AND THE THIRD ANGEL FOLLOWED THEM, SAYING WITH A LOUD VOICE, IF ANY MAN WORSHIP THE BEAST AND HIS IMAGE, AND RECEIVE HIS MARK IN HIS FOREHEAD, OR IN HIS HAND. *** REVELATION 14:9
Friday, August 19, 2011
Florida Teacher Suspended for Anti-Gay Marriage Posts on Personal Facebook Page
Published August 19, 2011
FoxNews.com
A former “Teacher of the Year” in Mount Dora, Fla. has been suspended and could lose his job after he voiced his objection to gay marriage on his personal Facebook page.
Jerry Buell, a veteran American history teacher at Mount Dora High School, was removed from his teaching duties this week as school officials in Lake County investigate allegations that what he posted was biased towards homosexuals.
“We took the allegations seriously,” said Chris Patton, a communication officer with Lake County Schools. “All teachers are bound by a code of special ethics (and) this is a code ethics violation investigation.”
Patton said the school system received a complaint on Tuesday about something Buell had written last July when New York legalized same sex unions. On Wednesday, he was temporarily suspended from the classroom and reassigned.
Patton said Buell has taught in the school system for 22 years and has a spotless record. Last year, he was selected as the high school’s “Teacher of the Year.”
But now his job is on the line because of what some have called anti-gay and homophobic comments.
Buell told Fox News Radio that he was stunned by the accusations. “It was my own personal comment on my own personal time on my own personal computer in my own personal house, exercising what I believed as a social studies teacher to be my First Amendment rights,” he said.
The school system declined to comment on the specific Facebook messages that led to their investigation, but Buell provided Fox News Radio with a copy of the two Facebook messages that he said landed him in trouble.
The first was posted on July 25 at 5:43 p.m. as he was eating dinner and watching the evening news.
“I’m watching the news, eating dinner when the story about New York okaying same-sex unions came on and I almost threw up,” he wrote. “And now they showed two guys kissing after their announcement. If they want to call it a union, go ahead. But don’t insult a man and woman’s marriage by throwing it in the same cesspool of whatever. God will not be mocked. When did this sin become acceptable?”
Three minutes later, Buell posted another comment: “By the way, if one doesn’t like the most recently posted opinion based on biblical principles and God’s laws, then go ahead and unfriend me. I’ll miss you like I miss my kidney stone from 1994. And I will never accept it because God will never accept it. Romans chapter one.”
According to the school system, what Buell wrote on his private account was disturbing. They were especially concerned that gay students at the school might be frightened or intimidated walking into his classroom. Patton also disputed the notion that Buell’s Facebook account is private.
“He has (more than) 700 friends,” he said. “How private is that – really? Social media can be troubling if you don’t respect it and know that just because you think you are in a private realm – it’s not private.”
Buell’s attorney strongly disagreed and accused the school system of violating his First Amendment rights.
“The school district is being anti-straight, anti-First Amendment and anti-personal liberty,” said Horatio Mihet, an attorney with the Liberty Counsel. “The idea that public servants have to whole-heartedly endorse homosexual marriage is repugnant to the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution,” Mihet told Fox News Radio.
“All he did was speak out on an issue of national importance and because his comments did not fit a particular mold, he is now being investigated and could possibly lose his job. What have we come to?”
Buell said he does not know the individual who filed the complaint, but the past week has caused his family “heartache.”
“To try and say you could lose your job over speaking about something in the venue that I did in the manner that I did is not just a knee-jerk reaction,” he said. “It’s a violent reaction to one person making a complaint.”
But Patton said the school system has an obligation to take the comments seriously. He said Buell will not be allowed back in the classroom “until we do all the interviews and do a thorough job of looking at everything – past or previous writings.”
To accomplish that, he said people have been sending the school system screenshots of Buell’s Facebook page.
“Just because you think it’s private, other people are viewing it,” Patton said, noting that the teacher’s Facebook page also contained numerous Bible passages.
Mihet said he was livid.
“These are not fringe ideas that Mr. Buell espoused on his personal Facebook page,” he told Fox News Radio. “They are mainstream textbook opposition to homosexual unions – and now he’s been deemed unfit to teach children because he opposes gay marriage? My goodness.” Buell believes the school system is trying to send a message to Christian teachers.
“There is an intimidation factor if you are a Christian or if you make a statement against it (gay marriage) you are a bigot, a homophobe, you’re a creep, you’re intolerant,” he said. “We should have the right to express our opinions and talk about things.”
But some legal experts believe that school teachers could be held to a different standard when it comes to using social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter.
“This teacher is right on the cusp of going over the line,” said Miami attorney Justin Leto. “If he is ‘friends’ with his students on Facebook, then I think he should not be surprised by the school’s actions. However, if he has a private page and restricts student access, then he should be free to say what he wishes.”
Leto said teachers should have the right to make statements about their own personal beliefs without fear of retribution from their employer. “This assumes that the comments are not hateful, racist or malicious,” he said.
“It’s a little bit more complicated with a school teacher,” said Brad Jacob, a law professor at Regent University. “The first question you have to ask, did this context communicate that the teacher was speaking on behalf of the government?”
But what about on social networking sites, like Facebook and Twitter? “School teachers generally have free speech rights, and the government may not censor the private speech on public school teachers,” he said.
However, if Buell had communicated his opinion on gay marriage in the classroom, Jacob said the teacher would have been on shaky legal ground. “If he communicated those views in the classroom, I think the state could have grounds to punish or fire him,” he said.
Reaction in Central Florida has been mixed.
