Thursday, September 09, 2010

Ian Paisley Teaches on the Jesuits




tlthe5th November 28, 2007
incredible message from the old patriarch Protestant from Belfast Ireland. This is one of the biggest slam dunks on the Jesuit Orders that I have ever heard. Give it 5 stars everyone!
.

Look up, and lift up your heads


And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh.
...Luke 21:28
(King James Version)
.

Wednesday, September 08, 2010

U.S. Military Burns Bibles in Afghanistan To Stop Proselytizing



NewsPoliticsChannel May 20, 2009
CNN reports U.S. Military Burns Bibles in Afghanistan To Stop Proselytizing.

American Capitalism Gone With a Whimper


Wednesday, April 1, 2009

American Capitalism Gone With a Whimper


It must be said, that like the breaking of a great dam, the American descent into Marxism is happening with breath taking speed, against the back drop of a passive, hapless sheeple, excuse me dear reader, I meant people.

True, the situation has been well prepared on and off for the past century, especially the past twenty years. The initial testing grounds was conducted upon our Holy Russia and a bloody test it was. But we Russians would not just roll over and give up our freedoms and our souls, no matter how much money Wall Street poured into the fists of the Marxists.

Those lessons were taken and used to properly prepare the American populace for the surrender of their freedoms and souls, to the whims of their elites and betters.

First, the population was dumbed down through a politicized and substandard education system based on pop culture, rather then the classics. Americans know more about their favorite tv dramas then the drama in DC that directly affects their lives. They care more for their "right" to choke down a McDonalds burger or a BurgerKing burger than for their constitutional rights. Then they turn around and lecture us about our rights and about our "democracy". Pride blindth the foolish.

Then their faith in God was destroyed, until their churches, all tens of thousands of different "branches and denominations" were for the most part little more then Sunday circuses and their televangelists and top protestant mega preachers were more then happy to sell out their souls and flocks to be on the "winning" side of one pseudo Marxist politician or another. Their flocks may complain, but when explained that they would be on the "winning" side, their flocks were ever so quick to reject Christ in hopes for earthly power. Even our Holy Orthodox churches are scandalously liberalized in America.

The final collapse has come with the election of Barrack Obama/ His speed in the past three months has been truly impressive. His spending and money printing has been a record setting, not just in America's short history but in the world. If this keeps up for more then another year, and there is no sign that it will not, America at best will resemble the Wiemar Republic and at worst Zimbabwe.

These past two weeks have been the most breath taking of all. First came the announcement of a planned redesign of the American Byzantine tax system, by the very thieves who used it to bankroll their thefts, loses and swindles of hundreds of billions of dollars. These make our Russian oligarchs look little more then ordinary street thugs, in comparison. Yes, the Americans have beat our own thieves in the shear volumes. Should we congratulate them?

These men, of course, are not an elected panel but made up of appointees picked from the very financial oligarchs and their henchmen who are now gorging themselves on trillions of American dollars, in one bailout after another. They are also usurping the rights, duties and powers of the American congress (parliament). Again, congress has put up little more then a whimper to their masters.

Then came Barrack Obama's command that GM's (General Motor) president step down from leadership of his company. That is correct, dear reader, in the land of "pure" free markets, the American president now has the power, the self given power, to fire CEOs and we can assume other employees of private companies, at will. Come hither, go dither, the centurion commands his minions.

So it should be no surprise, that the American president has followed this up with a "bold" move of declaring that he and another group of unelected, chosen stooges will now redesign the entire automotive industry and will even be the guarantee of automobile policies. I am sure that if given the chance, they would happily try and redesign it for the whole of the world, too. Prime Minister Putin, less then two months ago, warned Obama and UK's Blair, not to follow the path to Marxism, it only leads to disaster. Apparently, even though we suffered 70 years of this Western sponsored horror show, we know nothing, as foolish, drunken Russians, so let our "wise" Anglo-Saxon fools find out the folly of their own pride.

Again, the American public has taken this with barely a whimper...but a "freeman" whimper.

So, should it be any surprise to discover that the Democratically controlled Congress of America is working on passing a new regulation that would give the American Treasury department the power to set "fair" maximum salaries, evaluate performance and control how private companies give out pay raises and bonuses? Senator Barney Franks, a social pervert basking in his homosexuality (of course, amongst the modern, enlightened American societal norm, as well as that of the general West, homosexuality is not only not a looked down upon life choice, but is often praised as a virtue) and his Marxist enlightenment, has led this effort. He stresses that this only affects companies that receive government monies, but it is retroactive and taken to a logical extreme, this would include any company or industry that has ever received a tax break or incentive.

The Russian owners of American companies and industries should look thoughtfully at this and the option of closing their facilities down and fleeing the land of the Red as fast as possible. In other words, divest while there is still value left.

The proud American will go down into his slavery with out a fight, beating his chest and proclaiming to the world, how free he really is. The world will only snicker.

Posted by Stanislav (Mishin)
.
.
Source: http://mat-rodina.blogspot.com/2009/04/american-capitalism-gone-with-whimper.html
.

Will Obama's Spending Plan Boost the Economy?


President Obama is unveiling this week what some have dubbed his "second stimulus". There's $50 billion more...

Read more: http://www.dailyfinance.com/story/obamas-infrastructure-plan-boost-the-economy/19623937/?icid=main%7Chtmlws-main-n%7Cdl4%7Csec3_lnk1%7C169006

P.S.

Folks, once again we're being sold a bill of goods. Once again, we'll be left holding the bag.

Wasn't the $800 Billion "stimulus" supposed to fix the infrastructure, and put America on a road to recovery? Where are all the 'shovel ready' jobs promised?

Now they want more money?

Now you want to fix roads, runways, and railways...

This proposition is more like Trains, Planes and Automobiles: A chaotic comedy.

I believe this is just another, flimflam, pipe dream. We're gonna' get bamboozled, hoodwinked, ram shackled and Shanghaied, one more time.

Those boots on the ground ought to get to steppin'; stepping-off.

Go away, we already gave!

Arsenio.
.

Self-described mutt Barack Obama: Don't 'talk about me like a dog'

By Toby Harnden World Last updated: September 7th, 2010



President Obama walks his dog, Bo, on the White House lawn (Photo: Win McNamee/Getty Images)

Just when it seemed that Barack Obama couldn’t dig himself any deeper into the political hole he’s in, he does something really stupid. “Some powerful interests who had been dominating the agenda in Washington for a very long time and they’re not always happy with me,” he told a union crowd in Milwaukee. “They talk about me like a dog. That’s not in my prepared remarks, but it’s true.”

The comment makes him look ridiculous. First off, there are inevitable racial overtones to it. To be treated “like a dog” is to be treated as something less than human. In the Muslim world, to call someone a dog is a pretty serious insult (and no, I’m not suggesting Obama is a Muslim).

Who historically in the US has been treated as less than human? Blacks during the eras of slavery and segregation. During his campaign and since in office (the Henry Louis Gates fiasco was an exception) Obama has – to his credit – generally not sought to make racial comments or, to use that hackneyed term, “play the race card”. Now he’s going to be accused of doing so.

