Saturday, June 18, 2011

"Christians should commit themselves to combatting xenophobia"


2011-06-18

AFRICA-"Christians should commit themselves to combatting xenophobia," write the Bishops of Southern Africa for Refugee Day




Rome (Fides Service) - "On the eve of this important day for our brothers and sisters who have been forcibly displaced, the Catholic community celebrates the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity, a good place to reflect on our attitudes as communities to refugees", said His Exc. Mgr.Frank Nubuasah, Apostolic Vicar of Francistown, Botswana, and "Liaison Bishop for the Migrant and Refugee Working Group of the SACBC " (the Bishops' Conference which brings together the Bishops of South Africa, Botswana and Swaziland).

On 20 June, the 10th World Refugee Day (previously known as Africa Refugee Day) will be celebrated. "It is a Day – Mgr. Nubuasah writes in a message sent to Fides – that not only serves to raise awareness of the plight of refugees, highlights the injustices that the human community has done to its members, but also celebrates the positive contributions of refugee and migrant communities".

Mgr. Nubuasah takes as example the perfect communion of the Trinity as a model for human relationships: "In the Trinity, we have a perfect community of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit in loving relationship with one another, and working together to share their love with the world. It is a community of relationships which all human communities and their relationships should imitate".

With this example, the Apostolic Vicar of Francistown, asks the Catholic communities of Southern Africa to search their soul as to how the refugees living in their Countries are welcomed: "Is our relationship between us and the refugees a perfect imitation of Communion between the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit? "
"As refugees and other displaced people continue to experience lack of love and suffer injustice, we implore you to create communities that imitate the Most Holy Trinity, reciprocating love and compassion", says the Apostolic Vicar of Francistown.
"As the world commemorates World Refugee Day, we, your Bishops, urge you to support refugees. We urge you as followers of Christ, to oppose the evil of xenophobia threatening to divide the community of human beings. Each person should do whatever he or she can to unite against this wickedness of xenophobia and endeavour to build communities of love", concluded Mgr. Nubuasah. (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides 18/09/2011)


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If these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out.



28And when he had thus spoken, he went before, ascending up to Jerusalem.

29And it came to pass, when he was come nigh to Bethphage and Bethany, at the mount called the mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples,

30Saying, Go ye into the village over against you; in the which at your entering ye shall find a colt tied, whereon yet never man sat: loose him, and bring him hither.

31And if any man ask you, Why do ye loose him? thus shall ye say unto him, Because the Lord hath need of him.

32And they that were sent went their way, and found even as he had said unto them.

33And as they were loosing the colt, the owners thereof said unto them, Why loose ye the colt?

34And they said, The Lord hath need of him.

35And they brought him to Jesus: and they cast their garments upon the colt, and they set Jesus thereon.

36And as he went, they spread their clothes in the way.

37And when he was come nigh, even now at the descent of the mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen;

38Saying, Blessed be the King that cometh in the name of the Lord: peace in heaven, and glory in the highest.

39And some of the Pharisees from among the multitude said unto him, Master, rebuke thy disciples.

40And he answered and said unto them, I tell you that, if these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out.

41And when he was come near, he beheld the city, and wept over it,

42Saying, If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes.

43For the days shall come upon thee, that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every side,

44And shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee; and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another; because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation.

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Luke 19: 28-44.
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Friday, June 17, 2011

ADRA Recommits Support on World Refugee Day

Friday, June 10, 2011

For more information, contact:

John Torres, Assistant Director of Public Relations
301.680.6357 (office)
301.680.6370 (fax)
John.Torres@adra.org

To donate to ADRA go to:
Online: www.adra.org
Phone: 1.800.424.ADRA (2372)

Twitter: www.twitter.com/ADRAi
Facebook: www.facebook.com/joinADRA


Photo Credit: ADRA International


SILVER SPRING, Md. - On June 20th, the Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) will be joining millions of people around the world who recognize and remember the plight of millions of refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs), by pledging continued support on World Refugee Day.

ADRA's humanitarian interventions have assisted hundreds of thousands of refugees and IDPs around the world, providing them with basic necessities such as food, water, clothing, and shelter to improve their living conditions. The agency also focuses on assisting those able to return home with reintegration projects that aid IDPs in reestablishing their lives.

ADRA is currently assisting refugees and IDPs in Cambodia, Côte d'Ivoire, Haiti, India, Liberia, Libya, and Myanmar.

In northern Cambodia, ADRA has been aiding families displaced by violent clashes between Thai and Cambodian soldiers, with clean drinking water. By drilling wells and distributing water filters throughout IDP communities, ADRA has brought clean live-saving water to nearly 3,000 families. Some of these wells are able to provide up to 2,110 gallons (approximately 8,000 liters) of water per hour.

ADRA has provided humanitarian assistance to more than 7,000 Ivorian refugees who have fled Côte d'Ivoire to Liberia after a series of deadly inter-ethnic clashes. ADRA has ensured thousands of families are supplied with essential non-food items (NFIs) such as buckets, water purification solutions, and bathing and washing soaps, which has helped to stem the spread of hygiene-related disease.

Since last year's deadly earthquake in Haiti, hundreds of IDPs who previously lived in dangerous makeshift shacks in the median of a heavily traveled road are now staying in shelters provided by ADRA, and funded by the United States Agency for International Development's (USAID) Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA). Once in danger of being struck by oncoming traffic, these IDPs are now safely residing in a flat coastline shelter-community in Carrefour.

Since April 2011, more than 450,000 Libyans have fled to neighboring countries due to the volatile political crisis in Libya. Many have sought safety in Tunisia and have set camp not far from the Libyan border. ADRA has been on the ground distributing water, inspecting and assessing needs related to sanitation and food provision, and have been collaborating with other agencies to ensure proper healthcare is available to refugees.

Established by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the 1951 Refugee Convention defines a refugee as someone who, based on a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons including race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, is living in a country outside of their nationality, and is unable or unwilling to request protection from their home country.

IDPs differ as they remain within their home countries, and usually have fled their homes due to natural disasters, violence, armed conflict, or violations of human rights. According to UNHCR, as of 2009 there were an estimated 27 million IDPs worldwide.

Since 2001, government officials, humanitarian aid workers, celebrities, civilians and those impacted by forcible displacement mark World Refugee Day with a series of events in more than 100 countries.

To contribute to ADRA's humanitarian efforts, please contact ADRA at 1.800.424.ADRA (2372) or give online at www.adra.org

Follow ADRA on Twitter and Facebook to get the latest information as it happens.

ADRA is a global non-governmental organization providing sustainable community development and disaster relief without regard to political or religious association, age, gender, race or ethnicity.

For more information about ADRA, visit www.adra.org

Author: Christina Zaiback, ADRA International
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What's in a Name?


Bill Knott
Every editor ought to be allowed to be a crank at least once 
in his career. Perhaps this is my turn at the handle.

For the past 20 years I have been afflicted by an increasing auditory “tic” as I hear members of the church pronounce the name of this 148-year-old denomination. While the large majority still pronounce the name of this faith as Ad´-ven-tist—meaning one who believes in the Second Ad´-vent of Jesus Christ—a growing number regularly rely on a pronunciation that mystifies much more than it explains our core belief in the second coming of Jesus.

Yes, I know: you can find dictionaries, both online and bound, that allow for a second pronunciation—Ad-ven´-tist—proving only that these otherwise-reliable references are catering to the usage patterns adopted by English speakers who remain unaware of the history—and the meaning—of the name.