Brett Winters, a former Mount Dora student, told the Orlando Sentinel he was disappointed about Buell’s comments. “This type of hateful language is dangerous not only to gay students, but also to anti-gay students,” Winters told the newspaper.
Michael Slaymaker, president of the Orlando Youth Alliance, told the newspaper that gay students might feel uncomfortable in Buell’s class.
“I would hope a teacher would be there to help them and not hurt them,” he told the Orlando Sentinel.
Meanwhile, hundreds of people have joined at least two Facebook groups calling for the school system to reinstate the popular teacher. “He’s developed a reputation as being one of the most caring teachers in the school,” Mihet said.
Buell said the most disappointing part of the investigation is that he may not be in his classroom on Monday – the first day of the school year.
“This is the place where you will receive the most respect out of any place you’ll be all day. I love my kids. I take my job very seriously.”
Source: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2011/08/19/florida-teacher-suspended-for-anti-gay-marriage-post-on-personal-facebook/#ixzz1VVHvlF2X
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Georgetown-China basketball game turns into fight night
With the score tied at 64-all in the fourth quarter, an already physical game turned into a no-holds bar wrestling match when a Hoya player apparently received clothesline from a Chinese player. Both benches rushed to the center of the court to help their teammates, resulting in more chaos. According to reports, Hoyas junior center Henry Sims was hit by a chair and another player was knocked down on the floor with a bottle thrown by a fan.
| Source: | (AHN Sports) | Reporter: | AHN Sports Staff |
| Location: | Bayi, China | Published: | August 19, 2011 07:22 am EDT |
With the score tied at 64-all in the fourth quarter, an already physical game turned into a no-holds bar wrestling match when a Hoya player apparently received clothesline from a Chinese player.
Both benches rushed to the center of the court to help their teammates, resulting in more chaos.
According to reports, Hoyas junior center Henry Sims was hit by a chair and another player was knocked down on the floor with a bottle thrown by a fan.
The Hoyas decided to walk out from the game to prevent his players from suffering severe injuries.
Hoyas coach John Thompson III expressed his regret and apology for the brawl and appreciated the chance to play the Bayi Rockets despite the chaos.
"We remain grateful for the opportunity our student-athletes are having to engage in a sport they love here in China, while strengthening their understanding of a nation we respect and admire at Georgetown University," Thompson III said.
The Hoyas will continue their 10-day china trip against Yao Ming-owned Shanghai Sharks Friday
Source
China leader tells Biden the U.S. is strong
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao expressed confidence in the U.S. economy Friday, saying he was positive it will bounce back in the wake of the downgrade, Reuters reported.
Beware of Satan's Agents
Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils. 1 Timothy 4:1. After the passing of the time in 1844, we had fanaticism of every kind to meet.... The experience of the past will be repeated. In the future Satan’s superstitions will assume new forms. Errors will be presented in a pleasing and flattering manner. False theories, clothed with garments of light, will be presented to God’s people. Thus Satan will try to deceive, if possible, the very elect. Most seducing influences will be exerted; minds will be hypnotized.
Corruptions of every type, similar to those existing among the antediluvians, will be brought in to take minds captive. The exaltation of nature as God, the unrestrained license of the human will, the counsel of the ungodly—these Satan uses as his agencies to bring about certain ends. He will employ the power of mind over mind to carry out his designs. The most sorrowful thought of all is that under his deceptive influence men will have a form of godliness, without having a real connection with God. Like Adam and Eve, who ate the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, many are even now feeding upon the deceptive morsels of error.
Satanic agencies are clothing false theories in an attractive garb, even as Satan in the Garden of Eden concealed his identity from our first parents by speaking through the serpent. These agencies are instilling into human minds that which in reality is deadly error. The hypnotic influence of Satan will rest upon those who turn from the plain word of God to pleasing fables.
It is those who have had the most light that Satan most assiduously seeks to ensnare. He knows that if he can deceive them, they will, under his control, clothe sin with garments of righteousness, and lead many astray.
I say to all: Be on your guard; for as an angel of light Satan is walking in every assembly of Christian workers, and in every church, trying to win the members to his side. I am bidden to give to the people of God the warning: “Be not deceived; God is not mocked.” Galatians 6:7.
Thursday, August 18, 2011
Albert Pike & World War 3 - Islam vs Zionism
Uploaded by anonymoustruther2 on Feb 9, 2011
This is an excerpt from the propaganda movie "Empire of the City: Ring of Power" and while it appears to be right on in many areas, it's another gnostic film which promotes the idea that Jesus wasn't who he said he was. It even suggests that Jesus Christ was possibly the son of Julius Caesar and Cleopatra or some such noise. The rest of the film explores the origin of the Vikings being the tribe of Dan, and other wild ideas.
Albert Pike's Letter to Mazzini (1871)
"The First World War must be brought about in order to permit the Illuminati to overthrow the power of the Czars in Russia and of making that country a fortress of atheistic Communism. The divergences caused by the "agentur" (agents) of the Illuminati between the British and Germanic Empires will be used to foment this war. At the end of the war, Communism will be built and used in order to destroy the other governments and in order to weaken the religions."
"The Second World War must be fomented by taking advantage of the differences between the Fascists and the political Zionists. This war must be brought about so that Nazism is destroyed and that the political Zionism be strong enough to institute a sovereign state of Israel in Palestine. During the Second World War, International Communism must become strong enough in order to balance Christendom, which would be then restrained and held in check until the time when we would need it for the final social cataclysm."