The other reason he looks stupid is that he himself has described both himself and black people in canine terms. Two days after he was elected, he referred to shelter dogs as “mutts like me”, a jocular reference to his mixed race. A month ago, he described African-Americans as “a mongrel people”. I don’t have a problem with either comment but if you’re going to rail about people talking about you like a dog then perhaps, er, you shouldn’t do so yourself.

The remark is also a bit odd because one of the most ridiculous bonanzas of media puffery surrounding the Obama administration (the organic vegetable patch was a close second) was the unveiling of Bo the First Dog. Obama milked it for months. It seems like the most pampered dog in the world. So, maybe not so bad to be talked about like a dog if you live in the White House .

And then there’s the basic conceit that it is “powerful interests” who oppose Obama. Come on! This man is President of the United States. He is the ultimate powerful interest. You may be able to portray yourself as a plucky outsider when you’re running for the White House but once you’re elected, it just doesn’t wash.

The sense from the Obama administration that they think that anyone who opposes their policies is stupid or racist or allied with “powerful interests” is plain wrong as well as politically disastrous.

Pretty soon, Obama is going to have to conclude that Harry Truman was right when he (supposedly) said that “if you want a friend in Washington, get a dog”. At this rate, Bo will be the only one still supporting him – if, that is, he isn’t miffed by his master’s derogatory comment about dogs.
.
.
.

The President's Dogma (Fixation)

"They Talk About Me Like A Dog"



Amnesia Check > FLASHBACK:
Obama calls himself a mongrel

Tuesday, September 07, 2010

What America Has Lost

It’s clear we overreacted to 9/11.




by Fareed Zakaria
September 04, 2010

Nine years after 9/11, can anyone doubt that Al Qaeda is simply not that deadly a threat? Since that gruesome day in 2001, once governments everywhere began serious countermeasures, Osama bin Laden’s terror network has been unable to launch a single major attack on high-value targets in the United States and Europe. While it has inspired a few much smaller attacks by local jihadis, it has been unable to execute a single one itself. Today, Al Qaeda’s best hope is to find a troubled young man who has been radicalized over the Internet, and teach him to stuff his underwear with explosives.

I do not minimize Al Qaeda’s intentions, which are barbaric. I question its capabilities. In every recent conflict, the United States has been right about the evil intentions of its adversaries but massively exaggerated their strength. In the 1980s, we thought the Soviet Union was expanding its power and influence when it was on the verge of economic and political bankruptcy. In the 1990s, we were certain that Saddam Hussein had a nuclear arsenal. In fact, his factories could barely make soap.

The error this time is more damaging. September 11 was a shock to the American psyche and the American system. As a result, we overreacted. In a crucially important Washington Post reporting project, “Top Secret America,” Dana Priest and William Arkin spent two years gathering information on how 9/11 has really changed America.

Here are some of the highlights. Since September 11, 2001, the U.S. government has created or reconfigured at least 263 organizations to tackle some aspect of the war on terror. The amount of money spent on intelligence has risen by 250 percent, to $75 billion (and that’s the public number, which is a gross underestimate). That’s more than the rest of the world spends put together. Thirty-three new building complexes have been built for intelligence bureaucracies alone, occupying 17 million square feet—the equivalent of 22 U.S. Capitols or three Pentagons. Five miles southeast of the White House, the largest government site in 50 years is being built—at a cost of $3.4 billion—to house the largest bureaucracy after the Pentagon and the Department of Veterans Affairs: the Department of Homeland Security, which has a workforce of 230,000 people.

This new system produces 50,000 reports a year—136 a day!—which of course means few ever get read. Those senior officials who have read them describe most as banal; one tells me, “Many could be produced in an hour using Google.” Fifty-one separate bureaucracies operating in 15 states track the flow of money to and from terrorist organizations, with little information-sharing.
.
.
Source: http://www.newsweek.com/2010/09/04/zakaria-why-america-overreacted-to-9-11.html

><<<

P.S.
Wiki facts about Fareed Zakaria:

Early life
Zakaria was born in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India to a Konkani Muslim family—though his religious upbringing was secular, including singing Christian hymns and the celebration of both Hindu and Muslim holidays.[2] His father, Rafiq Zakaria, was a politician associated with the Indian National Congress and an Islamic scholar. His mother, Fatima Zakaria, was for a time the editor of the Sunday Times of India.

Zakaria attended The Cathedral and John Connon School in Mumbai. He received a B.A. degree from Yale University where he was President of the Yale Political Union, editor-in-chief of the Yale Political Monthly, and a member of the Scroll and Key society and the Party of the Right. He later earned a Ph.D. degree in Political Science from Harvard University in 1993,[1] where he studied under Samuel P. Huntington (CFR Trilateral Commision) and Stanley Hoffmann.

Career
After directing a research project on American foreign policy at Harvard, Zakaria became managing editor of Foreign Affairs magazine in 1992. In October 2000, he was named editor of Newsweek International,[1] and wrote a weekly foreign affairs column. In August 2010 he moved from Newsweek to Time magazine, where he serves as a contributing editor and columnist.[3]

He has written on a variety of subjects for the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the New Yorker, and as a wine columnist for the webzine Slate.[4][5]

Zakaria is the author of From Wealth to Power: The Unusual Origins of America's World Role (Princeton, 1998), The Future of Freedom (Norton, 2003), and The Post-American World (2008); he has also co-edited The American Encounter: The United States and the Making of the Modern World (Basic Books).

In 2007, Foreign Policy and Prospect magazines named him one of the 100 leading public intellectuals in the world.[6]

Zakaria was a news analyst with ABC's This Week with George Stephanopoulos (2002–2007); he hosted the weekly TV news show, Foreign Exchange with Fareed Zakaria on PBS (2005–2008); his weekly show, Fareed Zakaria GPS ("Global Public Square") premiered on CNN in June 2008.[1] It airs on Sundays at 10:00am and 1:00pm eastern standard time.

Views
Zakaria self-identifies as a "centrist",[7] though he has been described variously as a political liberal,[8][9] a conservative,[10] or a moderate.[11] George Stephanopoulos said of him in 2003, "He’s so well versed in politics, and he can’t be pigeonholed. I can’t be sure whenever I turn to him where he’s going to be coming from or what he’s going to say."
...


After the 9/11 attacks, in a Newsweek cover essay, "Why They Hate Us," Zakaria argued that Islamic extremism had its roots in the stagnation and dysfunctions of the Arab world. Decades of failure under tyrannical regimes, all claiming to be Western-style secular modernizers, had produced an opposition that was religious, violent, and increasingly globalized. Since the mosque was a place where people could gather and Islam an institution that was outside the reach of censorship, they both provided a context for the growth of the political opposition. Zakaria argued for an inter-generational effort to create more open and dynamic societies in Arab countries, and thereby helping Islam enter the modern world.
.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fareed_Zakaria
.
Relationship map:
http://www.muckety.com/Fareed-Zakaria/2255.muckety

.

Bishops learn to be bishops in Rome


Published Date: September 8, 2010


Thirty nine recently ordained bishops from Asia have joined 102 bishops from around the world at a Rome seminar organized by the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples.

The bishops are from 40 nations: 24 from Africa (57 bishops), 11 from Asia (39 bishops), 3 from America (4 bishops), and 2 from Oceania (2 bishops), Fides reports.

