Ukip MEP Godfrey Bloom. The occasion was the launch of a new book about the Bilderberg Group, the elite annual conference whose attendees plan to take over the universe, or so conspiracy theorists claim. The book's author Daniel Estulin has blamed the global recession on the Bilderberg's "shadow masters" and was invited to speak in Brussels by Mario Borghezio, of Italy's Lega Nord Party; Borghezio began his career with the fascist group Ordine Nuovo. The blog Liberal Conspiracy joined the dots: secretive international groups, fascists, UKIP... Can the famously reasonable Farage really be consorting with these cranks? Well, yeah but no but. A call to Ukip spokesman Gawain Towler confirms Farage is still in bed with broken ribs following that plane crash, while Bloom was at a meeting in London when the conference took place. "The hosting was a question of good manners to a group member... to ensure good relations internally in the EFD [Europe of Freedom and Democracy] group." So Lega Nord are in the same European grouping as UKIP? "There are interesting coves in every group," Towler says, "as the Tories know."

(Excerpt)

.

..

Author Daniel Estulin to Shed Light on Bilderbergs with Historic Presentation at European Parliament


Daniel Estulin at the EU Parliament?


International best-selling author Daniel Estulin will make an unprecedented speech before the European Parliament on June 1st, 2010 at its headquarters in Brussels.


Brussels, Belgium (Vocus/PRWEB ) May 18, 2010 — International best-selling author Daniel Estulin will make an unprecedented speech before the European Parliament on June 1st, 2010 at its headquarters in Brussels.


Daniel Estulin, author of “The True Story of the Bilderberg Group” and “Shadow Masters“, has been invited to speak at the European Parliament by Mario Borghezio, the most senior Member of European Parliament from Italy. The European Parliament is one of the most powerful legislatures in the world. Estulin’s talk is equivalent to addressing a joint session of Congress. In fact, never before has Bilderberg as a subject seen the light of day in front of such a highly respectable audience - elected senators of European nations.


.


.

With fear back on magazine covers, stocks can rise

June 2, 2010, 4:35 p.m. EDT ·

With fear back on magazine covers, stocks can rise


By Nick Godt, MarketWatch


NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- The outlook for stocks for the rest of year is bleak, given so much uncertainty about how much the European crisis and slow growth in China might cost the global economy.

PM Report: BP Hits Another SnagBP hits another engineering snag and President Obama moves forcefully to take on Big Oil. WSJ's Joe White and Jeffrey Ball join the News Hub to discuss. Plus, why a couple would divorce after 40 years of marriage, and how it affects their family and friends.

But it doesn't mean that June won't provide some short-term respite for U.S. stocks after the heavy 14% correction experienced from late April through May.

One emerging good contrarian short-term indicator, it seems, is the cover of the conservative British weekly The Economist.

Back in early April, its cover read "Hope at Last," signaling that optimism about the global economy recovery was getting close to a top. Less than two weeks later, the correction in stocks began.

The latest cover of the magazine for the first week of June is "Fear Returns."

In April, The Economist summed up general optimism, as job growth returned to the U.S. The cover then featured a rainbow emanating from an American flag, suggesting an American recovery would lead global growth.

The early June cover features a threatening shark fin piercing through a dark green ocean.

Meanwhile, stocks did rise last week, even though that fact was hidden by the terrible tallies for the month of May and a big drop on Friday.

Last week, the Dow Jones Industrial Average /quotes/comstock/10w!i:dji/delayed (DJIA 10,250, +225.52, +2.25%) fell 0.6% but the broad S&P 500 index /quotes/comstock/21z!i1:in\x (SPX 1,098, +27.67, +2.58%) , the benchmark used by many investment professionals, rose 0.2%. The Nasdaq Composite /quotes/comstock/10y!i:comp (COMP 2,281, +58.74, +2.64%) gained 1.3%.

And after a big drop on Tuesday, the market was in rally mode on Wednesday, with the Dow industrials surging to close up 226 points.

Why has The Economist become such a good contrarian indicator, as opposed to say, the cover of Time? That's the magazine many smart-money investors relied upon back in the 1990s.

Back then, it mattered for stocks how U.S. retail investors were feeling: Stock performance, consumer sentiment and spending went hand in hand. Nowadays, retail investors, parked in bond funds, and the stock market live in different worlds.

Read First Take on consumers, stocks diverging.

The Economist, meanwhile, targets readers that include international investment professionals. It also nearly always includes the political angle of economic and market trends.

The use of the shark fin in the ocean, besides being a symbol of the fear over the European debt crisis, might as well also summarize the BP /quotes/comstock/13*!bp/quotes/nls/bp (BP 37.66, +1.14, +3.12%) Gulf Coast disaster and rising international tensions off America's shores.