As one of those online references patiently explains, the second half of our denomination moniker is formed of two pieces—Advent + -ist—and hails from the era which birthed this heaven-blessed movement—1835-1845.1 While some credit Boston pastor and Millerite promoter Joshua V. Himes as the one who coined the term, others point to social usage patterns referring to almost all Millerites (those who believed in the imminent second coming of Jesus as taught by Baptist William Miller) as “Adventists.” In either event, the manner in which the name formed and came into common use is not contested: if you believed in the literal, visible, world-ending Second Ad´-vent of Jesus Christ, you were an Ad´-vent-ist.

Among liturgical Christian churches, our ambivalence must seem curious: they regularly celebrate a four-week season just before Christmas in which corporate worship, music, and Scripture reading are focused on expectation of the birth of Jesus: they call the season “Ad´-vent.” And when we nonliturgical types refer in noun form to our belief that Jesus is coming again, we invariably call the event His Second “Ad´-vent.”

Is it too much to ask for a little consistency—particularly when the original pronunciation actually underlines our biblical belief in the soon return of Jesus?

When church leaders met to found the “Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association” in 1860—an occasion whose sesquicentennial we globally celebrated just last autumn—there seemed no confusion about the name. Nor was there any pronunciatory ambivalence when the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists was organized in Battle Creek, Michigan, three years later in May 1863. The name, which Ellen White emphatically endorsed because it “carries the true features of our faith in front, and will convict the inquiring mind,”2 went uncontested—and accurately pronounced—for at least a century. Only as secular media culture in the 1970s and ’80s became the dominant force for public mention of our denominational identity did we stumble into that second pronunciation—Ad-ven´-tist—usually on the lips of a blow-dried newscaster reading from a teleprompter.

Other faiths do not seem to struggle on this point—unless they are all hiding their stories and alternate histories of pronunciation.

Have you met any Bap-tists´ recently?

How about those Meth-od´-ists?

Got any neighbors who are Luth-er´-ans?

Ever been visited in your home by a Mor-mon´ missionary?

You smile, for you realize that mispronunciation is one of our social cues that the speaker does not have a full understanding of the entity they are describing. And you are right: you may rejoice—discreetly, now, in a humbly Ad´-ven-tist sort of way—in your rightness.

Remember, though, as Peter advises, to “add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love” (2 Peter 1:5-7, NKJV).3

On that great and final Day—and every day between now and then—I will claim as brother or sister anyone who shares with me those core beliefs that “will convict the inquiring mind,” however they voice our common name.

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1 http://dictionary.references.com/browse/Adventist.

2 Ellen G. White, Testimonies for the Church, vol. 1, p. 224.

3 Texts credited to NKJV are from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1979, 1980, 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.


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Bill Knott is the editor of the Adventist Review. This article was published June 9, 2011.

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VIDEO of the Special Event with Karen Armstrong

May 04, 2011
VIDEO of the Special Event with Karen Armstrong
Did you miss the "Special Event: Enter the Conversation with Karen Armstrong" last week at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine? Well, you're in luck!

Our videographer, Sean McGinn, graciously captured this riveting conversation between the Very Rev. James A. Kowalski and Karen, which is posted on the Charter for Compassion YouTube channel. The discussion centers on religion and ethics in the modern world, and why we must place compassion at the heart of public discourse on religion and morality.



Uploaded by CharterforCompassion on May 3, 2011

On Wednesday, April 27, Karen joins Rev. Dr. James A. Kowalski for a far reaching conversation about religion and ethics in the modern world, and why we must place compassion at the heart of public discourse on religion and morality.

Credits: Sean McGinn, Videographer - Faith House Manhattan.

Special Thanks: Faith House Manhattan - http://www.faithhousemanhattan.org/









Karen Armstrong, author, scholar, and journalist, is among the world's foremost commentators on religious history and culture. She has written more than 20 books on faith and the major religions, studying what Islam, Judaism and Christianity have in common, and how our faiths shaped world history and drive current events. Her books include the bestselling A History of God and The Battle for God, as well as Buddha; Islam: A Short History; Muhammed: A Prophet for Our Time; Jerusalem: One City, Three Faiths; and most recently Twelve Steps to a Compassionate Life. In 2008 Dr. Armstrong, recipient of the TED prize, spearheaded the founding of The Charter for Compassion, a document that transcends religious, ideological, and national difference. It proclaims a principle embraced by every faith, and by every moral code.

Karen Armstrong is one of the heroes of the modern interfaith movement and endorsed Samir Selmanovic's recent book It's Really All About God, saying "Samir Selmanovic is asking the right questions at the right time, and refusing the consolations of certainty at a time when strident orthodoxies-atheist as well as religious-are perilously dividing us."

The Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine is a "house of prayer for all people." Faith House partnered with the Cathedral and GreenFaith last year to host SUSTAIN with Bill McKibben. Bowie Snodgrass is a member of the Congregation of St. Saviour at the Cathedral and her husband, George Mathew, is the Artistic Director of the New Year's Concert for Peace at the Cathedral.

Posted on May 04, 2011


Wild Goose Festival 2011 Bowie & Samir Curate Interfaith Events!





Jun 16, 2011
Wild Goose Festival 2011
Bowie & Samir Curate Interfaith Events!

June 23-26, 2011


Shakori Hills, North Carolina

Wild Goose Festival

Bowie, Samir, our families, and friends from around the country will be gathering next week in North Carolina for the first annual Wild Goose festival. As of yesterday, over 1200 people had made plans to join us for this collaborative extended weekend of art, music, justice, and spirituality.

If you have not bought your ticket yet, TODAY ONLY buy one and "share one free"! You don't need a special discount code to take advantage of this offer. Go to http://wildgoose.eventbrite.com and you will see this special at checkout.

If you are going, please email with your cell phone so we can meet up and mark the following events on your calendar!

2011 Interfaith Guests

Imam Abdullah Antepli
Muslim Chaplain at Duke University and Adjunct Faculty of Islamic Studies

Rabbi Or N. Rose
Associate Dean and Director of Interfaith and Social Justice programs at Hebrew College

Paul Knitter
Paul Tillich Professor of Theology, World Religions and Culture at Union Theological Seminary

Thurs, June 23 @ 4 pm
Opening Ceremony
Niggun lead by Rabbi Or N. Rose

Thurs, June 23 @ 7 pm
"What Does God Whisper to Christians: Models of Living Passionately in a Pluralist World"
With Paul Knitter & Samir Selmanovic

How do you balance your Christian identity, practice, and experience with inclusion and openness to other faiths? You don't. Forget the balance and radicalize instead. Prof. Paul Knitter, the greatest living theologian of Christian pluralism (and one of the kindest and most amusing Roman Catholic teachers) will lay out our options of living as passionate Christians in a world where conflict, triumphalism, isolation, and indifference have failed us. Samir Selmanovic of Faith House Manhattan will comment with questions, insights, and stories from his experience with Faith House Manhattan and other inter-religious co-laboratories.

Fri, June 24 @ 4 pm
"A Conversation with Islam"
With Abudullah Antepli

Sat, June 25 @ 2 pm
"Walking More Than One Path: Is Religious Multiple Belonging Possible?"
With Paul Knitter

Sat, June 25 @ 3 pm
"Going Deeper Through Inclusion: Perspectives on Religious Pluralism"
Be prepared to move beyond the superficial and be surprised by the conversation between three leaders in the modern interfaith movement: Imam Abdullah Antepli, Rabbi Or Rose, and Paul Knitter, Paul Tillich Professor of Theology, World Religions and Culture at Union Theological Seminary. This panel will explore Pluralism, the idea of more than one path to the divine, in the context of the modern quest to be deeply committed to one's own faith in a world of many religious paths. Moderated by Bowie Snodgrass, Executive Director of Faith House Manhattan.