The seminar, underway at the Pontifical College of St. Paul the Apostle, began with the celebration of Vespers on Sunday, September 5, and will conclude on Saturday, September 18 with a concelebrated Mass at the tomb of the Apostle St. Peter.

The aim of the seminar, which continues a tradition started in 1994 by the Missionary Congregation, is to provide all newly appointed bishops with time to pray, reflect more deeply on their life and on their episcopal ministry, which especially in the early years may hold difficulties and problems.

The first talk, which began the session this morning, covered “The Reality of the Mission Ad Gentes in the World and the Church Today,” by Fr. Alberto Trevisiol, IMC. Thhe Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, Cardinal Ivan Dias, and the Secretary, Archbishop Robert Sarah, will illustrate the origin, development, and skills of the Missionary Congregation and the entities that depend from it (universities, institutes, colleges).

On the morning of Friday, September 10, Archbishop Piergiuseppe Vacchelli, Assistant Secretary of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples and President of the Pontifical Mission Societies, will present the structure, working areas, and activities of the four Pontifical Societies.

Among the speakers who will give talks at the seminar are: Cardinal Antonio Canizares Llovera (Munus sanctificandi), Cardinal George Cottier (spirituality of the bishop), Cardinal William Levada (Munus docendi), Cardinal Francis George (Munus gubernandi), Cardinal Claudio Hummes (fatherhood towards priests), Cardinal Zenon Grocholewski (formation in seminaries and of the clergy), Cardinal Attilio Nicora (administrative service), Cardinal Frank Rode (consecrated life), Cardinal Walter Kasper (interreligious and ecumenical dialogue), Archbishop Nicholas Eterovic (Synod of Bishops), Archbishop Claudio Maria Celli (using media for evangelization), Archbishop Rino Fisichella (family and life), Archbishop Dominique Mamberti (relations with states), Bishop Joseph Clemens (participation of the laity in the life and mission of the Church), Archbishop Giampaolo Crepaldi (social doctrine), Archbishop Leo Burke (administration of justice).

SOURCE

Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples offers Seminar for Bishops ordained in the last 2 years (Fides)

PHOTO

Federation of Asian Bishops Conferences
.
.
Source: http://www.cathnewsasia.com/2010/09/08/bishops-learn-to-be-bishops-in-rome/
,

A Deeper Look at the Many Evangelicals Turning Catholic


by Matthew Warner

Thursday, August 05, 2010 2:26 AM


Is there a growing trend of Evangelicals converting to Catholicism? Many think so, including the author of this recent article:

[There is a large] community of young believers whose frustration with the lack of authority, structure, and intellectualism in many evangelical churches is leading them in great numbers to the Roman Catholic Church. This trend of “Crossing the Tiber” (a phrase that also served as the title of Stephen K. Ray’s 1997 book on the phenomenon), has been growing steadily for decades, but with the help of a solid foundation of literature, exemplar converts from previous generations, burgeoning traditional and new media outlets, and the coming of age of Millennial evangelicals, it is seeing its pace quicken dramatically. [source]

The article provides the example of many such notable Evangelical converts from our generation, such as Scott Hahn, Marcus Grodi, Thomas Howard, Francis Beckwith and others. (It also mentions Patrick Madrid, but he is actually not a convert, from what I understand.)

The common threads that seem to be drawing many of these Evangelicals into the Catholic Church are its history, the Liturgy and its tradition of intellectualism.

So is this trend significant? Or is it dwarfed by what seems to be many more Catholics who seem to lose their faith or become complacent with it?

According to a 2009 Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, four people leave the Catholic Church for every one person that joins it. Keep in mind that this stat doesn’t count those born into Catholicism as “joining” it. However, it’s still a sad statistic. But we shouldn’t be misled by it.

There are also studies that show Catholicism has a higher rate of retention than all other religious groups. In other words, when people convert to Catholicism, they don’t do so because they didn’t like where they were and just wanted to try something new. Their conversion is deliberate and intentional and they generally stick with it. On the other hand, when people leave the Church, they generally drift around a bit from one denomination to another. This says a lot. The Catholic convert is actually experiencing real, lasting conversion. Those leaving the Church seem to be lost and searching souls that most likely had no idea what they were leaving in the first place.

I’ve long noticed, as have many others, a kind of trend as well. It’s not so much from “Evangelicals” converting to Catholicism necessarily. It’s that of intellectuals converting to Catholicism. And that’s not to say these intellectuals were strictly intellectual. But I mean it to say that they took their reasons for believing very seriously. We only have to look back a few generations to find Chesterton, Merton, Newman, etc. as part of the same trend.

In my own experience, I’ve seen that more people who convert to Catholicism do so on account of their reason. Whereas those that leave the Church do so based on some emotion or negative experience associated with the Church.

When I ask an evangelical why they left the Church, the answer is almost always based on an emotion. Something made them feel a certain way. Or they just didn’t like the way something was done in Catholicism. Or it didn’t suit their lifestyle. Or some other experience made them feel nice.

There is a long list of protestant (and other) leaders and scholars who have converted to Catholicism. The list for those going the other direction is devastatingly short.

This is why I think we are seeing, and will continue to see even more, protestant thinkers converting to Catholicism. Protestantism is running its course. All the protest is getting tired. And they are running out of places to find answers that don’t lead them deep into Church history, back to the ancient liturgy, and into the intellectual tradition that ultimately leads to one place: Rome.

Protestantism has drifted far enough away from orthodox Christianity that it can now look back at the trees and recognize the forest. And if you’re not entirely in the Catholic Church, that just might be the next best place to be…

“There are two ways of getting home; and one of them is to stay there. The other is to walk round the whole world till we come back to the same place; and I tried to trace such a journey in a story I once wrote. It is, however, a relief to turn from that topic to another story that I never wrote. Like every book I never wrote, it is by far the best book I have ever written. It is only too probable that I shall never write it, so I will use it symbolically here; for it was a symbol of the same truth. I conceived it as a romance of those vast valleys with sloping sides, like those along which the ancient White Horses of Wessex are scrawled along the flanks of the hills. It concerned some boy whose farm or cottage stood on such a slope, and who went on his travels to find something, such as the effigy and grave of some giant; and when he was far enough from home he looked back and saw that his own farm and kitchen-garden, shining flat on the hill-side like the colours and quarterings of a shield, were but parts of some such gigantic figure, on which he had always lived, but which was too large and too close to be seen. That, I think, is a true picture of the progress of any really independent intelligence today; and that is the point of this book.

The point of this book, in other words, is that the next best thing to being really inside Christendom is to be really outside it. ” - G. K. Chesterton (Everlasting Man)
.
.
Source: http://www.ncregister.com/blog/a-deeper-look-at-the-many-evangelicals-turning-catholic/
.

New Hate Crime







In today's news headlines - General Petraeus warned that if the Koran burning scheduled for Saturday, September 11, 2010 at Gainsville, Florida ( anniversary of Sept. 11 Attacks) takes place as planned the U.S. troops in Afghanistan will be threatened with additional violence.

