Monday, January 30, 2012

Has Twitter gone to the dark side with new censorship?



Twitter is going into the censorship business, and followers don’t like it.

The hugely popular social network, which unwittingly has helped fuel pro-democracy movements in the Middle East and elsewhere by allowing pretty much unfettered access to tweets, has decided to take down tweets that may break the law in one country but allow that same tweet to be seen in other countries. Previously, when a tweet came down it vanished from screens throughout the world.

Twitter says it’ll post a censorship notice whenever a tweet is taken down and it’ll also post on the website chillingeffects.org censorship notices that it gets from governments, companies and individuals.

Twitter defends the move as “a good thing for freedom of expression, transparency and accountability,” according to an Associated Press report.

The freedom-of-the-press advocacy group Reporters Without Borders, however, says Twitter will help suppress voices of dissent.

From the AP:

“By finally choosing to align itself with the censors, Twitter is depriving cyberdissidents in repressive countries of a crucial tool for information and organization…Twitter’s position that freedom of expression is interpreted differently from country to country is unacceptable.”

Has Twitter gone to the dark side? Would you want your tweet removed just because Washington doesn’t particularly like it?




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Zbigniew Brzezinski: "Strategic Vision: America and the Crisis of Global Power"


LISTEN (to the podcast) X

Zbigniew Brzezinski: "Strategic Vision: America and the Crisis of Global Power" (Rebroadcast)
Sunday, January 29, 2012 - 2:06 p.m.

Zbigniew Brzezinski has had a hand in U.S. foreign policy for four decades. He served as national security adviser to President Jimmy Carter from 1977-1981. Since then he has counseled presidents and members of Congress. And he has written and lectured extensively on America's role in the world. In a new book Brzezinksi argues U.S. leaders need a better strategic vision to navigate the challenges of the 21st century. He offers his insights on China's meteoric rise, a turbulent Middle East and the likely consequences of a decline in American power.

Guests

Zbigniew Brzezinski

counselor and trustee at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, professor of American Foreign Policy at the School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University and former National Security Advisor in the Carter administration.

This is a rebroadcast. Please view the original broadcast to comment.



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I have longed for thy salvation, O LORD


Let my cry come near before thee, O LORD: give me understanding according to thy word.

Let my supplication come before thee: deliver me according to thy word.

My lips shall utter praise, when thou hast taught me thy statutes.

My tongue shall speak of thy word: for all thy commandments are righteousness.

Let thine hand help me; for I have chosen thy precepts.

I have longed for thy salvation, O LORD; and thy law is my delight.

Let my soul live, and it shall praise thee; and let thy judgments help me.

I have gone astray like a lost sheep; seek thy servant; for I do not forget thy commandments.


Psalm 119: 169-176.

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Sunday, January 29, 2012

Activist priest, ailing in detention, ends hunger strike after 2 weeks

Originally published Saturday, January 28, 2012 at 7:28 PM

Father William "Bix" Bichsel, a Tacoma Jesuit priest, had been fasting to protest "nuclear weapons, inhumane treatment at prisons and the separation of policy from conscience," according to his attorney. The ailing 83-year-old broke his fast Wednesday because he felt himself weakening.

By Christine Clarridge

The Rev. Bix Bichsel, veteran of peace protests


The Rev. Bix Bichsel, veteran of peace protests

JOE BARRENTINE / THE NEWS TRIBUNE


A Tacoma priest and peace activist best known for breaking into a nuclear submarine base in Kitsap County has ended a two-week fast that drew sharp concern from some in the local faith and peace communities.

Father William "Bix" Bichsel, a Jesuit priest based at St. Leo's Parish, had been fasting to protest "nuclear weapons, inhumane treatment at prisons and the separation of policy from conscience," according to his attorney Blake Kremer.

The ailing 83-year-old broke his fast Wednesday, according to portions of a letter from him published in the Disarmnowplowshares's Blog, because he felt himself weakening.

Bichsel has been arrested in connection with peace protests and acts of civil disobedience numerous times.

In 2009, he was among a group of five protesters who made headlines when they breached high-level security at Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor by cutting through two fences to reach bunkers where nuclear weapons are believed to be stored.