Flashbacks to Camelot
Bob Doll, chief equity strategist at BlackRock, joined a number of analysts noting that the past month was the worst May for stocks since 1962, making for "interesting comparisons" between the two periods.

In both cases, a fairly young Democratic president faced increasing pressures in its second year. In 1962, market sentiment was hit by the failed Bay of Pigs invasion and the Cuban Missile Crisis, which masked improving economic fundamentals in the U.S.

"To some extent, we believe the current environment is similar, given that stock prices are being driven much more by sentiment than by fundamentals," Doll wrote in a note.

After some of the big fear in May, some degree of stability now seems to have returned to markets - although volatile trading conditions seem to remain the norm.

The real impact of the European crisis on the global economy probably won't be known for a while.

But as The Economist notes, the short-term impact in the U.S. is that U.S. Treasurys have seen big safe-haven flows, lowering borrowing costs and reducing the cries to cut spending at all costs.

Nick Godt is MarketWatch's markets editor, based in New York.
.
.
Source: http://www.marketwatch.com/story/with-fear-back-on-magazine-covers-stock-can-rise-2010-06-02
.

A Secrecy Fetish

District Attorney Kamala Harris is going too far in protecting Catholic pedophiles.

By Matt Smith Wednesday, Jun 2 2010



Photo courtesy of Kamala Harris
Harris released this photo, but not the files on clergy sexual abuse.






SF Weekly's attempts to obtain her office's files on Catholic clergy abuse under the state Public Records Act suggest Harris favors concealment over transparency.

The records at issue may contain answers to a question of great public concern that has consumed international headlines during recent weeks: What did senior Catholic officials know, and what did they do behind the scenes, while priests accused of molesting children were shielded from punishment?

Cardinal William Levada was archbishop of San Francisco until 2005. He is now a top Vatican official and the Holy See's most prominent defender of Pope Benedict XVI against allegations that the pontiff has failed to adequately deal with pedophile priests. In San Francisco, Levada was known as a key architect of the church's practice of keeping abuse allegations secret, protecting abusive priests, and punishing church whistleblowers.

Portions of this record came to light in stories by then–SF Weekly staff writer Ron Russell in 2005 and in a May 5 story in The New York Times that recounted elements of Russell's reporting. By sifting through documents made public as a result of lawsuits, Russell learned that during the 1990s and 2000s, Levada helped keep allegations against pedophile priests shrouded in secrecy. Alleged abusers included Salesian Brother Salvatore Billante, who police alleged had sexual relations with at least 24 children, but charges were dropped after the California Supreme Court overturned a state law extending the statute of limitations for pedophiles. And so the full contents of archdiocese clergy abuse files obtained by prosecutors were never revealed at trial.
Relatively unscathed by his San Francisco legacy, now-Cardinal Levada is the chief Vatican official charged with responding to global allegations of clergy abuse.

"Given Levada's current role overseeing pedophile priests and cover-up cases across the globe," said David Clohessy, national director of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests (SNAP), "it is more important than ever that parents and citizens and Catholics learn exactly what he did in San Francisco."

District Attorney Kamala Harris possesses San Francisco Archdiocese files containing details of how the church dealt with pedophile priests that go back as far as 80 years.

But Harris, the frontrunner in the June primary elections to become the Democratic candidate for California attorney general, has for five years rebuffed reporters' efforts to view those files, despite statements by former DA Terence Hallinan saying they should be released.
For the past six weeks, SF Weekly has asked Harris' office to comply with the request under the California Public Records Act. It has released nothing.

A prosecutor must be careful not to release records that might undermine an investigation, unfairly malign the innocent, or expose victims to publicity they don't want. But in this case Harris' office seems to be going beyond these important principles to a blanket policy of secrecy.
It's worth recalling that Harris was recently lambasted by a judge for hiding the extent of an evidence-handling scandal at the San Francisco Police Department crime lab, and for ignoring her constitutional obligation to turn over to defense attorneys the criminal histories of police testifying at trial.

Did Harris merely misinterpret the law? Or does she have a penchant for secrecy?
On April 21, just as controversy was heating up over the Vatican's role in the global sex abuse scandal, Harris' deputy, Paul Henderson, responded to my request by stating that Harris' investigative files were not subject to California's government transparency laws; her office essentially enjoys a blanket secrecy privilege.

I sent Henderson's arguments to California Newspaper Publishers Association legal counsel Jim Ewert. "That's flatly untrue," he said. The District Attorney's office "can release them if they want to. But they have decided not to."
I wrote to Harris' office citing Ewert's analysis. Harris' spokeswoman, Erica Derryck, changed course, saying they would retrieve and review the files to determine whether there were any I could view. Following half a dozen phone conversations and as many e-mail exchanges, Derryck said she would contact me on May 24, but I didn't hear from her. When I e-mailed and called her again, almost seven weeks after my initial request, she said she was still working on it. I have heard nothing more.