Dove World Christian Center's Koran burning endangers troops, says ...‎ - 4 hours ago

Petraeus gave a glimpse of just how serious of a problem the planned event ... Do Americans share Petraeus' concern about how America is perceived abroad? ...
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=4&ved=0CDcQqQIwAw&url=http%3A%2F%2Fonfaith.washingtonpost.com%2Fonfaith%2Fundergod%2F2010%2F09%2Fby_elizabeth_tenety_its_easy.html&ei=_9OGTNLSE4OKlweCzN3PDg&usg=AFQjCNFJb17-SWXF3RGc-us4Sqw4RTQtGA&sig2=ncm0h980yqgsjxiQjJyNKQ

Petraeus has a Bachelor of Science degree from the United States Military Academy from which he graduated in 1974 as a distinguished cadet (top 5% of his class). He was the General George C. Marshall Award winner as the top graduate of the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College class of 1983.[5] He subsequently earned an M.P.A. in 1985 and a Ph.D. in International Relations in 1987 from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University. He later served as Assistant Professor of International Relations at the United States Military Academy and also completed a fellowship at Georgetown University.
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CCMQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FDavid_Petraeus&ei=_9OGTNLSE4OKlweCzN3PDg&usg=AFQjCNGU6sBhTF-H6togM9iar8eXmozEWw&sig2=qgw2KVpvRVbb-MsvGraMiQ

Islamophobia!
.
.
Can anyone remember the Fort Hood shooter that fired deliberately at U.S. soldiers while repeating Allah hu Akbar? How many did he kill?
That wasn't terrorism?
Can anyone remember the underwear bomber who attempted to blow up a plane headed for the U.S.?
Wasn't that a hate crime?
Can anyone remember the Fatwa issued on Zalman Rushdie for writing "Satanic Verses"?
Was that terrorism?
How about the shoe bomber?
Was that Americanophobia?
Arsenio.
.

Romer Calls for More Stimulus



Bloomberg News
CEA Chairman Christina Romer

September 1, 2010, 1:06 PM ET.


By Jared Favole

U.S. Council of Economic Advisers Chairman Christina Romer, in her final speech before stepping down, called on the country to stomach new stimulus measures to lift the lackluster economy, even in the face of growing fears about the nation’s deficit.

“Concern about the deficit cannot be an excuse for leaving unemployed workers to suffer,” she will say at the National Press Club on Wednesday, according to a copy of her prepared remarks. She will add, “We have tools that would bring unemployment down without worsening our long-run fiscal outlook, if we can only find the will and the wisdom to use them.”

Her scheduled speech comes a day after President Barack Obama, in addressing the nation on the end of combat missions in Iraq, pledged a renewed focus to lift the economy. Obama has said his economic team, which includes Romer, is hunkered down trying to determine new measures to spur growth. It’s unclear what new ideas the administration is considering, but The Wall Street Journal reported the administration is considering tax cuts and a new nationwide infrastructure program.

Romer will defend the administration’s economic policies in the face of what she will characterize as an unprecedented, “terrifying” and “difficult-to-cure” recession. While other recessions, she will say, were caused by deliberate monetary policy actions this one began with low interest rates. She blamed the recession on a mix of regulatory failures, unsound practices and the mortgage crisis.

She said the administration had to act swiftly. “Had the Federal Reserve not responded as rapidly and creatively as it did, the crisis would have been catastrophic,” she will say.

Her speech is titled “Not My Father’s Recession: The Extraordinary Challenges and Policy Responses of the First Twenty Months of the Obama Administration.” She will say the recession destroyed $13 trillion of wealth in 2008.

Romer is leaving the administration this week to return to a teaching post at the University of California at Berkeley.

The administration, and particularly Romer, have come under fire for making what turned out to be rosy projections about the effect stimulus efforts would have on keeping down the unemployment rate. The unemployment rate now stands near 10%.

Republicans have latched onto some of the administration’s predictions and used them to argue that stimulus efforts have failed. The Congressional Budget Office, meanwhile, has said that the Obama administration’s recovery efforts increased employment by between 1.4 million and 3.3 million new jobs.

Romer will answer her critics. She will say the financial shocks the U.S. faced were so rare “there were no reliable estimates of the likely impact. To this day, economists don’t fully understand why firms cut production as much as they did, and why they cut labor so much more than they normally would, given the decline in output.”

Romer will say while real gross domestic product is growing, it isn’t doing so fast enough create the hundreds of thousands of jobs each month needed to return employment to its pre-crisis level.
.
.
Source:
http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2010/09/01/romer-calls-for-more-stimulus-in-final-speech/
.

Monday, September 06, 2010

Hermine and that other Tropical Recession, oops, Depression

Happy Labor Day


Welcome to the New World Order:


Globalism means spreading your wealth with the globe.


The more jobs we export overseas, the more the 'rest' of the world improves.

And the less of a Carbon Footprint you have to worry about...


Now we can all celebrate Labor Day in unison. More Labor for them, less employment for us.

One for you, 8 for them; two for you, 16 for them, etc. Now we're all even-Steven.


But, think of this current situation as a wily salesman would consider it:

This is not a crisis, it's an opportunity.

Yes, an opportunity to implement the long awaited tyrannical global government spear-headed by your erroneously elected representatives.

Now your American Express billing questions are handled by customer service reps in Bombay (PC: Mumbay); Your fruit of the looms are made in Honduras, your shirt and pants in El Salvador, your shoes are made in Vietnam, your sunglasses in China (The People's Republic).

You're dressed and ready to enjoy your barbecue, or sail your yacht, celebrate Labor Day!
We've made sure that your gasoline has 10% Ethanol from Brazil; Happy Motoring!
Please use half the amount of charcoal in your made in Korea grill.

Labor Day - The last Hurrah before the Fall.

But, keep in mind that despite all the job losses, the lack of available employment;

The recession is over! The recovery is in full effect. The Administration is convinced of this.

So, to ensure that we continue moving forward, there will be more speeches, more rallies, more impromptu visits to middle America. In other words, politics as usual.


Enjoy Labor Day, while you still have a job. Change is coming!


P.S. This is a satirical commentary of what's going on in America before our very eyes.

But, it's not a joke, it's what can be discerned when you take off the 3D glasses.

The wine of Babylon is stronger than Moonshine.


Arsenio.
.

ADP Estimates Companies in U.S. Cut 10,000 Jobs in August


By Timothy R. Homan
(c) 2010 Bloomberg News
Wednesday, September 1, 2010; 8:23 AM

Employment fell by 10,000, according to figures today from ADP Employer Services. The median estimate of 35 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News called for a gain of 15,000. Forecasts ranged from a decline of 50,000 to a 55,000 increase.

Over the previous six reports, ADP's initial figures were closest to the Labor Department's first estimate of private payrolls in February, when they overestimated the drop in jobs by 2,000. The estimate was least accurate in April, when it underestimated the employment gain by 199,000.

A Labor Department report on Sept. 3 will show private payrolls climbed by 42,000 workers last month after a gain of 71,000 in July, according to the median forecast of economists surveyed. The jobless rate will increase to 9.6 percent from 9.5 percent, the survey also showed. .
.
Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/01/AR2010090101881.html
.

Problem bank list climbs to 829


By Hibah Yousuf, staff reporter



NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- The government's list of troubled banks hit its highest level since 1993 during the second quarter, although the pace of growth continued to slow, according to a government report released Tuesday.