Sat, June 25 @ 5 pm
"Kabbalah Beyond the Headlines"
Rabbi Or N. Rose


Posted on Jun 16, 2011



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Calamities Blamed on God's People

Wallow Fire, June 6 2011, by Amanda Knight (http://animacenter.org/blog/?p=2397)




Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time. Rev. 12:12.

As men depart further and further from God, Satan is permitted to have power over the children of disobedience. He hurls destruction among men. There is calamity by land and sea. Property and life are destroyed by fire and flood. Satan resolves to charge this upon those who refuse to bow to the idol which he has set up. His agents point to Seventh-day Adventists as the cause of the trouble. "These people stand out in defiance of law," they say. "They desecrate Sunday. Were they compelled to obey the law for Sunday observance, there would be a cessation of these terrible judgments."

Calamities will come--calamities most awful, most unexpected; and these destructions will follow one after another. If there will be a heeding of the warnings that God has given, and if churches will repent, returning to their allegiance, then other cities may be spared for a time. But if men who have been deceived continue in the same way in which they have been walking, disregarding the law of God and presenting falsehoods before the people, God allows them to suffer calamity, that their senses may be awakened.

The judgments will be according to the wickedness of the people and the light of truth that they have had. If they have had the truth, according to that light will be the punishment.

Satan puts his interpretation upon events, and they [leading men] think, as he would have them, that the calamities which fill the land are a result of Sunday-breaking. Thinking to appease the wrath of God, these influential men make laws enforcing Sunday observance. They think that by exalting this false rest-day higher, and still higher, compelling obedience to the Sunday law, the spurious sabbath, they are doing God service. Those who honor God by observing the true Sabbath are looked upon as disloyal to God, when it is really those who thus regard them who are themselves disloyal, because they are trampling under foot the Sabbath originated in Eden.




Maranatha, p.176.

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Spotlight on Puerto Rico

XLISTEN

http://thedianerehmshow.org/shows/2011-06-15/spotlight-puerto-rico

Wednesday, June 15, 2011 - 10:06 a.m

President Barack Obama waves to a crowd gathered inside a hangar at the Muniz Air National Guard Base, shortly after his arrival in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Tuesday, June 14, 2011. Obama's visit to Puerto Rico marks the first by a sitting U.S. President since John Kennedy. Obama is backed by Puerto Rican and American flags.
AP Photo/Brennan Linsley





Spotlight on Puerto Rico




President Obama's official visit to Puerto Rico is the first by a sitting American president in five decades. An update on the U.S. territory's economy, political status and relationship to the mainland.

As a U.S. senator, Barack Obama visited Puerto Rico and promised to return. Yesterday, he did. It was the first official visit to the territory by a sitting U.S. president in 50 years. Home to high unemployment and beautiful beaches, Puerto Rico gussied itself up and gave the president a warm welcome. The trip was fulfillment of a past promise, but also a look to the future. 2012. Nearly 10 percent of Latino voters in the U.S. are of Puerto Rican descent. And they don't always vote Democratic. We'll talk about Puerto Rico - its people and economy, and whether it will ever become the 51st U.S. state.

Guests
Luis Fortuno Republican governor of Puerto Rico.

Rafael Fantauzzi president and CEO, the National Puerto Rican Coalition.

Mauricio Cardenas director, Latin America Initiative, the Brookings Institution; formerly Colombia's minister of Economic Development and Transportation.

Fernando Pizarro Washington correspondent, Univision.

Laura Meckler White House correspondent, The Wall Street Journal.




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Operation Fast and Furious’ fast and furious unraveling

Posted by Moe Lane (Profile)

Wednesday, June 15th at 2:00PM EDT

So. Somebody in the Obama administration is telling lies to the House Oversight/Government Reform Committee. That’s not smart. When people tell lies to House committees, people go to jail.

Background on this: this is all about the BATF/Justice Department Operations Gunrunner and Fast & Furious, which were originally purported to be methods by which [illegal purchases of] guns could be detected and arrested*. However, they instead turned into methods by which Mexican drug cartels were able to get their hands on [illegally-purchased semi-automatic] weapons. You see, the problem was that while selling the guns to middlemen (’straw purchasers’) [who intend to sell the guns illegally] is in itself a standard ’sting’ operation, somehow the guns continued on down the supply chain until they resurfaced in Mexico. The end result was inevitable: somebody used a BATF-supplied gun to kill Border Patrol agent Brian Terry.

As you can imagine, nobody in the BATF or DoJ wishes to be officially responsible for selling criminals the guns that said criminals used to kill federal agents, so there has been a remarkably comprehensive drive to stonewall the investigation; alas for the administration, the House of Representatives flipped last November. And new Chairman Darrell Issa is very keen to get to the bottom of this.

Hence, the lying. But who is lying?
•Are they the ATF agents who testified today that they were under orders to let guns illegally sold to middlemen go on to resurface in Mexico, despite their strenuous objections?
•Is it Deputy Attorney General Ronald Welch, who originally claimed to Senator Grassley of Judiciary that the ATF did not sanction letting guns go onto Mexico? - and who will be discussing that letter today in the House?
•Or is it Attorney General Eric Holder, who similarly denied responsibility to Issa last month?
It’s an interesting question, but let me summarize these emails released by Issa’s office: the Acting Director and Deputy Director for the ATF were getting weekly briefings; ATF’s Deputy Assistant Director for Field Operations got at least one special briefing; and the Acting Director was at one point watching the live feed of guns being sold to the middlemen. So I think that we can safely assume that the standard ‘overzealous underlings’ defense is not likely to fly…

Moe Lane (crosspost)

PS: You can read Issa’s/Grassley’s report here. ‘Scathing’ doesn’t begin to cover it.

*It is also widely believed to be a government operation by which gun sellers could be surreptitiously and deniably harassed by the gun-grabber faction in the Obama administration, but never mind that right now.

[UPDATE: Corrections made after publishing. - ML]

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ATF agents: Border weapons operation a disaster

BY PETE YOST (Associated Press)
Originally Published: 15 June 2011
Updated: 15 June 2011


WASHINGTON (AP) — Three federal firearms investigators told a House committee on Wednesday that they were repeatedly ordered to step aside while gun buyers in Arizona walked away with AK-47s and other high-powered weaponry headed for Mexican drug cartels in a risky U.S. law enforcement operation that went out of control.


Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., said leaders of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives were fully aware of the details of Operation Fast and Furious, which was designed to track small-time gun buyers up to major weapons traffickers along the Southwest border.

At a hearing before the Oversight and Government Reform Committee, which Issa chairs, Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa said hundreds of weapons destined for cartels in Mexico were purchased in Arizona gun shops. One agent, John Dodson, who took his complaints to Grassley's office, estimated that 1,800 guns in Fast and Furious were unaccounted for and about two-thirds are probably in Mexico.

Another of the three investigators, Peter Forcelli, said that "based upon my conversations with agents who assisted in this case, surveillance on individuals who had acquired weapons was often terminated far from the Mexican border." Forcelli said that while case agents believed that weapons were destined for Mexico, "the potential exists that many were sent with cartel drugs to other points within the United States."