In lieu of releasing records, Harris' office ended up releasing a statement: "District Attorney Harris focuses her efforts on putting child molesters in prison. We're not interested in selling out our victims to look good in the paper. When this case was brought under Terence Hallinan, prosecutors took the utmost care to protect the identity and dignity of the victims. That was the right thing to do then and it's the right thing to do now."

This sort of statement drives abuse victims crazy. Joelle Casteix, western regional director of SNAP, was sexually abused as a child by a lay teacher at a Catholic school. She had to sue to obtain records pertaining to the incidents. She rejects Harris' rationale for keeping archdiocese abuse records secret. It's possible, even routine, to release records about pedophile priests while protecting the names of victims, Casteix explained.

"That's one of the most dangerous statements I've ever heard," she said. "The number one thing that gets predators off the street is transparency about predators. You can do that by releasing documents, and you can redact victims' names at the same time."

Joey Piscitelli, SNAP's northwest regional director, was more adamant in denouncing Harris' logic. "They're full of it. You can quote me on that," he said. "They're not protecting the victims. They're protecting Levada."

Hallinan, who forced the archdiocese to turn over the records in 2002, and who pursued cases against priests before his office was barred from proceeding by expired statutes of limitations, sees no reason to keep the files secret: "Obviously, those things should be made public," he said in an interview.

Rick Simons, who has represented victims in clergy abuse cases, said Harris is notorious for refusing to respond to public records requests. He added that her office has refused to release records even of investigations into priests who have already been tried, convicted, jailed, and released.

Other district attorneys, such as Alameda County's Nancy O'Malley, have been far more forthcoming, particularly when it comes to exposing clergy who abuse children. Simons said that Harris' penchant for secrecy "shows a pattern and practice and policy of ignoring the rights of children by one of the largest institutions of the city and county of San Francisco, and in the Bay Area."

Kam Kuwata, campaign consultant to Los Angeles District Attorney Rocky Delgadillo, who faces Harris in the Democratic primary, said his boss also regards the matter differently. "We see no reason why transparency and protecting the victim cannot work hand in hand," he said.

This isn't the first time Harris has employed troubling logic to argue for keeping the archdiocese abuse files secret. In 2005, Russell also asked for the records. A Harris spokesman responded at the time by saying, "If we did it for you, we would have to do it for everybody. Where do you stop, and where do you start?"

California law is clear where you start: with the presumption that the people's business is public.


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

On March 27, Levada published an unusual 2,500-word essay on the Holy See's website, denouncing The New York Times for publishing clergy abuse stories he claimed did not sufficiently highlight the church's purported zeal in rooting out predatory priests.

"In 2002, I was appointed (at the time as Archbishop of San Francisco) to a team of four bishops to seek approval of the Holy See for the 'Essential Norms' that the American Bishops developed to allow us to deal with abuse questions," Levada wrote. "We found in Cardinal Ratzinger [the future Pope Benedict XVI], and in the experts he assigned to meet with us, a sympathetic understanding of the problems we faced as American bishops."

To people who have closely followed Levada's career, it seemed bizarre that he would mention his 2002 role in devising national Catholic clergy-abuse policies.

For help in this task, Levada enlisted his longtime ally, San Mateo cleric Father Gregory Ingels.

"That's one of the most dangerous statements I've ever heard," she said. "The number one thing that gets predators off the street is transparency about predators. You can do that by releasing documents, and you can redact victims' names at the same time."

Joey Piscitelli, SNAP's northwest regional director, was more adamant in denouncing Harris' logic. "They're full of it. You can quote me on that," he said. "They're not protecting the victims. They're protecting Levada."


According to Russell's SF Weekly investigation, in 1996 Levada learned Ingels had been accused of sodomizing a 15-year-old boy. Yet Levada helped Ingels' career flourish, and supported Ingels' role as a top church policymaker even after learning of a second serious allegation of sexual abuse.

In Marin County, prosecutors assembled a sex abuse case against Ingels, using information drawn from the archdiocese files. But Ingels' case was thrown out because the statute of limitations had expired. Ultimately, the church agreed to settle one of the complaints by paying an alleged victim $2.7 million — and, in the process, sealing records similar to the ones Harris controls.

Nobody paid Harris to conceal the church's child abuse history, however. Rather, she simply seems to view secrecy as the path of least resistance, whether or not it's consistent with the public interest.
.
.
Source: http://www.sfweekly.com/2010-06-02/news/a-secrecy-fetish/
.