The number of banks at risk of failing rose by 53 to 829, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. said in its quarterly survey of the nation's banking system. That increase marks the smallest rise since the first quarter of 2009.

Map
Where the banks are failing

Bank failures and foreclosures keep mounting

However, it's still nearly double the 416 banks that were on the FDIC's watch list a year ago and is up from 775 in the first quarter of this year.

Banks that end up on the problem list are considered the most likely to fail. But few of the lenders on the FDIC's watch list a year ago and is up from 775 in the first quarter of this year.

Banks that end up on the problem list are considered the most likely to fail. But few of the lenders on the list actually reach the point of failure. On average, just 13% of banks on the FDIC's problem list have been seized and shuttered by regulators.

So far this year, 118 banks have failed, with 45 closings during the last quarter.

While FDIC chief Sheila Bair said she expects 2010 bank failures to exceed last year's tally of 140, the total amount of assets from this year's failures will likely be lower since banks have been cleaning up their balance sheets.

More money in the kitty. The FDIC reported a second consecutive increase in its deposit insurance fund, which covers customer deposits when a bank fails. The fund, which had been dwindling for two years, grew by $5.5 billion, but it still operates in the red, with a deficit of $15.2 billion.

"As we expected, demand on cash have increased this year," said Bair. "But our projections indicate that our current resources are more than enough to resolve anticipated failures."

Meanwhile, banks and other institutions insured by the FDIC collectively earned approximately $21.6 billion during the quarter. That's the highest in nearly three years and reversing last year's $4.4 billion loss.

Two out of three banks reported higher profits compared to a year ago, as they set aside fewer funds to cover bad loans for the first time since 2006. Banks reduced their quarterly loan-loss provisions to $40.3 billion, according to the FDIC. That's down more than 40% from a year ago.

Banks still not lending

Although bank earnings are still low by historical standards and the number of problem banks and bank failures remain high, Bair remained optimistic.

"As long as economic conditions remain supportive, most institutions should maintain profitability and increase their capacity to lend." she said.

The latest reading on the health of the industry provided a modest boost to bank stocks Tuesday. The KBW Bank Index (BKX) edged up 1.3% in late morning trading.

..

Source: http://money.cnn.com/2010/08/31/news/companies/fdic_problem_bank_list/index.htm

Public believes taxpayers should not fund papal visit

The Catholic Church is struggling to capture the public's imagination over this month's papal visit, new opinion polls have suggested.

By Jonathan Wynne-Jones, Religious Affairs Correspondent
Published: 8:00AM BST 05 Sep 2010


More than three quarters of Britons think the taxpayer should not contribute to the cost of Pope Benedict XVI's visit Photo: REUTERS


A survey by ComRes found that 77% of people think taxpayers should not be funding the trip, while 79% have "no personal interest" in the tour.

The findings come as hundreds of tickets have been reallocated by the Catholic Church following the failure of several dioceses to meet their targets for sales.

'Lack of interest' in papal visit The ComRes poll, for Theos, a think-tank, found that one-third of people do not believe the visit will be good for Britain, compared to 29% who think it will be.

Taxpayers will shoulder between £10 million and £12 million of the bill for the trip.

A separate survey carried out by Ipsos MORI for The Tablet, a Catholic newspaper, found that only one in five people plan to follow the visit closely. This figure drops to one in ten among those with no religious affiliation.

With growing concerns over how Pope Benedict XVI will be received, it has emerged that the Church has not yet filled all the places for large-scale events in Glasgow, Birmingham and London.

At least seven dioceses are understood to have sent back hundreds of tickets for the prayer vigil in Hyde Park and for the beatification ceremony in Birmingham.

Only weeks before the pontiff arrives in Britain, just a quarter of the 1,900 places allocated to the Nottingham diocese had been taken up, while in Cardiff 332 of 1,078 places had been taken.

In Southwark, two-thirds of the 3,400 tickets for the beatification in Birmingham on Sep 19 had been taken.

Bishop Vincent Malone, papal visit coordinator for the Archdiocese of Liverpool, said that few people in the diocese had asked for tickets and a spokesman for the Archdiocese of Birmingham said a number of parishioners were returning their tickets.

These are now being offered to dioceses where there is high demand for a chance to see the Pope, and also to schools in dioceses close to London, where children might want to attend the Hyde Park prayer vigil on Sep 18.

Organisers have blamed the disappointing response on a lack of coaches for pilgrims and the 6am starting time required to attend the beatification ceremony, but there was also disquiet at the introduction of charges for attending the events, ranging from £5 to £25.

Those going to Bellahouston Park in Glasgow on Sep 16 will be able to see Susan Boyle perform, while all pilgrims will receive pilgrim packs, including a CD, map and information about the event.

Meanwhile, Meredydd Hughes, the chief constable who is coordinating security for the visit, has warned that anyone who follows the call of Richard Dawkins to arrest the Pope could themselves be arrested.

Geoffrey Robertson QC will this week publish a legal argument backing Richard Dawkins, the atheist campaigner, who claimed the Pope should be arrested during his visit to Britain "for crimes against humanity".

However, Mr Hughes, chief constable in South Yorkshire, said that legal advice was circulated to forces last week stating that the pontiff has diplomatic immunity so cannot be arrested.

Officers will be issued with detailed guidance on their powers to deal with protesters this week and will be able to arrest anyone who tries a citizen's arrest.

Peter Tatchell, the gay rights campaigner who is leading opposition to the visit, attempted a citizen's arrest on Robert Mugabe, the Zimbabwe president, in 2001.

Mr Hughes said that the police are closely monitoring groups deemed to pose a threat to the Pope's safety, including an Islamist website that has urged Muslims to disrupt the Mass at Cofton Park.

"We are aware of a range of potential threats," he said.

"What is unusual about the Pope's visit is the wide range of groups protesting against him.

"There are groups from the ultra-Catholic wing who believe the doctrine of the Church is not being taken forward, to Protestant groups with long-standing objections to the papacy, and then are those with personal objections to the Pope's visit."

A spokesman for the Catholic Church said: "We're confident we'll be at capacity for these events. We anticipate huge crowds will come to see the Pope."
.
.
.

Twenty-five Years of Theocratic Influence -


Twenty-five Years of Theocratic Influence - repeated attempts by the Catholic Church to influence the US government in issues involving abortion, various medical technologies, and homosexuality

Humanist, July, 2000 by John M. Swomley

In 1975 the Vatican began organizing a major political campaign to reverse Roe v. Wade. Few people at the time knew the origin of the campaign to end legal abortion through control of the U.S. presidency, Congress, and Supreme Court. But it has since become only one of many direct interventions by the Vatican over the last quarter century to establish a theocracy in the United States.

In 1976 sixteen Catholic leaders headed by Archbishop Joseph Bernadin met with presidential candidate Jimmy Carter to press him to appoint Roman Catholics to key positions in his administration in return for not endorsing his opponent, Gerald Ford, in the coming election. Carter agreed and appointed, among others, John J. Gilligan to the cabinet post supervising the Agency for International Development (AID), thus ending the fourteen-year tenure of Dr. R. I. Ravenholt with that agency. It was AID that had provided family planning assistance to people in other countries.