The group, which included another priest and a nun, set up banners, sprinkled blood on the ground, scattered sunflower seeds and prayed until they were arrested, according to court documents.

Bichsel and the others ultimately were convicted of conspiracy, trespass and destruction of government property in the Bangor incident and were sentenced to terms ranging from two to 15 months, court documents show.

Nuke-complex trespass

In July 2010, Bichsel was arrested for trespassing at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge, Tenn., where a nuclear-weapons manufacturing complex is planned, according to Disarm Now Plowshares. For that act of civil disobedience, Kremer said, he was given a three-month sentence, which he began serving Nov. 10, 2011, at the Federal Detention Center in SeaTac.

This month he was moved to a residential re-entry center, or halfway house, in Tacoma, according to Kremer.

It's unclear exactly what happened once he arrived at the halfway house, but for some reason he was sent back to SeaTac the following day and placed in solitary housing.

Kremer said Bichsel believes he was sanctioned because two Buddhist monks were waiting for him, and drumming, when he arrived at the transitional house.

The Bureau of Prisons declined to talk specifically about what policy Bichsel is alleged to have violated, but Kremer said Bichsel believes supporters were not supposed to be notified of his move or new location.

Kremer said that when Bichsel was moved back to SeaTac, he was initially denied warm clothing and extra blankets required for his circulatory and medical conditions.

2 pints of milk a day

Bichsel began his partial fast, taking only 2 pints of milk each day, to protest what he saw as the arbitrarily inhumane and harsh treatment of his fellow prisoners as well as to draw attention to his opposition to nuclear weapons and the existence of policies "divorced from conscience," Kremer said.

News of Bichsel's sanction, and subsequent fast, sparked outrage and a flurry of letters and phone calls to the prison and the media from members of the faith and peace communities. A vigil was held for him outside the detention center last Sunday.

Virginia "Ginger" Kennedy, a member of St. Leo's Parish, where Bichsel serves, said she was concerned about his well-being.

"He shouldn't even be there. He's not a flight risk, and he doesn't have a mean bone in his body," she said.

In his letter last Tuesday, Bichsel said he has now received additional clothing and blankets. In addition, he has been so encouraged by the support from well-wishers and by "a real sense of God's presence" that he no longer seeks release from the Special Housing Unit.

"Thank you hugely ... for the tremendous outpouring of help and consciousness you have brought about," he wrote. "Overwhelmed and humbled am I."

Christine Clarridge: 206-464-8983 or cclarridge@seattletimes.com




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Sarkozy announces 0.1 percent transaction tax from August


France's President Nicolas Sarkozy gets ready prior to the start of the one hour-long television interview (AFP/POOL, Lionel Bonaventure)

Sarkozy said he hoped to "create a shock" with the controversial "Robin Hood" tax and inspire other European countries to follow his lead, despite vocal opposition from other EU leaders.

He said in a television interview that the tax would enable French companies to keep jobs at home instead of outsourcing them abroad.

Advocates of the tax see it as a potentially significant revenue generator as well as a penalty against speculation, but critics say it could cause investors to pull their money out of countries applying it.

Some governments have in recent years taken up the campaign but most now intend to use the so-called "Robin Hood tax" to help reduce their budget deficits rather than embark on specific social programmes.

France and its major eurozone partners have supported the idea of the tax but now seem divided on how to approach the issue, with the major players in the bloc Germany and Italy advising caution.

Britain is opposed to transaction taxes being implemented across the 27-member EU bloc.



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Davos Leaders Urge Europe to Resolve Crisis Threatening the Global Economy

By Simon Kennedy and Jana Randow - Jan 29, 2012 3:00 AM ET

Davos World Economic Forum 2012

Davos World Economic Forum 2012

Scott Eells/Bloomberg

Donald Tsang, Hong Kong's chief executive, left, sits with Christine Lagarde, managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), center, and George Osborne, U.K. chancellor of the exchequer, during a session on Jan. 28, 2012 at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland.

Global finance chiefs warned no economy is safe from Europe’s debt crisis, adding urgency to their calls for its governments to deliver a swift resolution.

