Sunday, October 28, 2012

Is Ellen White a Prophet?

  1. Did Ellen White call herself a prophet?
  2. Dairy products to become unsafe food  (Happening RIGHT NOW!)
  3. Preachers to claim lack of Sunday keeping reason for disastors
  4. Two wars separated with a gap of peace
  5. Balls of fire to fall upon homes
  6. Scientists will lie about calamities
  7. Sunday laws will be enforced
  8. Church & State combined
  9. The Vatican will claim Sunday Sabbath as their "mark"
  10. The open space in Orion
  11. Rome will undo Protestantism
  12. Slavery in the end days
  13. Pope will apologize and be accepted world wide
  14. Protestant churches will join with Rome
  15. Protestants will help spread Vatican dogma
  16. The USA will do away with the Constitution  (Happening RIGHT NOW!)
  17. Blacks and whites will eventually come together
  18. Old controversies will be revived
  19. Preachers of today will repeat doctrinal lies of the Pharisees from 2000 years ago 
  20. The Church will seek help from the State
  21. Satan will poison the atmosphere
  22. Satan will perform miracles in the sight of men
  23. Unions will form causing problems for the poor as well as the Christian
  24. The churches will join with the State (501c3) 
  25. Sabbath keepers will be blaimed for calamities
  26. Disasters by the sea to increase in frequency
  27. Cancer is a germ
  28. She predicted today's world perfectly 09-16-12
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What amazed me on all this was, Ellen White never claimed to be a prophet, yet all her enemies say she is one. They claimed her to be false, yes, but a prophet nonetheless. Still, many did say she claimed to be a prophet, but did she?
"During the discourse, I said that I did not claim to be a prophetess. Some were surprised at this statement, and as much is being said in regard to it, I will make an explanation. Others have called me a prophetess, but I have never assumed that title. I have not felt that it was my duty thus to designate myself. Those who boldly assume that they are prophets in this our day are often a reproach to the cause of Christ. "My work includes much more than this name signifies. I regard myself as a messenger, entrusted by the Lord with messages for His people" (Letter 55, 1905; quoted in Selected Messages, book 1, pp. 35, 36).

A true prophet of God would never claim such a title as in so doing glorifes self and not the Lord. If one is a prophet, this is a title only God can bestow. Case in point, John the Baptist never claimed this title either, yet it was obvious he was a prophet. In fact, Jesus Himself said of the man the following...



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Hurricane injects uncertainty into presidential campaign


By Michael O'Brien, NBC News


An impending hurricane injected a new degree of uncertainty into the 2012 presidential campaign, impacting candidates' schedules and early voting opportunities just nine days before Election Day.

President Barack Obama called the storm "serious and big" following a briefing at the headquarters of the Federal Emergency Management Agency's (FEMA), warning residents in the storm's path "to take this very seriously."

The president also canceled campaign trips to Virginia and Colorado scheduled for early this week, the last full week of campaigning this election, in order to monitor Hurricane Sandy. The storm's impending landfall was poised to add a new variable to a presidential contest that has tightened considerably in its closing days, along with scores of downballot races up and down the East Coast.


Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
President Barack Obama addresses the nation on Hurricane Sandy as the storm prepares to hit the East Coast.

Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney canceled planned stops in Virginia — one of the most hotly-contested battleground states this fall — on Sunday and headed to Ohio instead.

Obama spent Sunday in Washington, where he traveled to FEMA headquarters following church services early this afternoon. The administration authorized several emergency declarations for states sitting in Sandy's path, and Obama convened a conference call with administration officials and governors in the storm's path to receive an update on preparations.

The storm put some of Obama's campaigning on hold, as he canceled a northern Virginia event for that afternoon, along with an event in Colorado Springs on Tuesday. Obama was still set, though, to travel to Youngtown, Ohio on Monday morning. The president appears — for now — intent upon returning to the campaign trail on Tuesday evening in Green Bay, Wis. His campaign also advised on Sunday afternoon that two stops on Wednesday in Ohio would go forward.

The storm might have rearranged Romney's own campaign itinerary, though it's unclear whether the GOP presidential hopeful will be able to return to Virginia soon. Romney didn't address the storm in his remarks in Celine, Ohio, but his running mate, Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan, urged voters in the Buckeye State to keep East Coasters in their thoughts and prayers.

Nonetheless, the hurricane could prove to be the proverbial "October Surprise" of this campaign as it upended other elements of the election well before it had even made landfall.

Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley (D) canceled early voting in his state for Monday, a decision other east coast governors could mirror. That could have an especially pronounced impact on a state like Virginia, a battleground state in the presidential election and home to a competitive Senate race.

Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell, a Republican, said on Sunday's TODAY show that he didn't worry about power outages or other complications from the storm diminishing voting in the state.

"It's going to be, probably, seven days from the time the storm passes 'til Election Day," he said. "We've already taken precautions to move up polling places to a higher spot for restoration. The power companies are well aware of that. So I don't think it's going to interfere with voting."

But Democrats are counting on robust turnout — both through early voting and on Nov. 6 — to propel Obama to a second term. While Sandy's projected path is uncertain, its rain and wind could discourage voters in the key swing state of Ohio from voting early, a practice employed by both campaigns to bank votes ahead of Election Day.

"Obviously we want unfettered access to the polls, because we believe that the more people come out, the better we’re going to do,” David Axelrod, a senior adviser to Obama's re-election campaign, said Sunday on CNN. “And so, to the extent that it makes it harder, that’s a source of concern.”

The president himself downplayed worries about the storm's impact on voting.