"I can't tell you the why" the surveillances were called off, Dodson testified. "Hopefully ... this committee can find out." But the committee did not ask that question of any of the non-agent witnesses Wednesday.

The operation was designed to respond to criticism that the agency had focused on small-time gun arrests while major traffickers eluded prosecution.

As recently as last November, Justice's inspector general criticized ATF for focusing "largely on inspections of gun dealers and investigations of straw purchasers, rather than on higher-level traffickers, smugglers and the ultimate recipients of the trafficked guns." The IG said some ATF managers discourage agents from conducting complex conspiracy investigations that target high-level traffickers.

"Federal prosecutors told us that directing the efforts ... toward building larger, multi-defendant conspiracy cases would better disrupt trafficking organizations," the IG said

Operation Fast and Furious came to light after two assault rifles purchased by a now-indicted small-time buyer under scrutiny in the operation turned up at a shootout in Arizona where Customs and Border Protection agent Brian Terry was killed.

"We ask that if a government official made a wrong decision that they admit their error and take responsibility for his or her actions," Robert Heyer, the slain agent's cousin, told the committee. "We hope that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms is forthcoming with all information" Congress is seeking.

Issa berated Assistant Attorney General Ronald Weich, because the Justice Department — ATF's parent agency — has not turned over all the documents Issa wants. Weich said the department is providing documents on an ongoing basis. The congressman demanded to know who at Justice authorized Operation Fast and Furious. Weich said that question is the subject of an inquiry by the department's inspector general.

Agent Dodson testified that "although my instincts made me want to intervene and interdict these weapons, my supervisors directed me and my colleagues not to make any stop or arrest, but rather, to keep the straw purchaser under surveillance while allowing the guns to walk."

"Allowing loads of weapons that we knew to be destined for criminals — this was the plan," said Dodson

In one case, Dodson said, he watched a suspect receive a bag filled with cash from a third party, then proceed to a gun dealer and buy weapons with that cash and deliver them to the same unidentified third party. In that and other instances,, his instructions were to do nothing.

"Surveillance operations like this were the rule, not the exception," said Dodson. "This was not a matter of weapons getting away from us, or allowing a few to walk so as to follow them to a much larger or more significant target."

The third ATF agent, Olindo James Casa, said that "on several occasions I personally requested to interdict or seize firearms, but I was always ordered to stand down and not to seize the firearms."

Casa said that "the surveillance team followed straw purchasers to Phoenix area firearms dealers and would observe the straw purchasers buy and then depart with numerous firearms in hand. On many of those occasions, the surveillance team would then follow the straw purchasers either to a residence, a public location or until the surveillance team was spotted by the straw purchasers. But the end result was always the same — the surveillance was terminated" by others up the chain of command.

Forcelli said, "When I voiced surprise and concern with this tactic ... my concerns were dismissed" by superiors.

"To allow a gun to walk is idiotic," said Forcelli. "This was a catastrophic disaster."

Early this year, Weich, head of Justice's office of legislative affairs, wrote in a letter that ATF makes "every effort to interdict weapons that have been purchased illegally and prevent their transportation into Mexico." Issa asked whether Weich now considers that to be false.

"I'm not prepared to say at this time," replied Weich.


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Newt Gingrich: Media elites out to ‘destroy’ him

1:18 pm June 15, 2011, by jgalloway

GOP presidential candidate Newt Gingrich this morning gave what might be his most fulsome explanation yet of why his staff walked out last week.

The former U.S. House speaker also ripped into ABC News, which on Tuesday reported of some questionable cash transfers between a Gingrich charity and one of his for-profit companies.

Gingrich declared the ABC report a “hit piece.”


GOP presidential hopeful and former House speaker Newt Gingrich speaks to reporters after meeting with small business leaders Tuesday in Concord, N.H. AP/Jim

“The elite media has correctly figured out that I am a direct threat to their Washington values, and their Washington power structure. And they’ve decided that since they can’t beat my message, they’ll just try to destroy the messenger,” Gingrich said.

The venue was the Neal Boortz radio show on AM750 and 95.5FM News/Talk WSB. Listen to the entire exchange here.

On Tuesday, ABC News reported:

A non-profit charity founded by Newt Gingrich to promote freedom, faith and free enterprise also served as another avenue to promote Gingrich’s political views, and came dangerously close, some experts say, to crossing a bright line that is supposed to separate tax-exempt charitable work from both the political process and such profit-making enterprises as books and DVDs.

The charity, Renewing American Leadership, not only featured Gingrich on its website and in fundraising letters, it also paid $220,000 over two years to one of Gingrich’s for-profit companies, Gingrich Communications. It purchased cases of Gingrich’s books and bought up copies of DVDs produced by another of the former House speaker’s entities, Gingrich Productions.

Said Gingrich to Boortz:

“It’s just a falsehood. Rev. Jim Garlow in San Diego, who’s the head of Renewing American Leadership, sent me a very despairing e-mail yesterday, and said the people at ABC wanted to do a hit piece on me, and even when he told them the truth, they said, ‘That doesn’t count.’”

When asked to explain the departure of most of his campaign staff, Gingrich even managed to include a plug for his book on American exceptionalism:

”A perfect example is the book that you just talked about, ‘A Nation Like No Other.’ And you, of course, have praised me for this over the years. I believe in big ideas. I’ve written more books than any other elected official since Theodore Roosevelt – except [the late U.S. Sen. Daniel Patrick] Moynihan – and I think maybe I actually wrote more than Moynihan.

“I think ideas matter. I want to run a campaign based on ideas. The consultants wanted me to raise money to buy 30-second attack ads. I don’t want to attack anybody except Obama. I want to focus on the difference between American exceptionalism, low tax rates, entrepreneurship, the work ethic, local government, the Tenth Amendment returning power back home, and Obama’s secular European socialism.

“That frankly made the outside – and these were all outsider consultants except one person. We only lost one person who’d been with me before this started. Everybody else has stayed. It was grossly exaggerated what had happened, by a handful of outsiders who showed up, decided they didn’t like what I was doing, and I finally said to them, ‘Look, I can’t be your kind of normal, every-day, negative candidate. I’ve got to be a positive, idea-oriented person who reaches out at the grassroots to the American people.

“We were just incompatible.”

Gingrich will be in Atlanta next Wednesday, where he has promised to rip into Ben Bernanke and the Federal Reserve.

- By Jim Galloway, Political Insider

Source
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Copy of Three Early Visions


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


Spalding and Magan Collection, p.1,2.
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Tuesday, June 14, 2011

IMF cyber-attack led by hackers seeking 'privileged information'

Experts suspect source of targeted attack to be nation state as reports suggest IMF systems have been under attack for months

Charles Arthur, technology editor
guardian.co.uk, Sunday 12 June 2011 17.02 BST




The IMF hackers may have gained access to a 'treasure trove' of economic data not available to the public. Photograph: Nick Rowe/Getty Images


The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is investigating a serious cyber-attack in which some of its systems were compromised and used to access internal data.

Security experts said the source seemed to be a "nation state" aiming to gain a "digital insider presence" on the network of the IMF, the inter-governmental group that oversees the global financial system and brings together 187 member countries.

Tom Kellermann, a cybersecurity expert who has worked for the IMF and was in charge of cyberintelligence in the World Bank's treasury team, said the intrusion could have yielded a treasure trove of non-public economic data used by the IMF to promote exchange rate stability, support balanced international trade, and provide resources to remedy members' balance-of-payments crises. "It was a targeted attack," said Kellermann, who serves on the International Cyber Security Protection Alliance.