Policy makers from Hong Kong to Canada used the last full day of theWorld Economic Forum to push euro-region counterparts to boost their bailout cashpile to protect Italy and Spain. They also pressed Greece and its creditors to strike a credible agreement to cut the nation’s debt.

Failure to deliver home-grown solutions would cost Europe any chance of further outside support and undermine the International Monetary Fund’s push for more crisis-fighting resources of its own, officials said. The concern tempered optimism from earlier in the week when delegates expressed hope that Europe had succeeded in calming markets after two years of turmoil.

“I’ve never been as scared as I am about the world,” Donald Tsang,Hong Kong’s chief executive, said yesterday in Davos, Switzerland. “Nobody’s immune. You need decisive action. You need to inspire confidence.”

Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney estimated the European crisis will subtract 1 percentage point from global growth by the end of 2012 “and that’s in a world where this crisis is contained.” Europe’s pain could be transmitted via trade or financial channels with banks already hoarding cash or investing only in domestic markets, he said.

‘Train Wreck’

Yale University Professor Robert Shiller echoed the concern by estimating the euro-area will contract this year by more than the 0.5 percent predicted by the IMF. Nouriel Roubini, co- founder of Roubini Global Economics LLC, said Greece may be forced to quit the single currency within 12 months.

“The euro zone is a slow-motion train wreck,” Roubini said.

The concern leaves the euro-area’s leaders under pressure to raise the size of their rescue funds from the limit of 500 billion euros set to take effect in July when a permanent fund comes online aside the temporary European Financial Stability Facility.

While they plan to reassess that amount in March, U.K. Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne indicated they may need to do so sooner by demanding steps in “the next few weeks.” EU leaders next meet in two days time in Brussels to draw up a fiscal compact to strengthen governance of the euro area.

Not Dealt With

Osborne also sided with the consensus by urging a fast accord on slashing Greece’s debts, three months since creditors agreed to implement a 50 percent cut in the face value of more than 200 billion euros of debt. Negotiations continue in Athens this week.

“The fact we’re still at the beginning of 2012 talking about Greece is a sign this problem hasn’t been dealt with,” Osborne said.

Carney said a “credible” agreement is required even if that means increasing the participation of the private sector and perhaps the public sector. Turkey’s Deputy Prime Minister Ali Babacan said Greece should be prevented from defaulting because “once that door is open” others could follow.

Policy makers from Japan and the U.K. said while they and others might add to the IMF’s coffers, a prerequisite was Europe putting up more money of its own. Absent “firm action, I don’t think developing countries like China are willing to pay more money,” Japanese Economy Minister Motohisa Furukawa said.

Little Bag

Seeking to insulate the world from Europe’s woes, Lagarde wants to boost her institution’s lending capacity by $500 billion. She made her pitch by saying the world had “never been so interconnected” and that the IMF was always repaid with interest.

“I’m here with my little bag to collect a little bit of money,” she said.

Last-minute worries took the shine off the sentiment of earlier in the week when delegates sounded upbeat about Europe’s outlook after financial markets stabilized. Market lending rates eased again this week and Italian and Spanish bonds rose as borrowing costs fell at debt auctions. At the same time, Portuguese credit-default swaps hit a record and Fitch Ratings on Jan. 27 downgraded Spain, Italy and three other euro countries.

Buys Time

World Bank President Robert Zoellick said the respite was likely temporary and linked it to the ECB last month lending euro-area banks a record 489 billion euros for three years to ward off a funding squeeze.

“I’m really glad the ECB took these actions, but let’s not be complacent,” Zoellick said. “This buys time, you still have to act.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Simon Kennedy in Davos at skennedy4@bloomberg.netJana Randow in Davos at jrandow@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: John Fraher at jfraher@bloomberg.net




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Saturday, January 28, 2012

VATICAN GLOBAL CONTROL: JON RAPPOPORT INTERVIEWS RICHARD BELL, FINANCE HISTORIAN & FORMER STOCKS MANIPULATOR‏

VaTiCaN GLoBaL CoNTRoL: JoN RaPPoPoRT iNTeRVieWS RiCHaRD BeLL, FiNaNCe HiSToRiaN & FoRMeR SToCKS MaNiPuLaToR


http://www.scribd.com/doc/7197144/Jon-Rappoport-The-Vatican


A new interview with Richard Bell, historian of money, retired manipulator of stocks.