"The Third World War must be fomented by taking advantage of the differences caused by the "agentur" of the "Illuminati" between the political Zionists and the leaders of Islamic World. The war must be conducted in such a way that Islam (the Moslem Arabic World) and political Zionism (the State of Israel) mutually destroy each other. Meanwhile the other nations, once more divided on this issue will be constrained to fight to the point of complete physical, moral, spiritual and economical exhaustion...We shall unleash the Nihilists and the atheists, and we shall provoke a formidable social cataclysm which in all its horror will show clearly to the nations the effect of absolute atheism, origin of savagery and of the most bloody turmoil. Then everywhere, the citizens, obliged to defend themselves against the world minority of revolutionaries, will exterminate those destroyers of civilization, and the multitude, disillusioned with Christianity, whose deistic spirits will from that moment be without compass or direction, anxious for an ideal, but without knowing where to render its adoration, will receive the true light through the universal manifestation of the pure doctrine of Lucifer, brought finally out in the public view. This manifestation will result from the general reactionary movement which will follow the destruction of Christianity and atheism, both conquered and exterminated at the same time."
Obama accuses Assad of "slaughtering" Syrian people
A demonstrator waves a Syrian flag during a protest against Syria"s President Bashar al-Assad at the courtyard of Fatih mosque in Istanbul June 24, 2011.
REUTERS/Murad Sezer
By Khaled Oweis
AMMAN (Reuters) - The United States and European Union called on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to step down on Thursday and President Barack Obama accused him of "torturing and slaughtering" his own people in what U.N. officials said could be crimes against humanity.
It was a dramatic sharpening of international rhetoric -- major states had urged Assad to reform rather than resign.
But with no threat of Western military action like that against Libya's Muammar Gaddafi, the five-month-old conflict between Assad and his opponents seems likely to grind on in the streets.
Putting faith in sanctions rather than force, Obama ordered Syrian government assets in the United States frozen, banned U.S. citizens from operating in or investing in Syria and prohibited U.S. imports of Syrian oil products.
Though U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Assad had assured him on Wednesday that military operations were over, activists said Syrian forces carried out further raids in Deir al-Zor and surrounded a mosque in Latakia on Thursday.
"The future of Syria must be determined by its people, but President Bashar al-Assad is standing in their way," Obama said. "His calls for dialogue and reform have rung hollow while he is imprisoning, torturing and slaughtering his own people."
In a coordinated move, European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton called on Assad to step aside and said the EU was preparing to broaden sanctions against Syria.
At the United Nations, Britain, France, Portugal, Germany and the United States said they would begin drafting a Security Council sanctions resolution on Syria. "We believe that the time has come for the council to take further action," Britain's Deputy U.N. Ambassador Philip Parham told reporters. Continued...
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Obama’s Vacation Comes With a Twist
By Carol E. Lee
VINEYARD HAVEN, Mass. – The president left for vacation in August, and the opposition pounced. Critics accused him of evading the problems in Washington, and taking cover with a family getaway during “the dog days of summer.”
In a twist that shows how partisan criticism of a president’s vacation is an annual Washington ritual, Mr. Earnest is the president’s lead defender against Republican critics who say Mr. Obama should not be vacationing on this elite island during tough economic times.
“The president understands that he has important responsibilities to fill, and it’s his job to fill those responsibilities 24 hours a day, 365 days a year,” Mr. Earnest said when asked about the criticism by reporters flying with the president Thursday to Martha’s Vineyard.
“At the same, he’s also a husband and a father,” Mr. Earnest said. “And I don’t think the American people begrudge the president spending a little time with his wife and daughters, at the end of the summer, before his daughters head back to school.”
For Mr. Bush, the summer of 2005 was plagued with a CIA-leak scandal that enveloped his chief adviser, Karl Rove. Those were the “legitimate questions dogging the president” that Mr. Earnest referenced in a DNC comment to the Washington Post.
For Mr. Obama, it’s the economy – and a presidential election that’s beginning to heat up. The Republican National Committee issued a statement Thursday saying Mr. Obama’s ”high-class vacation during difficult economic times is a perfect example of an out of touch president.”
Mr. Earnest stressed that the president will remain engaged on economic issues. He’ll be preparing his post-Labor Day speech on jobs and the deficit. Next week, Brian Deese, the deputy director of the National Economic Council, will travel to Martha’s Vineyard “to provide regular updates and briefings for the president,” Mr. Earnest said.
“Over the course of his time in Martha’s Vineyard, he will be getting updates from his economic team,” Mr. Earnest said, adding that John Brennan, the chief counterterrorism adviser, will be on the island for the entire vacation.
But the president’s time on the island is mostly about getting some down time.
“This is an opportunity for the president to spend a little time away from the spotlight with his wife and two daughters, an opportunity for him to play golf, a hobby that he enjoys,” Mr. Earnest said. “It is also an opportunity for him to do some of the other things you have seen him do, go out and get ice cream and ride bicycles.”
One thing Mr. Obama will not do, Mr. Earnest said, is attend a DNC fund-raiser taking place on Martha’s Vineyard Thursday night.
Related
Obama expected to unveil jobs plan after Labor Day
Published: 11:32 AM, Wed Aug 17, 2011
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON - Seeking to jolt the economy, President Barack Obama will unveil new ideas to create jobs and help the struggling poor and middle class in a major speech after Labor Day. And then he will try to seize political advantage by spending the fall pressuring Congress to act on his plan.
Obama's plan is likely to contain a mix of tax cuts, jobs-boosting construction projects and steps to help the long-term unemployed, a senior administration official told The Associated Press. The official emphasized that Obama's proposals would be fresh ones, not a rehash of plans he has pitched for many weeks and still supports, like his idea of an "infrastructure bank" to finance construction jobs.
On a related front, Obama will also present a specific plan to cut the staggering national debt and to pay for the cost of his new short-term economic ideas. It will challenge the new "supercommittee" of Congress to go beyond its goal of finding $1.5 trillion in deficit reduction.