The attack will increase concerns over low-level cyberwarfare waged by governments for economic and industrial espionage purposes, which have grown in recent weeks with announcements by the chancellor, George Osborne, of cyber-attacks on the Treasury and by defence secretary Liam Fox of a "sustained attack" on the Ministry of Defence.

Earlier this year it was revealed that computers at France's finance ministry had been hacked and were silently redirecting data to websites in China, apparently in an effort to steal documents relating to February's G20 summit.

The code used in the IMF incident was developed specifically for the attack on the institution, said Kellermann, now chief technology officer at cyberconsultancy AirPatrol.

The World Bank said it had cut its network connection with the IMF out of caution, even though the information shared over the link was "non-sensitive". The IMF insists that it remains "fully functional" while the FBI investigates the attack.

An internal memo issued on 8 June from the IMF's chief information officer, Jonathan Palmer, told staff that suspicious file transfers had been detected and that an investigation had shown a desktop computer "had been compromised and used to access some Fund systems". Significantly, he said that he had "no reason to believe that any personal information was sought for fraud purposes".

That points to a cyber-attack that sought to gain deeper access to the organisation's computers. The New York Times cited computer experts as saying that the IMF's systems had been under attack for several months.

Such attacks have grown in number and seriousness over the past two years. At the end of 2009, Google discovered that it had come under attack from hackers inside China, who sought high-level access to its systems and targeted dissidents' email accounts. Senior figures inside the search engine company are convinced the attack was orchestrated by the Chinese government.

A number of other financial and military organisations came under attack at around the same time, and last month Google said that it had again detected "phishing" attacks aimed at capturing login details for US government officials emanating from China. The Chinese government denied involvement – though it had not been directly accused.

"The attack was clearly designed to infiltrate the IMF with the intention of gaining sensitive 'insider privileged information'," cybersecurity specialist Mohan Koo, the managing director of Dtex Systems (UK) said, adding that the recent spate of attacks on large global organisations was worrying because they were targeted, well organised and well executed, not opportunistic.

"Perhaps most frightening of all is the fact that these type of attacks could quite easily be directed towards critical national infrastructure (CNI) organisations, for example energy and water, where the impact of such a breach would have severe, immediate and potentially life-threatening consequences for everyday citizens."

Rich Mills, a World Bank spokesman, said: "The World Bank Group, like any other large organisation, is increasingly aware of potential threats to the security of our information system and we are constantly working to improve our defences."

News of the hack came at a sensitive time for the world lender of last resort, as it seeks to replace its former managing director Dominique Strauss-Kahn, who quit last month after being charged with the attempted rape of a hotel maid.

The French finance minister, Christine Lagarde, remains the frontrunner to replace him. Stanley Fischer, the governor of the Bank of Israel and a former IMF deputy chief, has emerged as a late candidate, and Mexico's central bank chief, Agustin Carstens, is also a contender.

Jeff Moss, a self-described computer hacker and member of the department of homeland security advisory committee, said the IMF intrusion could inspire attacks on other large institutions. "If they can't catch them, I'm afraid it might embolden others to try," said Moss, who is chief security officer for ICANN, the internet registry system.

Security experts said it would be difficult for investigators to prove which nation was behind the attack. "Even developing nations are able to leverage the internet in order to change their standing and ability to influence," said Jeffrey Carr, author of the book Inside Cyber Warfare. "It's something they never could have done before without gold or without military might," Carr said.

The CIA director, Leon Panetta, told the US Congress on 9 June that the country faced the "real possibility" of a crippling internet-based attack on power systems, the electricity grid, security, financial and governmental systems.

Lockheed Martin, the Pentagon's top supplier by sales and the biggest information technology provider to the US government, disclosed two weeks ago that it had thwarted a "significant" cyber-attack. It said it had become a "frequent target of adversaries around the world".

Access to the website of Spain's national police force was blocked for over an hour late on Saturday in a reprisal attack by the Anonymous hackers group, El Mundo said on its website.


Source.

NONE DARE CALL IT CONSPIRACY




NONE DARE CALL IT CONSPIRACY
Copyright © 1971 by Gary Allen with Larry Abraham ISBN: 0899666612
Sourced

INTRODUCTION

The story you are about to read is true. The names have not been changed to protect the guilty. This book may have the effect of changing your life. After reading this book, you will never look at national and world events in the same way again.

None Dare Call It Conspiracy will be a very controversial book. At first it will receive little publicity and those whose plans are exposed in it will try to kill it by the silent treatment. For reasons that become obvious as you read this book, it will not be reviewed in all the "proper" places or be available on your local bookstand. However, there is nothing these people can do to stop a grass roots book distributing system. Eventually it will be necessary for the people and organizations named in this book to try to blunt its effect by attacking it or the author. They have a tremendous vested interest in keeping you from discovering what they are doing. And they have the big guns of the mass media at their disposal to fire the barrages at None Dare Call It Conspiracy.

By sheer volume, the "experts" will try to ridicule you out of investigating for yourself as to whether or not the information in this book is true They will ignore the fact that the author about to conjecture. They will find a typographical error or ague some point that is open to debate. If necessary they will lie in order to protect themselves by smearing this book. I believe those who pooh-pooh the information herein because Psychologically many people would prefer to believe we are because we all like to ignore bad news. We do so at our own peril.

Having been a college instructor, a State Senator and now a Congressman I have had experience with real professionals at putting up smokescreens to cover up their own actions by trying to destroy the accuser. I hope that you will read the book carefully, draw your own conclusions and not accept the opinions of those who of necessity must attempt to discredit the book. Your future may depend upon it.

October 25, 1971 JOHN G. SCMITZ UNITED STATES CONGRESSMAN



1. DON'T CONFUSE ME WITH FACTS
2. SOCIALISM — ROYAL ROAD TO POWER FOR THE SUPER-RICH
3. THE MONEY MANIPULATORS
4. BANKROLLING THE BOLSHEVIK REVOLUTION
5. ESTABLISHING THE ESTABLISHMENT
6. THE ROCKEFELLERS AND THE REDS
7. PRESSURE FROM ABOVE AND PRESSURE FROM BELOW
8. YOU ARE THE ANSWER
FOURTEEN SIGNPOSTS TO SLAVERY
WHAT WILL YOU DO?
MEMBERS OF THE COUNCIL ON FOREIGN RELATIONS NOMINATED AND APPOINTED BY PRESIDENT NIXON TO GOVERNMENT POSTS
OPERATION COUNTERATTACK

Read more
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How the media covers Bilderberg meetings



Weiner everyday and all day long, is symptomatic of the celebrity culture built to keep people living lives of utter desperation. As the government education experiment achieved undisputed success in destroying independent and coherent thought, the Bilderberg overlords felt confident that there would be little blowback to their totalitarian collectivism. Nevertheless, the rapid obliteration of economic and social society is the harsh reality, no longer concealed, from even the most brain dead serf. Case in point is that large media conglomerates cannot exhort their version of political news in the homogeneous manner once enjoyed. Readership and ratings forecast a dying dinosaur.