In 1980 Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chair Frank Church proposed an amendment to the Foreign Assistance Act, stating, "Catholics ... are requesting that any aid program that we may embark upon in any foreign land include information and services which relate to and support natural family planning methods."

In 1984 the Reagan administration agreed to the Vatican's request to announce at the United Nations World Conference on Population in Mexico City that the United States was reversing its many years of commitment to international family planning. The administration then withdrew funding from the United States Fund for Population Activities and the International Planned Parenthood Federation.

In 1985 Mother Teresa came to the United States to lobby Congress against passage of legislation that would require family planning providers to give access to all family planning methods. The following year the U.S. Catholic Conference lobbied Congress to stop funding contraceptive research and to make natural family planning--supported by the Vatican--the preferred method of family planning.

In March 1987 the Vatican then issued an "Instruction on Respect for Human Life in Its Origin and on the Dignity of Procreation," which opposed at least fourteen current medical technologies, including artificial insemination, the freezing of embryos, and prenatal diagnosis, including the use of amniocentesis and ultrasonic techniques. The Vatican defended these restrictions "as subject to the all-holy laws of God: immutable and inviolable laws which must be recognized and observed."

But the subordination of women is only one goal of the Vatican's direct interventions. In 1980 the U.S. Catholic Conference enlisted the aid of Marian Wright Edelman of the Children's Defense Fund to secure the passage of the Act for Better Child Care with language that authorized government funds for after-school care in parochial schools using teachers from the schools as child care providers. The law as finally adopted also includes an amendment permitting government funding certificates to be used for child care that includes religious instruction or worship.

Ten years later the Catholic bishops decided to launch a major campaign to secure government aid for school choice, including the use of vouchers to provide tax funds for parochial schools. The bishops' plan called for the formation of diocesan, state, and national parents' organizations to lobby for government funds for Catholic schools. Prior to this 1990 decision, the Catholic hierarchy had lobbied successfully for a Minnesota law allowing parents of parochial and private school students to deduct $700 per child in high school and $500 per child in elementary school from their state income tax for tuition, textbook, and transportation expenses.

In 1986, when a bill to guarantee civil rights to homosexuals was before the Chicago City Council, "the political consensus was that it would pass with the votes of at least thirty aldermen," wrote Lawrence Lader in his book Politics, Power, and the Church. Lader continues, then Cardinal Bernadin "condemned the bill in violent language, and it was defeated thirty to eighteen."

Such successes led the Vatican to become even bolder. On June 25, 1992, it released a statement to all U.S. bishops which began, "Recent legislation has been proposed in some American states which would make discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation illegal." The Vatican then provided a list of categories for which discrimination should be legal, including teachers, coaches, tenants, adoption and foster care personnel, and the extension of company health benefits to an employee's homosexual partner.

On March 25, 1995, Pope John Paul II intervened directly in U.S. government with his encyclical Evangelium Vitae, which includes explicit instruction to obedient Catholics in Congress, state legislatures, and even the U.S. Supreme Court:

No circumstances, no purpose, no law whatsoever can ever make licit an act which is intrinsically illicit, since it is contrary to the law of God which is written in every heart, knowable by reason itself, and proclaimed by this church.
.
.
Source: http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1374/is_4_60/ai_63257726/
.

Sunday, September 05, 2010

Islam Permits Lying to Deceive Unbelievers and Bring World Domination!



By Don Boys, Ph.D.
Published Nov 17, 2004


It is impossible to understand Islam and Muslims by listening to their protestations against terror and their proclamations of patriotism for America. Usually, it is wise and fair to give people the benefit of the doubt but when it comes to national safety and the future of America, we had better look twice, even thrice at Muslim patriotism. Why? Because Islam permits lying! It is called “Al-taqiyya.” One Muslim said that Al-taqiyya means dissimulation then he expanded it to diplomacy but he should have gone further to deception. Now some Muslims who do not follow the Koran are as faithful Americans as any of us, but the problem is, we cannot know.

It seems our President and his advisors are clueless as to the desires, doctrines, and distinctives of Islam. While I feel a little audacious in giving advice to national leaders, it is necessary since no one else is doing it. Muslims lie not because they are liars by nature but by choice. Systematic lying as a religious policy is deadly, and if our politicians do not understand this, thousands could die.

Muslims lie not because they are liars by nature but by choice. Systematic lying as a religious policy is deadly, and if our politicians do not understand this, thousands could die. Muslims lie when it is in their interest to do so and “Allah” will not hold them accountable for lying when it is beneficial to the cause of Islam. They can lie without any guilt or fear of accountability or retribution. A lie in the defense of Islam is approved even applauded in their “holy” books.

Muslims are permitted to lie: (1) to save their lives, (2) to reconcile a husband and wife, (3) to persuade a woman into a bedroom and (4) to facilitate one on his journey. Muslims are even permitted to disavow Islam and Mohammed if it is not a genuine heart-felt rejection. Muslims will tell you that concealment of a truth is not an abandonment of that truth if it benefits Islam.

Mohammed gave permission for a follower to lie in order to kill a Jewish poet who had offended Mohammed. I could provide many examples of permissible lying from the Koran and Hadith and will do so when my critics accuse me of hatred and bigotry because of this column. My motives are not important but the truth is. However, many unprincipled people do not consider truth important. It is political correctness that sits on the throne to be worshiped.

Muslims may appear very sincere; in fact, they are sincere, when they lie for their own protection or in the cause of Islam. They have permission to lie. Yes, Christians have also lied but never are they given permission to lie. However, a Muslim has no guilt since the Koran and Hadith permit his deception.

They will lie to make Islam more attractive to potential converts as they speak of “no compulsion in religion” while all of them know that verse was abrogated by later verses. They will quote verses that speak of tolerance and kindness knowing that those verses were written when Mohammed was desirous of “tolerance and kindness,” but when he climbed into the catbird seat, everything changed and he became a terrorist.

Muslims have no hope for eternal salvation without their good works, so they must keep working to advance Islam. If a few lies will accomplish that goal, then lying is not bad but good. If they can get good publicity for Islam by lying, then lying is acceptable, even desirable. Muslims have no hope for eternal salvation without their good works, so they must keep working to advance Islam. If a few lies will accomplish that goal, then lying is not bad but good. If they can get good publicity for Islam by lying, then lying is acceptable, even desirable. The Muslim is earning his way to heaven by lying to a non-Muslim.

Unlike Christians who are saved once for all by the grace of God through faith in Christ’s propitiatory death, no Muslim knows for sure if his works are good enough for Heaven. The only Muslim who knows for sure that his eternal destiny is secure and he will drop into a delightful garden filled with 72 virgins on soft green cushions is the one who dies while “taking out” unbelievers in Islam.

Most Muslims will not have the “opportunity” to become a martyr in this war between Islam and the rest of the world and make no mistake every true Muslim must be involved in making America (or the nation where he lives) a Muslim nation. Since Muslims are limited in their ability to die for the cause, they can help the cause by supporting terrorists with money, succor, and cover. Sure, they are aiding terror against the U.S. but since they believe they are doing Allah’s will, then any deception is acceptable.