Obama's major economic speech will come right after the Sept. 5 Labor Day holiday. Republicans were underwhelmed.
Brendan Buck, a spokesman for House Speaker John Boehner, said Obama could scrap the speech and just hand over a detailed plan to Congress. "Seriously, just drop it in the mail. Podium not required," Buck said.
Obama will seek to use his economic proposals as leverage against Republicans in Congress, hoping to show a nation disgusted with gridlock that he is the one trying to get results. Obama's re-election campaign and the White House are also sure to use any specific ideas from the president as a way to blunt attacks from the Republicans hoping to run against him in next year's presidential election.
Already, Obama has been previewing his line of attack.
"My attitude is, get it done," he said in one Iowa town hall on Monday. "And if they (lawmakers) don't get it done, then we'll be running against a Congress that's not doing anything for the American people, and the choice will be very stark and will be very clear."
In Illinois on Wednesday, Obama is likely to touch on his economic plans during the final leg of a campaign-themed Midwest bus tour.
Meanwhile, Boehner and House Majority Leader Eric Cantor prodded Obama to work with them. In an opinion piece published in USA Today, they focused on cutting taxes, easing regulations and finding new energy sources, and said GOP jobs bills now languish in the Democratic-led Senate.
White House communications director Dan Pfeiffer confirmed that Obama would release a package of economic initiatives and push Congress to act on them in early September.
The official who disclosed details on Obama's jobs and deficit plans spoke on condition of anonymity because Obama has not yet disclosed them. No final decisions on the economic package have been made.
Seeking re-election in a dispiriting economic time for the nation, Obama's rollout plan allows him to come into September swinging after one of the roughest periods of his presidency.
The economy has improved from the deep recession Obama inherited, but growth and hopes have stalled.
The unemployment rate is at 9.1 percent. No president in recent history has been re-elected with a jobless rate nearly that high.
Obama's economic team has been hashing out the new package since he and Congress struck a last-minute debt deal in late July to prevent a debilitating government default.
As president, Obama is under unparalleled pressure to start showing more economic progress. His own job is expected to depend on it.
Nearly 14 million people are unemployed. Many millions more have given up looking for jobs or haven't found a way to move from part-time to full-time work.
The administration official would not offer details about the tax cuts Obama is likely to propose for the middle class.
They are expected to be separate from the extension of the payroll tax cut for employees that Obama has lobbied for by the day. Obama also has promoted a familiar list of other ideas, including patent reform and three major trade deals. And he has pushed for longer benefits for the chronically unemployed.
As for debt reduction, Obama is trying to have some say over the highly influential committee charged with recommending major changes fast.
That 12-person panel of Republicans and Democrats will start work in September on coming up with - by Nov. 23 - $1.5 trillion in savings over the coming decades. If not, or if Congress fails to approve the committee's plans, automatic spending cuts that both parties oppose would kick in across the government.
Obama's plan will be bigger. By how much isn't clear, but he has already envisioned $4 trillion in cuts over a slightly longer period of time.
He was in serious talks with Boehner during the recent, collapsed negotiations over a similar big package, between $3 trillion and $4 trillion. And those talks had included the potential for economic help like the payroll tax cut extension; Obama's new plan is likely to follow similar form.
The Green Agenda
"Effective execution of Agenda 21 will require a profound reorientation of all human society, unlike anything the world has ever experienced a major shift in the priorities of both governments and individuals and an unprecedented redeployment of human and financial resources. This shift will demand that a concern for the environmental consequences of every human action be integrated into individual and collective decision-making at every level."
- excerpt, UN Agenda 21
Agenda 21 – The UN Blueprint for the 21st Century
As described in my previous article on Sustainable Development, Agenda 21 was the main outcome of the United Nation's Earth Summit held in Rio de Janeiro in 1992. Agenda 21 outlines, in detail, the UN's vision for a centrally managed global society. This contract binds governments around the world to the United Nation's plan for controlling the way we live, eat, learn, move and communicate - all under the noble banner of saving the earth. If fully implemented, Agenda 21 would have the government involved in every aspect of life of every human on earth.
Agenda 21 spreads it tentacles from Governments, to federal and local authorities, and right down to community groups. Chapter 28 of Agenda 21 specifically calls for each community to formulate its own Local Agenda 21: ”Each local authority should enter into a dialogue with its citizens, local organizations, and private enterprises to formulate 'a Local Agenda 21.' Through consultation and consensus-building, local authorities would learn from citizens and from local, civic, community, business and industrial organizations and acquire the information needed for formulating the best strategies.” - Agenda 21, Chapter 28, sec 1.3
Interestingly, in April 1991, fourteen months before Earth Summit, Prince Charles held a private two day international conference aboard the royal yacht Britannia, moored off the coast of Brazil. His goal was to bring together key international figures in an attempt to achieve a degree of harmony between the various countries that would gather at the Summit. Al Gore was present, along with senior officials from the United Nations and the World Bank.
At the summit 179 nations officially signed Agenda 21 and many more have followed since. Nearly 12,000 local and federal authorities have legally committed themselves to the Agenda. In practice this means that all their plans and policies must begin with an assessment of how the plan or policy meets the requirements of Agenda 21, and no plans or policies are allowed to contradict any part of the Agenda. Local authorities are audited by UN inspectors and the results of the audits are placed on the UN website. You can see how many local authorities in your country were bound by Agenda 21 in 2001 here. The number has increased significantly since then.