READ MORE
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Rapture Preacher Suffers Stroke, Now in Hospital




Published on Jun 13, 2011 by AssociatedPress

The California radio preacher who predicted the world would end last month was recuperating Monday after suffering a mild stroke, his family and colleagues said. (June 13)

Monday, June 13, 2011

Home Raided By SWAT for Student Loans



Uploaded by lonelantern on Jun 8, 2011


http://RTR.org | A SWAT team broke into a home at the request of the US Department of Education to arrest and collect on a defaulted student loan. Kenneth Wright was dragged from his Stockton California home in his underwear while his children were in held police custody for several hours as they searched for his estranged wife. We bring you coverage of the unfolding story with remarks from Sheriff Richard Mack on the increased use of SWAT teams nationwide and Congressman Ron Paul's remarks on the Department of Education.

FBI expands agents’ investigative power

The New York Times
First published Jun 12 2011 07:40PM
Updated Jun 12, 2011 11:28PM

Washington • The Federal Bureau of Investigation is giving significant new powers to its roughly 14,000 agents — allowing them more leeway to search databases, go through household trash or use surveillance teams to scrutinize the lives of people who have attracted their attention.

The FBI soon plans to issue a new edition of its manual, called the Domestic Investigations and Operations Guide, according to an official who has worked on the draft document and several others who have been briefed on its contents. The new rules add to several measures taken over the past decade to give agents more latitude as they search for signs of criminal or terrorist activity.

The FBI recently briefed several privacy advocates about the coming changes. Among them, Michael German, a former FBI agent who is now a lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union, argued it was unwise to further ease restrictions on agents’ power to use potentially intrusive techniques, especially if they lacked a firm reason to suspect someone of wrongdoing.

"Claiming additional authorities to investigate people only further raises the potential for abuse," German said, pointing to complaints about the bureau’s surveillance of domestic political advocacy groups and mosques and to an inspector general’s findings in 2007 that the FBI had improperly used "national security letters" to obtain information like people’s phone bills.

Valerie E. Caproni, the FBI general counsel, said the bureau had fixed the problems with the national security letters and had taken steps to make sure they would not recur. She also said the bureau — which does not need permission to alter its manual so long as the rules fit within broad guidelines issued by the attorney general — had carefully weighed the risks and the benefits of each change.

Some of the most notable changes apply to the lowest category of investigations, called an "assessment." The category, created in December 2008, allows agents to look into people and organizations "proactively" and without firm evidence for suspecting criminal or terrorist activity.

Under current rules, agents must open such an inquiry before they can search for information about a person in a commercial or law enforcement database. Under the new rules, agents will be allowed to search such databases without making a record about their decision.


Source
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Obama's Upcoming Puerto Rico Visit Draws Scrutiny

06/13/2011 08:11 PM
Obama's Upcoming Puerto Rico Visit Draws Scrutiny
By: Josh Robin


President Obama will pay a visit to Puerto Rico Tuesday, forcing some to make the comparison between him and John F. Kennedy, who made a memorable impression on the island. NY1’s Josh Robin filed the following report.

President John F. Kennedy was tall and handsome, but it was Jacqueline Kennedy who really drew Rebecca Palacio's attention.

"Her voice was so sweet and she spoke to me in Spanish, said my name,” said Rebecca Palacios, the granddaughter of Puerto Rico’s former first lady. “And she was so beautiful."

Memories are rushing back to Palacios, granddaughter of Inéz Muñoz Marin.

She was eight when she met the first couple at the governor's mansion, La Fortaleza. The Kennedys were on a Latin American swing to promote ties with the United States during the Cold War.

It's meticulously recorded at the foundation dedicated to her grandmother's husband, Luis Muñoz Marín, the island's first democratically elected governor.

Still, there are many differences between 1961 and today.

For one, Martín and Kennedy were close. No such chemistry exists between President Barack Obama, a Democrat, and the island's Republican governor, Luis Fortuño.

Further, while Kennedy spent the night, Obama will be gone in five hours.

"There was a state dinner, there was a concert, and there was a long time to talk between them,” said Palacios. “But this time, it’s not going to be that way."

The White House is playing up the links to Kennedy, but also stresses talk over economics.

"What’s important is that the president’s visit, while it is historic, exciting and really important, it isn’t the only thing going on,” said Cecilia Muñoz, White House director of intergovernmental affairs.

Still, while Kennedy drew cheers, much of Puerto Rico seems to be collectively shrugging with some protests also expected from those wanting independence.

"Why does Obama come to Puerto Rico? Because he needs a photograph for Orlando, Florida, for New York for the next election,” said Rubén Berríos of the Puerto Rican Independence Party. “He needs to collect money. Whenever you see an American president in Puerto Rico, he's looking for something."

Obama touches down at about 11:00 a.m., after which he has a couple of events, including a Democratic fundraiser. He plans to depart by nightfall.


Source
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Security tight in riot-torn southern Chinese city

AP – Police officers stand guard in a street in Zengcheng in the suburbs of Guangzhou, Guangdong province, …


By CHRISTOPHER BODEEN, Associated Press – 2 hrs 7 mins ago


BEIJING – Security forces patrolled the streets and manned roadblocks Tuesday in a southern Chinese city where rioting factory workers attacked police stations and torched vehicles over the weekend, residents said.

No major incidents have been reported since Sunday in Xintang in the southern manufacturing hub of Guangdong province, where tens of thousands of migrant workers enraged by the reported beating of a street vendor turned on authorities.

While violent protests in China have become frequent over the past decade, recent weeks have seemed particularly turbulent. The vast region of Inner Mongolia last month saw its biggest street demonstrations in two decades, while a man angry over land seizures set off three homemade bombs at government buildings in another southern city, killing three people and wounding at least nine others.

Thousands of protesters attacked government offices in the central city of Lichuan last week following the alleged beating death of a local city council member while in police custody.

Though the triggers for the events are different, most are driven by common resentments over social inequality, abuse of power and suppression of legitimate grievances.

China's Communist Party leadership has reacted nervously to the turmoil, especially after popular uprisings began sweeping the Middle East and North Africa this year. In recent months, hundreds of government critics have been questioned, arrested or simply disappeared.

Xintang residents contacted by phone Tuesday said security forces were a constant presence on city streets and shops and restaurants had been ordered to close early.

They said they had been told not to go out at night or transmit photos of the unrest online. That demand reflects authorities' fears of unrest spreading via the Internet amid scattered calls for migrants to converge on Xintang for a new round of protests to demand the release of 25 people reportedly arrested over the violence.

"Nobody wants to come out. They fear running into danger," said a worker at the Xintang Ruilong clothing factory, located near the scene of Sunday's rioting outside the local government headquarters. The man would only give his surname, Wang, for fear of reprisals.

Along with the security crackdown, authorities have sought to pressure businesses to prevent their workers joining any protests. Mangers from 1,200 businesses in the area were called to a meeting Monday and ordered to "pay good attention to your people and keep a close eye on your front gate."

"Get your own houses in order and act on your own to maintain social stability," managers were told, according to an account posted on the Xintang government's website.

Staff answering calls to local police and government offices said they were not permitted to comment further and refused to give their names.

The violence in Xintang broke out Friday evening after a pregnant woman was pushed to the ground in a sweep against street vendors, most of whom are migrants from the southwestern province of Sichuan. Such disputes are common and bystanders often side with the vendors and accuse police of heavy-handed tactics.

Source
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Republican presidential candidates attend New Hampshire debate


Mitt Romney, Tim Pawlenty, Newt Gingrich, Michele Bachmann, Herman Cain, Rick Santorum and Ron Paul face-off in the first 2012 presidential debate.