How should this affect America’s war on terror? Officials must look closely at every Muslim chaplain in the military and in our prisons; also look at those involved in the CIA, FBI, and other sensitive areas; look at all Arabic translators, military or civilian; look at all Muslim employees at the Pentagon, White House, atomic power plants, and in Congress; look at all civilian Muslim pilots; look at Muslim clerics in all U.S. mosques. In other words, get serious about this war before our cities are rubble.

Our President must stop playing the game of “Let’s Stop the Terrorists” and get serious by going to the heart of the matter. This war on terror is a religious matter and could become a Hundred Years’ War. To resurrect an old slogan: You can trust the Muslims to be Muslims. They are lying their way to world domination!


The Qur'an:

Qur'an (16:106) - Establishes that there are circumstances that can “compel” a Muslim to tell a lie.

Qur'an (3:28) - This verse tells Muslims not to take those outside the faith as friends, unless it is to “guard themselves.”

Qur'an (9:3) - “…Allah and His Messenger are free from liability to the idolaters…” The dissolution of oaths with the pagans who remained at Mecca following its capture. They did nothing wrong, but were evicted anyway.

Qur'an (2:225) - “Allah will not call you to account for thoughtlessness in your oaths, but for the intention in your hearts”

Qur'an (66:2) - “Allah has already ordained for you, (O men), the dissolution of your oaths”

Qur'an (3:54) - “And they (the disbelievers) schemed, and Allah schemed (against them): and Allah is the best of schemers.” The Arabic word used here for scheme (or plot) is makara, which literally means deceit. If Allah is deceitful toward unbelievers, then there is little basis for denying that Muslims are allowed to do the same. (See also 8:30 and 10:21)

Taken collectively these verses are interpreted to mean that there are circumstances when a Muslim may be “compelled” to deceive others for a greater purpose.
.
.
.

Who is the Antichrist 1 of 8


This video provides an outstanding explanation of who the Antichrist is; The evangelist Mark Woodman was just 34 years old when he died of Cancer, on June 23, 2010. He is survived by his wife Retha and two young children. May God bless his family. May the Lord bless his ministry which will live on by means of video recordings such as this one.


There's more information on Mark Woodman at this website: http://www.markwoodman.org/home/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=1&Itemid=3

.

Disraeli, Please Come Home


Biography
By Miriam Shaviv
Published September 18, 2008, issue of September 26, 2008.


Benjamin Disraeli
By Adam Kirsch
Schocken/Nextbook, 288 pages, $21.

Queen Victoria once asked Benjamin Disraeli, the 19th-century British prime minister, about his “real” religion.

“You were born a Jew and you forsook your great people,” she said. “Now you are a member of the Church of England, but no one believes that you are a Christian at heart. Please tell me, who are you and what are you?”

“Your Majesty,” Disraeli famously replied, “I am the blank page between the Old Testament and the New.”

The answer, New York Sun books critic Adam Kirsch says in his account of Disraeli’s Jewishness, perfectly encapsulates the ambiguous identity deliberately nurtured by Britain’s first — and, so far, only — Jewish-born prime minister. Disraeli was a practicing Christian who attended church on Sundays and, unlike Jews, could sit in Parliament. Yet he believed that Christianity was incomplete without Judaism — and vice versa — and saw himself as part of a noble, powerful Jewish race.

It was an empowering image he carefully cultivated, in person and as a novelist, in order to counter regular antisemitic attacks and give himself the confidence to withstand them.

“Disraeli’s Jewishness,” Kirsch ultimately concludes, “was both the greatest obstacle to his ambition and its greatest engine.”

Disraeli was born in London in 1804, to a Jewish woman who was hostile toward Judaism and to a Jewish man who admired the biblical Jewish commonwealth but despised rabbis and rituals. In 1817, after falling out with the local synagogue, Disraeli’s father had his four children baptized.

Benjamin’s early years were marked by failure. He withdrew from school at 15; Kirsch extrapolates from his novels that this was because of antisemitism, but he brings no real proof. By the time he was 22, he was in deep debt and a social pariah, after being outed as the anonymous author of the novel “Vivian Gray,” supposedly an insider’s exposé of high society. A nervous breakdown followed. It took three years until he felt well enough to embark on a tour of the Mediterranean that included Palestine.

There, Jerusalem seized his imagination as a potential site of Jewish national sovereignty. He began writing “Alroy,” a proto-Zionist novel loosely based on the life of a 12th-century Kurdish Jew who rebelled against the Turks. In Disraeli’s version, Alroy faces a choice between his own glory and that of the Jewish nation — and chooses the latter.

But by the time the book was published in 1833, Disraeli had chosen the opposite path. “Writing Alroy served Disraeli, it seemed, as a kind of exorcism,” Kirsch writes.

Hugely ambitious, Disraeli ran for Parliament, and after five tries he was finally voted in as a Conservative.

An aspiring aristocrat, Disraeli believed that the privileges of the nobility had to be preserved even as England modernized. He cared deeply for the working class, however, arguing simply that the peers were best placed to look out for their interests.

The vision ultimately transformed his elitist party into a national one. But Disraeli was, for decades, on the wrong side of history, at one point even flirting with feudalism. He spent most of his career in opposition, showing off his celebrated rhetorical skills rather than implementing policy.

Meanwhile, he continued writing successful novels. “Coningsby,” “Sybil” and “Tancred” all advocated solving England’s problems by empowering the rich. They also, however, featured the recurring figure of Sidonia, Disraeli’s “fictional avatar.” A wandering Jew incapable of feeling love, the wealthy Sidonia exercised vast power behind the scenes. He also advanced the theory that the Jews were “to be defined solely on the basis of race.”

He was a classic antisemitic figure, on whom leading antisemites later explicitly drew. But to Disraeli — detached from the realities of everyday Jewish life — Sidonia’s superiority was a source of pride. And his theory of race allowed Disraeli, who was continually labeled an “outsider” and an “alien,” to “turn the English theory of pedigree to his own advantage.”

It is ironic, therefore, that the political power he craved finally came to him through the question of Jewish emancipation. Disraeli chose to support the right of Lionel de Rothschild, who in 1847 was the first nonbaptized Jew to be elected to Parliament, to take up his seat. Disraeli argued not for equality, but that Christians owed Jews a debt as the inventors of Christianity. His party forgave this renegade position. But they ousted their leader in the House of Commons, the only other Conservative to support Rothschild — leaving the prestigious position open for Disraeli.

In the mid 1850s, he served two brief terms as chancellor of the Exchequer, Britain’s finance minister. It was not until 1868, after passing a historic bill granting the vote to most men — a move he had opposed for decades — that he finally became prime minister, and then only for a few short months. Not until 1874, when he was almost 70, did he win his first full term in office.

Disraeli had become such a fixture on the benches of the opposition that the nation, it appears, had finally gotten used to this eccentric Jew. Yet it was not a totally dazzling premiership. There were some historic achievements, including some important social legislation, the purchase of a minority share in the Suez Canal with a loan from Rothschilds and a triumph at the Congress of Berlin in 1878, where Disraeli limited Russian expansionism, to great acclaim. For the most part, though, Disraeli was hampered by old age, widowhood and lack of executive experience. When power finally came, he was past his prime.