The official opening ceremony was conducted by the Dalai Lama and centered around a Viking long-ship that was constructed to celebrate the summit and sailed to Rio from Norway. The ship was appropriately named Gaia. A huge mural of a beauiful woman holding the earth within her hands adorned the entrance to the summit. Al Gore lead the US delegation where he was joined by 110 Heads of State, and representatives of more than 800 NGO’s.
Maurice Strong, Club of Rome member, devout Bahai, founder and first Secretary General of UNEP, has been the driving force behind the birth and imposition of Agenda 21. While he chaired the Earth Summit, outside his wife Hanne and 300 followers called the Wisdom-Keepers, continuously beat drums, chanted prayers to Gaia, and trended scared flames in order to “establish and hold the energy field” for the duration of the summit. You can view actual footage of these ceremonies on YouTube. During the opening speech Maurice Strong made the following statements:
"The concept of national sovereignty has been an immutable, indeed sacred, principle of international relations. It is a principle which will yield only slowly and reluctantly to the new imperatives of global environmental cooperation. It is simply not feasible for sovereignty to be exercised unilaterally by individual nation states, however powerful. The global community must be assured of environmental security." - Link
"It is the responsibility of each human being today to choose between the force of darkness and the force of light. We must therefore transform our attitudes, and adopt a renewed respect for the superior laws of Divine Nature." - Link
"Current lifestyles and consumption patterns of the affluent middle class - involving high meat intake, use of fossil fuels, appliances, air-conditioning, and suburban housing - are not sustainable. A shift is necessary which will require a vast strengthening of the multilateral system, including the United Nations." - Link
Among other things, the agenda called for a Global Biodiversity Assessment of the State of the Earth. Prepared by the UN Environmental Programme (UNEP), this 1140 page document armed UN leaders with the "ecological basis, and moral authority" they needed to validate their global management system. The GBA concludes on page 863 that "the root causes of the loss of biodiversity are embedded in the way societies use resources. This world view is characteristic of large scale societies, heavily dependent on resources brought from considerable distances. It is a world view that is characterized by the denial of sacred attributes in nature, a characteristic that became firmly established about 2000 years ago with the Judeo-Christian-Islamic religious traditions. Eastern cultures with religious traditions such as Buddhism, Jainism and Hinduism did not depart as drastically from the perspective of humans as members of a community of beings including other living and non-living elements." In other words Christians and Moslems are to blame for the sorry state of the world because their religions do not involve worshipping “sacred nature.”
Following the Earth Summit Maurice Strong was named Assistant Secretary General of the United Nations, and was appointed to the position of Chief Policy Advisor by Kofi Annan. He was also a member of the UN's Commission on Global Governance, and the key architect of the Kyoto Protocol. Strong and his wife have also established the Manitou Foundation, providing land in the Colorado to an eclectic mix of religious groups, including the Crestone Mountain Zen Center, the Spiritual Life Institute (a Catholic Carmelite monastery), the Haidakhandi Universal Ashram, the Sri Aurobindo Learning Center, Mangala Shri Bhuti (Tibetan Buddhists), and Karma Thegsum Tashi Gomang (Indian mystics). The Strongs have located their spiritual centre in the Colorado mountains because:"The Strongs learned that since antiquity indigenous peoples had revered this pristine wilderness as a place for conducting their vision quests and receiving shamanic trainings. It is prophesied that the world's religious traditions would gather here and help move theworld toward globally conscious co-existence and co-creation."
So what exactly does Agenda 21 contain? It consists of 115 different and very specific programs designed to facilitate, or to force, the transition to Sustainable Development. The objective, clearly enunciated by the leaders of the Earth Summit, is to bring about a change in the present system of independent nations. The agenda is broken up into 8 ‘programme areas for action’:
>> Agriculture
>> Biodiversity and Ecosystem Management
>> Education
>> Energy and Housing
>> Population
>> Public Health
>> Resources and recycling
>> Transportation, Sustainable Economic Development
As you can see Agenda 21 addresses nearly every aspect of modern life. If you have a spare few days the entire document can be read here. I encourage the reader to at least read the Table of Contents in order to understand the true scope of this ‘blueprint for the 21st century.’ I won’t torture the reader by going into the document in too much depth but I will provide the first six paragraphs so that you can understand the true intent of Agenda 21:
1.1. Humanity stands at a defining moment in history. We are confronted with a perpetuation of disparities between and within nations, a worsening of poverty, hunger, ill health and illiteracy, and the continuing deterioration of the ecosystems on which we depend for our well-being. However, integration of environment and development concerns and greater attention to them will lead to the fulfilment of basic needs, improved living standards for all, better protected and managed ecosystems and a safer, more prosperous future. No nation can achieve this on its own; but together we can - in a global partnership for sustainable development.
1.2. This global partnership must build on the premises of General Assembly resolution 44/228 of 22 December 1989, which was adopted when the nations of the world called for the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, and on the acceptance of the need to take a balanced and integrated approach to environment and development questions.
1.3. Agenda 21 addresses the pressing problems of today and also aims at preparing the world for the challenges of the next century. It reflects a global consensus and political commitment at the highest level on development and environment cooperation. Its successful implementation is first and foremost the responsibility of Governments. National strategies, plans, policies and processes are crucial in achieving this. International cooperation should support and supplement such national efforts. In this context, the United Nations system has a key role to play. Other international, regional and subregional organizations are also called upon to contribute to this effort. The broadest public participation and the active involvement of the non-governmental organizations and other groups should also be encouraged.
1.4. The developmental and environmental objectives of Agenda 21 will require a substantial flow of new and additional financial resources to developing countries, in order to cover the incremental costs for the actions they have to undertake to deal with global environmental problems and to accelerate sustainable development. Financial resources are also required for strengthening the capacity of international institutions for the implementation of Agenda 21.