Q: So, foreign investors are accelerating their withdrawal of money from the US.

A: A significant amount is being shifted to Europe.

Q: So is this current stock market debacle an OP run by the European Union (EU)?

A: That is true, but too simplistic. Dr. Paisley points out that the EU has been a stepoperation.

Q: Meaning?

A: First came the Common Market. Then we had the European Community. Now we have the Europe Union. At each step, people were told, “This is a good and limited concept.” That was all a joke. It was always about creating one giant Euro-super-state, under the control of a few people.




Who really Killed Alberto Rivera?

REMEMBER A UNION OF CHURCH &

STATE PLACED YAHUSHUA (JESUS) ON THE CROSS TO DIE
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The Blood of the Martyrs Still flowing

And will continue flowing until the return of the Moshiac.

Who really Killed Alberto Rivera?




We want to inform you that June 20, 1997 the beloved brother in the Lord Alberto Rivera was poisoned, and the church of the Savior lost another saint in the hands of criminals. Alberto was killed in his own congregation by people He knew. These people disguised themselves as saints of the Most High and played the role of saints, with the purpose to kill and destroy Bible believing saints. The only task of this saint was to denounce apostasy and to tell the church to turn from wickedness, and to turn to the word of the Creator. May the example of Alberto Rivera be in the heart of all those who love the Savior and his cause. We want to ask you some questions, Alberto Rivera was denouncing the many wrong doings of the catholic church, and how far away are they from the Bible. He also endure the attacks from the apostates as Hank Hannegraf and CRI and other professing believers, who took and take side with Roman Catholicism against the Gospel of our Lord and Savior and the testimony of Alberto Rivera, Chick Publications and other loyals who put the bible first. Before we give you the historic information to help you to decide your own personal verdict on this murder case. We want to include in this page a dream Mrs. Ellen G. White did have 100 years before the late Mr. Alberto Rivera began denouncing in his books the Roman Catholic Church. Alberto Rivera affirmed in the video prepared by James Arrabito "Jesuits Exposed" that: ..." Even The 7th Day Adventist Church have been placed under the greatest SET-UP, I mean, the greatest SET-UP in all the history of the DENOMINATIONS"...Quoted from the video "Jesuits Exposed"

"That night I dreamed that I was in Battle Creek looking out from the side glass at the door and saw a company marching up to the house, two and two. They looked stern and determined. I knew them well and turned to open the parlor door to receive them, but thought I would look again. The scene was changed. The company now presented the appearance of a Catholic procession. One bore in his hand a cross, another a reed. And as they approached, the one carrying a reed made a circle around the house, saying three times: "This house is proscribed. The goods must be confiscated. They have spoken against our holy order." Terror seized me, and I ran through the house, out of the north door, and found myself in the midst of a company, some of whom I knew, but I dared not speak a word to them for fear of being betrayed. I tried to seek a retired spot where I might weep and pray without meeting eager, inquisitive eyes wherever I turned. I repeated frequently: "If I could only understand this! If they will tell me what I have said or what I have done!"

I wept and prayed much as I saw our goods confiscated. I tried to read sympathy or pity for me in the looks of those around me, and marked the countenances of several whom I thought would speak to me and comfort me if they did not fear that they would be observed by others. I made one attempt to escape from the crowd, but seeing that I was watched, I concealed my intentions. I commenced weeping aloud, and saying: "If they would only tell me what I have done or what I have said!" My husband, who was sleeping in a bed in the same room, heard me weeping aloud and awoke me. My pillow was wet with tears, and a sad depression of spirits was upon me" From the book By Ellen Gould White, "Testimonies For the Church" Vol 1. pag 578.

Who killed Alberto Rivera? Was Fidel Castro intelligence Agency called G-2? or Was the CIA? or Was the KGB? or.......... Was it the Jesuit order, the one he was denouncing? It is your choice to answer the question. ..."At the time of the reformation in Europe. At this time great perils surrounded the protestant cause, the anathemas of the Pope thundered against Geneva, and mighty nations threatened it with destruction. How was this little city to resist the powerful hierarchy that had so often force kings and emperors to submission? How could stand against the armies of the world's great conquerors?