By Karen Tumulty and Philip Rucker, Published: June 13



GOFFSTOWN, N.H. — The leading contenders for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination appeared together onstage for the first time Monday. But they used the debate to train their fire on President Obama rather than to define their differences.

Given opportunities to critique one another’s stances, the seven competitors repeatedly deflected the questions to attacks on the president.

Former Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty was asked, for instance, about his description on Sunday of the new national health-care law as “Obamneycare” — an effort to link Obama’s overhaul to the one that Mitt Romney championed and signed into law in 2006 when he was governor of Massachusetts.

Pawlenty demurred, and refrained from any direct criticism of the Romney plan while the two stood on the same stage. He said he was merely quoting Obama, who had previously said that he had modeled the federal law on the one in Massachusetts.

“The president is going to eat those words,” Romney retorted.

Romney called the new law “a huge power grab by the federal government,” and repeated his vow to repeal it if elected.

The biggest surprise of the evening was the announcement by Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) that she has filed paperwork to begin her campaign. She had previously indicated that she would not make a formal announcement until later this month.

The debate — held at Saint Anselm College and sponsored by CNN, the New Hampshire Union Leader and WMUR-TV — was officially the second of the primary campaign season. But only five candidates showed up last month in South Carolina, and with the exception of Pawlenty, they were all long shots.

Monday’s forum included nearly all the leading contenders. But most of them remain largely unknown nationally, a factor that could explain their reluctance to go at one another. At this early stage, they are introducing themselves to a nationwide audience, and testing their competitors’ strengths and vulnerabilities.

It is a Republican field unlike any other in generations. None of the candidates has been able to establish himself or herself as an overwhelming favorite. In the normal order of things, Romney would hold that position, by virtue of his organization, his fundraising network and the exposure he received from his 2008 run for the nomination.

But although Romney holds a lead in most national surveys, it has been a narrow one, particularly in comparison with the double-digit advantage that the front-running GOP contender normally has at this point.

In part, that reflects the fact that many conservatives are uneasy with parts of his record in Massachusetts, where his chief accomplishment was the passage of the health-care plan that became the model for Obama’s overhaul.

The Republican field also has been unsettled by the insurgent energy of the tea party movement, which represents a rebellion against the established order of GOP politics.

Romney was seeking to keep his focus on his strongest issues: the economy and jobs. New Hampshire, where he suffered a crippling defeat in 2008 to Sen. John McCain (Ariz.), is crucial to his hopes in 2012.

“New Hampshire has proven the issue people care most about is getting the economy going again,” Romney said near the conclusion of the debate.

Monday’s forum was Romney’s biggest opportunity yet to demonstrate that his background in business, where he specialized in turning around struggling companies, gives him a command on the economy that is unmatched by the other candidates, most of whom have spent the bulk of their careers in government.

Candidates on the trail: Are you following your favorite 2012 candidate on the campaign trail? Share photos of potential nominees as they hold town halls, participate in community events and travel across the country.

“There is a perception in this country that the government knows better than the private sector, that Washington and President Obama have a better view of how an industry ought to be run,” Romney said, in explaining his opposition to 2009 auto industry bailouts. “Well, they’re wrong.”

Pawlenty has been struggling to make himself the leading alternative to Romney. Although he has been campaigning quietly and energetically in the early-voting states, the low-key former Minnesota governor has not made much of an impression nationally.

He defended the economic plan that he announced last week against criticism that its promise of 5 percent annual economic growth is too optimistic.

“This president is a declinist,” Pawlenty said. “He views America as one of equals around the world. We’re not the same as Portugal, we’re not the same as Argentina. This idea that we can’t have 5 percent growth in America is hogwash. It’s a defeatist attitude. If China can have 5 percent growth and Brazil can have 5 percent growth, then the United States of America can have 5 percent growth.”

The newer energy in the party was represented onstage as well, particularly by Bachmann, a tea party favorite and the lone woman among the seven.

She noted that she was the first House member to introduce legislation to repeal the health-care law and the Obama administration’s financial regulatory overhaul.

“I fought behind closed doors against my own party” on the $700 billion Wall Street bailout in 2008, Bachmann added, describing the George W. Bush administration’s initiative as “a wrong vote then. It’s continued to be a wrong vote since then. Sometimes, that’s what you have to do. You have to take principle over your party.”

Bachmann has attracted considerable grass-roots support during her recent visits to Iowa, and she is likely to make the first-in-the-nation caucus state the centerpiece of her strategy to win the Republican nomination. She also claims something of a home-court advantage, having been born in Waterloo.

To coincide with her announcement, Bachmann released a video calling on supporters to volunteer, donate and tell their friends to join a “winning team.”

“This is the first day of taking our country back,” she said in the one-minute clip. “I’ve worked very hard to bring your voice to the halls of Congress. Now, I want to take your voice into the White House, where it hasn’t been heard for a very long time.”

Another candidate who had hopes of appealing to the tea party sentiment was former House speaker Newt Gingrich (Ga.), but his challenge in his first debate was more fundamental than that. After his campaign collapsed last week with the abrupt exodus of virtually its entire leadership, Gingrich was attempting to make a convincing case that his candidacy is still alive.

It did not appear that his campaign’s setbacks have dampened Gingrich’s characteristic zeal. “The Obama administration is an anti-jobs, anti-business, anti-American-energy destructive force,” he said.

The remaining men on stage — former senator Rick Santorum (Pa.), Rep. Ron Paul (Tex.) and former Godfather’s Pizza executive Herman Cain — are considered long shots at best. But although they had little to lose by taking jabs at the top-tier contenders, and potentially had much to gain from national exposure, they also passed up opportunities to attack the front-runners.

Cain was asked about polls showing that Republicans view the GOP field as weak, and dismissed them as indicating that voters have not yet gotten to know the contenders. “This really is a good field of candidates, in my opinion,” he said.

Santorum was asked about Romney’s shift from pro-abortion rights to anti-abortion. He instead chose to stress his own staunch opposition to legal abortion, and said the candidates’ authenticity on the issue is “a factor that should be determined.”

Romney said: “I am firmly pro-life.”

Missing from the stage was at least one likely contender, former Utah governor Jon Huntsman Jr., who spent the weekend in the state doing what was by all appearances campaigning. But he declined to participate, noting that he has only recently returned from his post as Obama’s ambassador to China and is still mulling over whether to run.

The field could continue to reshape itself. One of those considering a run is Texas Gov. Rick Perry, whose top strategists were among those who left the Gingrich campaign last week.

Former Alaska governor Sarah Palin also has not yet announced her plans. Pawlenty, who was passed up to be McCain’s running mate in favor of Palin, was asked whether she had been a superior choice to Obama’s pick of Vice President Biden.

He described Palin as “a remarkable leader . . . qualified to be president . . . and equally or more qualified than Joe Biden.”



Source

Saturday, June 11, 2011

Lifehouse Skit (North Miami Seventh Day Adventist Spanish Church)



Uploaded by keka1985 on Sep 7, 2009

Lifehouse Skit hecho en la Iglesia Adventista del Septimo Dia Hispana de North Miami para Sabado Joven por Kathy, Celvin, Alexis, Javy, Kimberly, Kristal y Julio Cesar para la honra y gloria de nuestro Diosito. (Jovenes de la celula C.S.I. Christians Saving Innocents)

Walter Veith on SDA Church Apostasy



Uploaded by SDAToday on May 27, 2011

(Update on 3/18/13:  http://amazingdiscoveries.tv/category_list/ The message to pronounce the Seventh-Day Adventist Church Babylon, and call the people of God out of her, does no...)    