1.5. In the implementation of the relevant programme areas identified in Agenda 21, special attention should be given to the particular circumstances facing the economies in transition. It must also be recognized that these countries are facing unprecedented challenges in transforming their economies, in some cases in the midst of considerable social and political tension.
1.6. The programme areas that constitute Agenda 21 are described in terms of the basis for action, objectives, activities and means of implementation. Agenda 21 is a dynamic programme. It will be carried out by the various actors according to the different situations, capacities and priorities of countries and regions in full respect of all the principles contained in the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development. It could evolve over time in the light of changing needs and circumstances. This process marks the beginning of a new global partnership for sustainable development.
Like many ‘green movement initiatives’ Agenda 21 is a ‘wolf in sheep's clothing’. As explained in my brief biography I have been actively involved in preparing Agenda 21 action plans and monitoring compliance with environmental permits. All the policies and plans we developed were required to begin with a description of how they met the objectives of Agenda 21 and various other UN agreements, and were audited too determine how they complied with UN requirements. It was these experiences that lead to my research into what was 'behind it all' and the subsequent publication of this website.
Agenda 21 is not an environmental management policy, but an attempt to impose a global centrally planned quasi-government administered by the United Nations. Under Agenda 21 all central government and local authority signatories are required to conform strictly to a common prescribed standard and hence this is just communism resurrected in a new guise. Now that Agenda 21 has gained a stranglehold on global regulatory and planning processes Maurice Strong and his Club of Rome colleagues have moved on to the next phase of the Global Green Agenda.
In association with fellow CoR member Mikhail Gorbachev, Strong co-chaired the committee responsible for drafting the Earth Charter. Compared to the 2500 pages that make up Agenda 21 and the BGA it is a tiny document – only 4 pages long. But it is of far more significance to the Global Green Agenda. The Earth Charter is a “declaration of fundamental principles for building a just, sustainable, and peaceful global society in the 21st century”. It is the constitution for a New Green Order. You can read about it here.
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Wednesday, August 17, 2011
When secrecy gets out of hand
Far too many government documents are wrongly classified top secret. The White House needs to sanction those who inappropriately classify information and take greater care in what it labels secret.
Former senior executive with the NSA Thomas Drake leaves the US Courthouse in Baltimore. Drake faces sentencing in one of a series of cases the Obama administration has pursued against government officials accused of giving classified information to the media. (Timothy Jacobsen / Associated Press)
By J. William Leonard
August 10, 2011
Every 6-year-old knows what a secret is. But apparently our nation's national security establishment does not.
Consider this strange case from earlier this year. On June 8, the National Security Agency, a top-secret government spy agency, heralded the "declassification" of a 200-year-old publication, translated from the original German, on cryptography. It turns out, however, as reported by Steven Aftergood of the Federation of American Scientists on his blog Secrecy News, that the 1809 study had long been publicly available and had even been digitized and published online through Google Books several years earlier. In fact, the 19th century study had not met the government's own standards for classification in the first place.
The day after this odd "declassification," the government's four-year prosecution of NSA whistleblower Thomas Drake under the Espionage Act collapsed when the government withdrew charges. The official explanation was that the government had to drop its prosecution to protect sensitive information about the NSA's targeting of a particular telecommunications technology that the judge would have compelled it to disclose.
But in my opinion, the classified information Drake was charged with having possessed illegally — like the 1809 study — never should have been classified in the first place.
Drake, once a high official at the NSA, was prosecuted because, as the government put it, he was found in "unauthorized possession of a document relating to the national defense, namely, a classified e-mail."
The charges stem from Drake's leaking of information to a journalist. Drake acknowledges that he approached a Baltimore Sun reporter with information, but he insists that he never offered any classified information. "I went to a reporter with a few key things: fraud, waste and abuse," he said in an interview with the New Yorker.
Having served as an expert witness for Drake's defense, I have read the email in question, and it clearly does not meet even the minimal criteria for classification, namely that it "reasonably could be expected to result in damage to the national security."
Various government officials involved in the Drake case have made the point that individual employees do not get to decide on their own that information they have access to should be declassified; that is the government's role.
Still, government officials are obligated to follow the standards set forth by the president through a 2009 executive order. They are not allowed to exceed its prohibitions and limitations in deciding what to classify. Classifying information that should not be kept secret can be just as harmful to the national interest as unauthorized disclosures of appropriately classified information.
In fact, the executive order governing classification treats unauthorized disclosures of classified information and inappropriate classification of information as equal violations, subjecting perpetrators to comparable administrative or other sanctions in accordance with applicable law.
But while government workers, members of the military and government contractors are routinely disciplined or prosecuted for unauthorized disclosures, I know of no case in which an official was sanctioned for inappropriately classifying information.
The Obama administration, which has criminally prosecuted more leakers of purportedly classified information than all previous administrations combined, needs to stop and assess the way the government classifies information in the first place.
The president has said he will not tolerate leaks to the media of war plans that could harm our troops. Of course such actions shouldn't be tolerated, but that is in no way what Drake did. Classification is a critical national security tool. The ability to deny information to an enemy and to protect sensitive intelligence sources and methods is vital to our nation's well-being.
To be effective, however, this tool must be applied with discernment, distinguishing truly sensitive information that can be used to harm our nation from that which cannot.
Currently, the strong impulse within the U.S. government is to overclassify. The administration needs to begin sanctioning those who inappropriately classify information, and it needs to take far greater care in what it decides to label secret. Otherwise, it will continue to find itself prosecuting cases it can't win and denying the public access to information it should possess.