Throughout Christendom, Protestantism was menaced by formidable foes. The first triumphs of the reformation past, Rome summoned new forces, hoping to accomplish its destruction. At this time the order of the Jesuits was created, the most cruel, unscrupulous, and powerful of all the champions of popery. Cut off from earthly ties and human interest, dead to the claims of natural affection, reason and conscience wholly silence, they knew no rule, no tie, but that of their order, and no duty but to extend its power. The gospel of the Savior had enabled its adherents to meet danger and endured suffering, undismayed by cold, hunger, toil, and poverty, to uphold the banner of truth in face of the rack, the dungeon, and the stake. To combat these forces, Jesuitism inspired it followers with a fanaticism that enabled them to endure like dangers, and to oppose to the power of truth all the weapons of deception. There was no crime too great for them to commit, no deception too base for them to practice, no disguise too difficult for them to assume. Vowed to perpetual poverty and humility, it was their studied aim to secure wealth and power, to be devoted to the overthrow of Protestantism, and the re-establishment of the papal supremacy.

When appearing as members of their order, they wore a garb of sanctity, visiting prisons and hospitals, ministering to the sick and the poor, professing to have renounced the world, and bearing the sacred name of the Savior, who went about doing good. But under the blameless exterior the most criminal and deadly purposes were often concealed. IT WAS A FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLE OF THE ORDER THAT THE END JUSTIFIES THE MEANS. By this code, lying, theft, perjury, assassination, were not only pardonable but commendable, when they serve the interest of the church. Under various disguises the Jesuits worked their way into offices of state, climbing up to be the counselors of kings, and shaping the policy of nations. They became servants to act as spies upon their masters. They established colleges for the sons of princes and nobles, and schools for the common people; and the children of protestants parents were drawn into and observance of popish rites. All the outward pump and display of the romish worship was brought to bear to confuse the mind and dazzle and captivate the imagination, and thus the liberty for which the fathers had toiled and bled was betrayed by the sons. The Jesuits rapidly spread themselves over Europe, and wherever they went , there followed a revival of popery.

From the book "The Great Controversy" by Ellen G. White. page 234 & 235.


In the thirteenth century was established that most terrible of all the engines of the papacy--the Inquisition. The prince of darkness wrought with the leaders of the papal hierarchy. In their secret councils Satan and his angels controlled the minds of evil men, while unseen in the midst stood and angel of the Creator, taking the fearful record of their iniquitous decrees and writing the history of deeds too horrible to appear to human eyes. "Babylon the Great" was "drunken with the blood of the saints." The mangled forms of millions of martyrs cried to the Creator for vengeance upon the apostate power.

Popery had become the world's despot. Kings and emperors bowed to the decrees of the Roman pontiff. The destinies of men, both for time and for eternity, seemed under his control. For hundreds of years the doctrines of Rome had been extensively and implicitly received, its rites reverently performed, its festivals generally observed. Its clergy were honored and liberally sustained. Never since has the Roman Church attained to greater dignity, magnificence, or power. But "the noon of the papacy was the midnight of the world" --J.A. Wylie, "The History of Protestantism", b.i, ch.4. The Holy Scriptures were almost unknown, not only to the people, but to the priests. Like the Pharisees of old, the papal leaders hated the light which would reveal their sins. The Law of the Creator, the standard of righteousness, having been removed, they exercised power without limits, and practice vise without restraint. Fraud, avarice, and profligacy prevailed. Men shrank from no crime by which they could gain wealth or position. The palaces of Popes and prelates were scenes of the vilest debauchery. Some of the reigning pontiff were guilty of crimes so revolting that secular rulers endeavored to depose these dignitaries of the church as monsters too vile to be tolerated. For centuries Europe had made no progress in learning, arts, or civilization. Amoral and intellectual paralysis had fallen upon Christendom.



We recommend the reading of the following books: "The Secret History of the Jesuits" by Edmond Paris. "50 Years in the Church of Rome" by Father Charles Chiniquy. "The Great Controversy " by Ellen G. White. "History of Protestantism" by D'Aubigne.


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