Kirsch, in his compelling and elegant account, nevertheless frames Disraeli’s story as one of triumph, that of his political and Jewish imagination. It is unclear whether this is completely true. The myth of the noble, oriental Jew was a common motif among London Sephardim, reflected in the architecture of some major synagogues from that period, such as the New West End synagogue in Westminster’s Bayswater, built to look like a Moorish fantasy. Furthermore, despite decades of effort, it is unclear whether Disraeli convinced anyone but himself of the superiority of the “Jewish race.”

Still — seeing as the fantasy gave him the confidence to climb right to the top of the political ladder and earn an enduring place in popular imagination — perhaps that was enough.

Miriam Shaviv is the comment editor of The Jewish Chronicle of London.

Source: http://www.forward.com/articles/14215/
.

Unity Amid Diversity


Max and Linnea Torkelsen are pictured here the first Sabbath of GC Session 2010

September 2010 Gleaner : Editorial - Unity Amid Diversity


When you stand, as I did recently, in the midst of tens of thousands from every corner of the world, you cannot escape the realization that Seventh-day Adventists are part of a miracle of grace. During the final Sabbath of this year's General Conference Session in Atlanta, Georgia, I joined with 70,000 voices to sing "Lead on, O King Eternal," and all the cultural differences that make us unique faded into the background as we stood, one united body of Christ. At a moment like that, it all comes home to you — the significant resources we spend every five years on these worldwide sessions are crucial to keeping our world church united and focused on a common mission.

Judy Fowler and I represented the Northwest on the GC nominating committee. It's a complex and time-consuming task. Only the Holy Spirit could enable 230 delegates speaking 50 different languages to reach consensus on hundreds of nominations for church leadership. It is a fair process that has become increasingly difficult as our church grows, with less contact between leaders in various parts of the world. I hope it can be streamlined in the future, with more information made available.

I was happy to observe the overwhelming support of the assembled delegates in reaffirming the Creation account as it reads in Scripture. At a time of increased dialogue on the topic of origins, it is helpful to have the Session specifically reaffirm Creation occurred in seven literal, 24-hour days, forming a week identical in time to what we now experience. This is biblical Adventist teaching, and I am thankful it remains our officially-voted position.

The monumental task of rewriting and reorganizing the Church Manual was completed and voted. The new edition of the Manual will be available for distribution in a few months. It has been divided into two sections — the main body, which applies to the entire world church, and a second section of notes to include additional advice or cultural adaptation principles. The Church Manual can only be amended or changed once every five years at GC Session.

I greatly appreciated the main devotional presentations throughout Session, which were given by local pastors representing all the divisions of the world field. It was remarkable to see the variety of homiletical styles and yet hear "the good old Seventh-day Adventist message" woven through every sermon.

The final challenge of the Session came from Ted N. C. Wilson, newly elected world church president. He called earnestly for the church to remain faithful to the sacredness of Holy Scripture, as it reads. He called for revival and reformation in the church to prepare us for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in Latter Rain proportions. He reminded us we are the Remnant Church, called to a special task in God's plan to prepare the world for the Second Coming of Jesus. He encouraged us to embrace the special gift God has given in the writings of the Spirit of Prophecy. And he pleaded with the church to remain hopeful and focused on the soon coming of Jesus.

I have returned from GC Session convinced our new leader is a true believer in the message and mission of the Advent Movement. And I'm renewed in my conviction that "the good old Seventh-day Adventist message" is a contemporary calling we can be passionate about here in the Northwest and around the world.

.

Max C. Torkelsen, NPUC president.
.


.

They have defiled the priesthood

Web-site: http://www.sligochurch.org/sligo_story2.htm

Remember them, O my God, because they have defiled the priesthood, and the covenant of the priesthood, and of the Levites.

Nehemiah 13:29.
.

Saturday, September 04, 2010

Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!


Matthew 23

1Then spake Jesus to the multitude, and to his disciples,

2Saying The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat:

3All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do; but do not ye after their works: for they say, and do not.

4For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men's shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers.

5But all their works they do for to be seen of men: they make broad their phylacteries, and enlarge the borders of their garments,

6And love the uppermost rooms at feasts, and the chief seats in the synagogues,

7And greetings in the markets, and to be called of men, Rabbi, Rabbi.

8But be not ye called Rabbi: for one is your Master, even Christ; and all ye are brethren.

9And call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven.

10Neither be ye called masters: for one is your Master, even Christ.

11But he that is greatest among you shall be your servant.

12And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted.

13But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in.

14Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye devour widows' houses, and for a pretence make long prayer: therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation.

15Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves.

16Woe unto you, ye blind guides, which say, Whosoever shall swear by the temple, it is nothing; but whosoever shall swear by the gold of the temple, he is a debtor!

17Ye fools and blind: for whether is greater, the gold, or the temple that sanctifieth the gold?

18And, Whosoever shall swear by the altar, it is nothing; but whosoever sweareth by the gift that is upon it, he is guilty.

19Ye fools and blind: for whether is greater, the gift, or the altar that sanctifieth the gift?

20Whoso therefore shall swear by the altar, sweareth by it, and by all things thereon.

21And whoso shall swear by the temple, sweareth by it, and by him that dwelleth therein.

22And he that shall swear by heaven, sweareth by the throne of God, and by him that sitteth thereon.

23Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.

24Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel.

25Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess.

26Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also.

27Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness.

28Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.

29Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchres of the righteous,

30And say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.

31Wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves, that ye are the children of them which killed the prophets.

32Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers.

33Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?

34Wherefore, behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: and some of them ye shall kill and crucify; and some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and persecute them from city to city:

35That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar.

36Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation.

37O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!

38Behold, your house is left unto you desolate.

39For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.


King James Version (KJV)

.

Prepare to Meet Thy God


Therefore thus will I do unto thee, O Israel: and because I will do this unto thee, prepare to meet thy God, O Israel..... Amos 4:12.


Many do not realize what they must be in order to live in the sight of the Lord without a high priest in the sanctuary through the time of trouble. Those who receive the seal of the living God and are protected in the time of trouble must reflect the image of Jesus fully.

Their robes must be spotless, their characters must be purified from sin by the blood of sprinkling. Through the grace of God and their own diligent effort, they must be conquerors in the battle with evil. While the investigative judgment is going forward in heaven, while the sins of penitent believers are being removed from the sanctuary, there is to be a special work of purification, of putting away of sin, among God's people upon earth.

I saw that many were neglecting the preparation so needful and were looking to the time of "refreshing" and the "latter rain" to fit them to stand in the day of the Lord and to live in His sight. Oh, how many I saw in the time of trouble without a shelter! They had neglected the needful preparation; therefore they could not receive the refreshing that all must have to fit them to live in the sight of a holy God.

Those who refuse to be hewed by the prophets and fail to purify their souls in obeying the whole truth, and who are willing to believe that their condition is far better than it really is, will come up to the time of the falling of the plagues, and then see that they needed to be hewed and squared for the building. . . .

I saw that none could share the "refreshing" unless they obtain the victory over every besetment, over pride, selfishness, love of the world, and over every wrong word and action. We should, therefore, be drawing nearer and nearer to the Lord and be earnestly seeking that preparation necessary to enable us to stand in the battle in the day of the Lord. Let all remember that God is holy and that none but holy beings can ever dwell in His presence.

Maranatha, P. 255

.