J. William Leonard spent 34 years working for the federal government in national security, including a five years stint as director of the Information Security Oversight Information Office during the George W. Bush administration.
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Pentagon investigates DARPA defense contracts
DARPA
Regina Dugan became director of DARPA in July 2009.
msnbc.com
updated 8/17/2011 2:45:54 PM ET 2011-08-17T18:45:54
WASHINGTON — Pentagon inspectors are reviewing contracts awarded by its top research division, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, to a Maryland-based company that was co-founded by the agency’s director.
The Pentagon’s Inspector General said it will also do a broader audit of all DARPA contracts and grants awarded in the past two years.
The audit, first reported by Wired.com and The Los Angeles Times, was revealed in a Defense Department letter to the Project on Government Oversight, a nonprofit watchdog group that seeks to expose corruption and other misconduct in government.
POGO had written to the Department of Defense Inspector General in May and June, expressing concerns about a potential conflict of interest in DARPA’s awarding of contracts to RedXDefense, a Rockville, Md.-based company that specializes in explosives detection systems. The company’s devices have been used by U.S. military forces to find roadside bombs in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Regina Dugan, who co-founded RedXDefense with her father, Vince Dugan, in 2005, became director of DARPA in July 2009. She was a senior official at DARPA before 2005. Vince Dugan remains CEO of RedXDefense.
RedXDefense has won $1.7 million worth of contracts with DARPA since Dugan took over as agency director, according to Wired. DARPA officials have said Regina Dugan recused herself from any decisions involving the company, and the contracts were awarded to RedXDefense fairly.
"At no time did Dr. Dugan participate in any dealings between the Agency and RedXDefense related to the contract,” DARPA spokesman Eric Mazzacone told Wired in March.
DARPA officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment from msnbc.com.
Wired said a financial report that Dugan filed last year showed she still owns tens of thousands of dollars’ worth of stock in RedXDefense, though the Times said she reported her stake had no fair market value.
The financial disclosure statement also said the company still owes Dugan “at least a quarter-million dollars” for a “note/loan” she had given it, according to Wired.
In addition to the inquiry involving the RedXDefense contracts, the Inspector General’s office will also do a broader audit to “determine the adequacy of DARPA’s selection, award, and administration of contracts and grants awarded in FY 2010 and FY 2011 for research and development projects,” according to a letter from Assistant Inspector General John Crane to POGO.
DARPA, which helps develop cutting-edge technology for the military, has an annual budget of about $3.1 billion. The agency was established in 1958 in response to the Soviet launching of Sputnik the previous year.
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Sarkzoy, Merkel invite Van Rompuy to head eurozone
EU president Herman Van Rompuy has been asked to chair a body of eurozone leaders (AFP/File, Georges Gobet)
(AFP) – 16 hours ago
PARIS — France's President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel sent a joint letter Wednesday to EU president Herman Van Rompuy inviting him to chair a body of eurozone leaders.
The pair said they hope to strengthen coordinated financial planning within the 17-nation single currency bloc in the face of the current sovereign debt crisis and want the former Belgian prime minister on board.
"The euro is the foundation of our economic success and the symbol of the political unification of our continent," the zone's two most powerful leaders said, in a joint statement drawn up after they held talks on Tuesday.
"France and Germany propose to reinforce once more the governance of the eurozone within the framework of existing treaties," they wrote, proposing that eurozone leaders elect a president for a two-and-a-half year mandate.
"We have expressed our hope that you could assume this role," they added.
Eurozone finance ministers already meet regularly in what is known as the Eurogroup, and which is chaired by Luxembourg's Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker.
European financial markets and the euro exchange rate have been gripped by uncertainty as one eurozone member after another has begun to struggle to cope with mounting government debt, threatening the unification project.
Markets had looked to Merkel and Sarkozy's Paris summit for reassurance, and many observers had hoped that they would endorse the idea of issuing a common "eurobond" to pool member states' debts.
But the pair stopped short of a measure that would have angered German taxpayers by giving them a greater share of the burden of supporting weaker economies like Greece, calling instead for tougher fiscal discipline.
European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso nevertheless called Tuesday's meeting an "important political contribution by the leaders of the two largest euro area economies."
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AF Pulls 'Jesus Loves Nukes' Training
August 02, 2011
Military.comby Bryant Jordan
The Air Force has suspended decades-old Bible-centric ethics training intended to make Christian officers comfortable with the possible use of nuclear weapons. The training program was given to all new missile officers by Air Force chaplains.
"We're in the process of reviewing that training and we'll make a determination whether or not to continue [it] or if it will be a different course," Air Education and Training Command spokesman Dave Smith told Military.com.
Smith said the ethics training has been in place more than 20 years, although he didn't know exactly when it was begun.
The training slides include quotations from the Bible, portraits of Christian saints, prophets, and famous American generals known for their faith, including George Washington, Union Army Gen. Joshua Chamberlain, and Confederate Gen. Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson.
Every new missile officer had to take the training at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, regardless of their own religious beliefs or lack of them, according to Smith.
AETC halted the ethics training last week after an article on the training was posted at Truthout.org. Former Air Force Capt. Damon Bosetti -- described as a missile officer who took the training in 2006 -- said he and others referred to the religious section of the ethics training as the "Jesus loves nukes speech."
The website also published the training slides, which it acquired from the watchdog group Military Religious Freedom Foundation, an organization that has filed numerous lawsuits against the Air Force for allegedly infringing on the rights of religious minorities and non-believers and promoting evangelical Christian beliefs.
MRFF President Mikey Weinstein is also on the board of advisers for Truthout.org, the article stated.