.... ....

'You see it did once exist'
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Noise of Thunder Will Not Be Silent


Noise of Thunder Will Not Be Silent

Chris Pinto Article Turned Away Due To Subject Matter

Unfortunately, we went to send out the article included in this email and (it) was turned down due to the subject matter: "Is the Vatican Behind Concentration Camps in America?". Over the last few days, Chris has been discussing the roles of Rome, the Vatican, and the Pope during and after World War II. Now see the connections Chris has been able to make with those same roles in America today.

Without further ado.

Is the Vatican Behind Concentration Camps in America?

A movement has been growing among independent evangelical Christians, who have begun to recognize the pervasive influence of the Roman Catholic Church in the United States. One radio host asks: is Rome setting up concentration camps in the United States? Stories of detention camps in the U.S. have permeated the conspiracy community for decades. But could the Vatican’s involvement actually make sense of it all?

“Rome carried on the Great Inquisition throughout Europe for six hundred years,” says Chris Pinto, host of the Noise of Thunder Radio broadcast. “But with the Revolutionary era, her persecutions went underground. She continued her programs of extermination of heretics, but did so secretly, by manipulating world governments from behind the scenes.”

The Vatican’s involvement in genocidal programs through the 20th century is the subject of Pinto’s broadcasts this week. He begins by exposing the Vatican Ratlines just after World War II, when the Church of Rome helped thousands of Nazi war criminals to escape justice, smuggling them out of Europe and into Argentina.

“The United States and Great Britain were involved,” says Pinto, referring to a 1994 episode of Prime Time Live with Sam Donaldson, titled The Last Refuge. But why would they help Nazis escape? According to Pinto, “Because the Nazi Holocaust was a 20th century version of the Great Inquisition. Rome was doing through Hitler what she had been doing for nearly a thousand years. When Hitler died,” Pinto says, “the Vatican called him a son of the Catholic Church, who died while defending Christianity.”

“In 1888, the Protestant Missions of London warned that the Vatican and her Jesuit priests were working to dominate the world through England and America,” he continues. “The fact that they are still pursuing this tactic becomes more evident as world events unfold.”

Pinto says, “Britain’s Tony Blair has now teamed up with America’s Rick Warren, to drag Christians into a world wide interfaith movement designed by Rome to erect the kingdom of Antichrist. My concern is that pastors and churches will be used by the Vatican to carry out what may be an American massacre in the future. This is the tactic Rome used in the 1994 Rwanda genocide, where some 800,000 Tutsi Christians were murdered by the mostly Catholic Hutus. Roman Catholic priests and nuns took part in the murders, and have been sheltered by the Vatican afterwards, just as they did with the Nazis.”

The "tactic" Pinto refers to is that the Vatican involved Protestant churches that were given over to Ecumenism in the bloodletting.

While Pinto’s claims might seem extreme, he points out that our current Supreme Court is dominated by Roman Catholics, the new chaplain for the House of Representatives is a Jesuit priest, and that our last two presidents (Bush and Obama) have both bowed to the Pope in Rome.

(...)


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750-800 Christians Unite to Pray for Australia at National Australia Day Prayer in Melbourne


Published by Office 2 January 28th, 2010

Dear family & friends in Christ in Australia and around the World,

We thank our faithful Father in heaven for an amazing unity in the Body of Christ at the National Australia Day Prayer Gathering in Melbourne, buzzing with more than 3 hours of Holy Spirit empowered prayer, praise and worship to the reigning King of kings and Lord of lords, our Lord Jesus Christ!

Between 750-800 Christians from many churches, denominations, generations, and ethnicities (many travelling from interstate and some from overseas) packed the Springvale City Hall in Melbourne, Australia to pray for this Great South Land of the Holy Spirit! Many brought their Australian flags with them and waved them throughout the entire service declaring ‘Australia for Jesus’!

The CTFM worship team led the interdenominational Christian prayer gathering in ushering in the manifest glory of God’s awesome and holy presence, as God’s people passionate for Australia’s transformation, joined hearts and hands in Kingdom unity to worship King Jesus!

The 20+ denominational representatives from the Salvation Army, CRC, Catholic Charismatic, Baptist, Anglican, AOG, Seventh Day Adventist, Uniting, Indigenous, and Christian ministry representatives from Culturewatch, Catch the Fire, Australian Marketplace Connections, Gospel Ministry, and Salt Shakers, led their prayer segment with the passion, fire, and love of Jesus for our nation of Australia, to absolutely storm heaven in prayer, standing on the sure promise of God’s Word from 2 Chronicles 7:13-14. We asked the Lord to protect Australia from natural disasters, especially during this bushfire season. There was also much intercessory and prophetic prayer for Rain, Farmers, Persecuted Church Worldwide, Government, Harvest of Lost Souls, Armed Forces, Pastors & Unity in the Body of Christ, Families, Children & Youth, Business & Marketplace, Indigenous People, and additional critical issues in the Kingdom of God. The Samoan Choir stirred up the crowd with 2 special songs of exuberant praise and worship!

I thank the Lord for giving me (Pastor Jason) the exciting opportunity to pray for the Children and Youth of Australia to become the Holy Spirit Revival Fire of the Glorious Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ to the Nations of the World! At the altar, more than 150 young people (under 25 years old) received impartation prayer and commissioning to do and to become the supernatural miracles, signs, and wonders of God in their generation! (Acts 2:17-18, Isaiah 8:18)

We thank our loving Father God in heaven for the few beautiful atheists who gathered outside the National Australia Day Prayer Gathering to protest! Most of the Christian crowd ignored their opposition by simply worshipping the Lord although some had the opportunity to share the love and truth of Jesus with them!

Dr Jackson from the USA encouraged the Body of Christ in Australia to trust in the Lord as our Shepherd! (Psalm 23) Many were mightily touched by the prophetic Word from the Lord and the presence of God! Pastor Daniel also received his Honorary Doctorate of Divinity Degree from St Thomas Christian College in Jacksonville, Florida, USA. Dr Jackson officially conferred this degree on him and then pronounced, “from today you shall now be called Dr Daniel Nalliah.” At this point the whole crowd erupted in a standing ovation of highly emotional shouts of joy and praise to God!


Then the lovely wife and beautiful children of Dr Daniel joined hands with him, along with his sister and her husband who had travelled all the way from Sri Lanka for this very special day, to thank their Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ for this wonderful honour. With tears of joy, Dr Daniel shared, “I do not deserve this. It is nothing but the grace of God. I thank you all for standing together with us as a family and ministry. I know for sure that we can reclaim Australia for Jesus. We cannot let another generation pass by. I believe that we in this generation will see the promises of God and His prophetic destiny for our nation of Australia fulfilled in this Great South Land of the Holy Spirit.”

The service finished with the singing of our national anthem as many were in tears, thanking the Lord for our great nation of Australia!

To order the DVD ($15 plus $5 postage) of the National Australia Day Prayer Gathering in Melbourne please email angelene@catchthefire.com.au or call (03) 9794 8211.

Click the following link to read a local newspaper report on the National Australia Day United Prayer in Melbourne (Springvale). Although the newspaper claims that Pastor Daniel cures people, this is not true, as he said that he prays for people and the Lord heals them, as only Jesus is the Healer!

http://www.starnewsgroup.com.au/story/84776

Rising Up Australia and the Nations as His Kingdom Comes,

Jason Golden
Catch the Fire Ministries


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