Weinstein said more than 30 Air Force officers, most of them practicing Protestants and Roman Catholics, contacted his group in July to ask if he could help get rid of the Christian-themed nuclear missile ethics training. The Air Force released the slides under a Freedom of Information Act request.
"If this repugnant nuclear missile training is not constitutionally violative of both the 'no religious test' mandate of the Constitution and the First Amendment's 'No Establishment' clause, then those bedrock legal principles simply do not exist," Weinstein said.
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Tampa police thwart teen's Columbine-style plot
Jared Cano, 17, is led out of a courtroom in Tampa after being charged with possession of bomb-making materials. Photograph: Diez, Cherie/AP
Reuters
The Guardian, Wed 17 Aug 2011 21.15 BST
Florida police say they have thwarted a plot by a 17-year-old to attack his former school, after discovering bomb-making material at his home. "We were probably able to thwart a potentially catastrophic event the likes of which the city of Tampa has not seen and hopefully never will," Tampa police chief Jane Castor told a news conference.
Tampa police said Jared Cano's target was the Freedom high school in Hillsborough county. The local police chief, Jane Castor, said Cano, who had been expelled from the school, had hoped "to cause more casualties than were suffered at Columbine".
In April 1999, two students at the Columbine high school in Colorado killed 12 students and one teacher in one of the deadliest school massacres in US history.
Castor said Tampa police, acting on a tip from an informant, learned that Cano had been planning an attack for the first day of term next week.
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Anti-pope protesters face off with pilgrims, cops in Madrid
A protester holds a placard reading "We don't want the Pope here" during a demonstration. (AFP Photo/Pedro Armestre)
MADRID: Thousands of protesters angry over a visit by Pope Benedict XVI for a lavish youth festival took to Madrid's streets Wednesday, to be confronted by Catholic pilgrims and riot police.
The protesters were separated by lines of riot police from the pilgrims who sang "hallelujah" and sat on the ground and prayed, but clashes broke out when the police arrested an anti-pope demonstrator who attacked them with a bottle.
Late Wednesday the police dislodged the last protesters from the central Puerta del Sol square. Media said two policemen had been injured and six people arrested.
"God yes, Church no!" was one of the slogans chanted by the protesters as they marched across central Madrid on the eve of the 84-year-old pope's arrival in the Spanish capital for the rock-festival style World Youth Day celebrations.
More than 100 groups took part, uniting many causes, including those seeking a change in the Church's attitude to gay rights and those fighting for a clearer separation of Church and state.
But the outcry that has struck a chord with many -- including some priests -- is over the official 50.5-million-euro ($73-million) price tag, excluding the cost of police and security, of the Madrid celebrations.
The protest groups, some of which argue the real cost of the event to taxpayers is more than 100 million euros, are joining under the slogan: "The pope's visit, not with my taxes."
Organisers say most of the cost will be covered by a registration fee from the assembled pilgrims, and the celebration will be a massive tourist boost for Spain.
But for many the celebrations are jarring at a time when the economy is faltering, the government is making painful cuts and the unemployment rate stands at 20.89 percent. For those under 25, the jobless figure is over 45 percent.
"We criticise this scandalous show at a time of such a terribly distressing economic situation, with entire families unemployed," said Evaristo Villar, of Redes Cristianos (Christian Networks).
"This ostentation is causing a lot of damage and distancing a lot of people" from the Church, he said.
Many of those in Spain's 15-M "indignant" movement -- launched on May 15 against the management of the economic crisis -- were also taking part in the protest.
One huge placard at the march displayed a picture of the pope next to that of Stephane Hessel, the writer who inspired the "indignant" movement, with the words "Clash of the Titans".
Another banner said: "We demand a real secular state, freedom of conscience is a right."
Among the protesters was one man dressed as the pope in a fake "Popemobile", a devil's head next to him.
Hundreds of pilgrims in the yellow WYD T-shirts and sunhats were gathered in the Puerta del Sol square when the marchers reached the site.
They sang "hallelujah" and shouted "Long Live the Pope" and "Benedicto" at the demonstrators, who responded with cries of "Nazis!" and "Pedophiles, watch out children!"
Some of the pilgrims knelt on the ground and prayed.
One of the protesters, Ignacio, 18, was bleeding from the nose.
"I was at the protest with my father, and one of the Catholics punched me in the face," he said.
One Roman Catholic group called Hazte Oir (Make Yourself Heard), called on the authorities to ban the protest march, with a petition describing it as "an expression of intolerance and religious hatred".
Spanish gays and lesbians say they will hold a separate protest "kiss-in" after the pope's arrival Thursday, in protest against the Church's attitude to homosexuality.
For the August 16-21 Catholic celebrations, traffic is banned from much of central Madrid and a huge white stage has been erected for events in the emblematic Cibeles Square.
Huge speakers were blaring out pop music throughout the day as hundreds of thousands of faithful fans in floppy hats sweltered in the August heat.
The Roman Catholic Church has opened 200 white confessionals in the form of boat sails along the main thoroughfare through Madrid's Retiro park.
The pope will hold a "Prayer Vigil" on Saturday evening at an airbase southwest of the capital, where the pilgrims will spend the night on an esplanade the size of 48 football pitches.
He will celebrate mass there on Sunday morning at a white altar almost 200 metres (660 feet) long in front of a wave-shaped stage and under a giant parasol "tree", made of interwoven golden rods.
A 24-year-old Mexican chemistry student accused of plotting a gas attack on protesters against the pope will appear in court Thursday, a legal official said. He was one of about 30,000 volunteers helping in the World Youth Day celebrations.
- AFP/cc
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Festival highlights the cost of Catholicism
Video: Festival highlights the cost of Catholicism euronews