"We don't anticipate that at this point but we're obviously going to have to take a look," he said in Washington following his FEMA briefing.

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Obama to compromise on cybersecurity executive order


President attempts to pacify hardliners and privacy advocates, report says

By Taylor Armerding


October 24, 2012— CSO— President Obama is reported to be willing to compromise on cybersecurity.

There have been continuing reports since early September that the president is preparing an executive order to implement some of the provisions of the 2012 Cyber Security Act (CSA), after it failed to come to a vote in the Senate in early August.

Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Janet Napolitano, in testimony before a Senate committee on Sept. 19, said while the order was still being vetted by various departments, that it would be issued as soon as a "few issues" were resolved.

Now, more than a month later, there are reports that a final draft is circulating that includes a major compromise to settle differences between those who want government to have free access to networks under attack, and those concerned about violations of privacy.

The Huffington Post's Richard Lardner reported that Associated Press obtained a copy of the draft order and released it last Saturday.

It includes a concession sought by Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) to include provisions proposed in the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA), which would allow for the sharing of Internet traffic information between the U.S. government and private sector companies, but only those involving critical infrastructure such as transportation and the electrical grid. Other private firms, including social media, would not be under the same mandate.

Another provision sought by privacy advocates would put the DHS, not the National Security Agency, in charge of the information-sharing network to distribute and "sanitized summaries of top-secret intelligence reports about known cyberthreats that identify a specific target," Lardner wrote.

"With these warnings, known as tear lines, the owners and operators of essential U.S. businesses would be better able to block potential attackers from gaining access to their computer systems," he wrote.

[Bill Brenner in Salted Hash: Third presidential debate - Both candidates flunk cybersecurity]

The reaction to the impending order has been mixed. Most Republicans oppose it, saying the president should not be bypassing Congress. Even Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), a co-sponsor of the CSA, said she did not think an executive order was appropriate.

However, Democratic Sens. Christopher Coons, of Delaware, and Richard Blumenthal, of Connecticut, sent a letter late last week to the White House calling on the president to issue an executive order "directing the promulgation of voluntary standards [by DHS.]"

It doesn't appear to be at the top of the agenda of either Obama or his Republican challenger, Mitt Romney, however. At Monday night's debate on foreign policy, the president said the word "cybersecurity" only once, in passing, and Romney mentioned "hacking" just once.

That was fine with Jason Healey, of the Atlantic Council, and a former White House security official. "First, cyber is not as pressing an international issue as most of the crises pressing on the president's time. No one has yet died from a cyberattack," he said. "Second, Romney did speak directly about pressuring China on intellectual property theft, which is the main cyber problem today."

The reaction from Healey and other security experts to the order itself is also mixed. Some argue that cybersecurity risks, while real, are not at the level of other threats to the nation. Bruce Schneier, on his blog Schneier on Security, criticized Defense Secretary Leon Panetta's recent speech warning of a "Cyber Pearl Harbor."

"It's difficult to have any serious policy discussion amongst the fear mongering," he wrote, adding that while there are real risks, addressing them does not require "heavy-handed regulation."

Good Harbor Consulting's Jacob Olcott agrees. "Targeted information sharing with a small number of companies has proven to be a useful exercise," he said. "But these efforts are very difficult to scale. It's a worthy initiative, but it's also hard to imagine that this will be a success in the short term."

"Heavy-handed regulation is absolutely unnecessary," he said. "In fact, the government would significantly improve private sector cybersecurity simply by enforcing existing securities laws that require companies to disclose material cyber risks and events to their shareholders."

Healey doesn't oppose an executive order. "This is all about such small items on the margins that getting too worried either way isn't really worth the trouble," he said.

"To fix cyber issues we need to make it so that it is easier to defend than to attack, globally," Healey said. "Sending a few tear line reports isn't going to solve that, but it's a start. Then again, if all we needed to make this happen was the say-so of the President, I wish we'd have done it 10 years ago."

But he is not entirely opposed to fear mongering. "If you're trying to convince people that they are insufficiently worried. I think Panetta can be right," Healey said. "But I still think that heavy-handed regulation isn't the right solution."



Read more about malware/cybercrime in CSOonline's Malware/Cybercrime section.


Source

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Out of the Cities - Dave Westbrook


Out of the Cities Part 1of2 Dave Westbrook from Third Angel on Vimeo.

from Third Angel Thursday, January 6, 2011 11:33 PM

Dave Westbrook explains the quotes in the book Country Living By Ellen G. White about how that we as Seventh Day Adventists who are living in the light are counselled to leave the cities and that the time to leave is "now". Not tomorrow. This video is well worth the time to watch.

Also please check out the following study thethirdangelsmessage.com/last_day_events.php


Out of the Cities Part 2 of 2 Dave Westbrook from Third Angel on Vimeo.

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BLOOMBERG ORDERS PARTIAL NYC EVACUATION AHEAD OF HURRICANE SANDY, 6- TO 11- FOOT STORM SURGE PREDICTED


Posted on October 28, 2012 at 12:44pm 

by Madeleine Morgenstern



A man hurries to prepare a restaurant from the high winds of approaching Hurricane Sandy on Oct. 28, 2012 in Ocean City, N.J. New Jersey is expected to be hit hard by approaching storm sometime on Monday, bringing heavy winds and floodwaters. (Getty Images)


New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg on Sunday ordered mandatory evacuations of parts of lower Manhattan and other low-lying areas in the city as the Northeast braced for Hurricane Sandy.

Bloomberg also announced the city’s 1.1 million-student public school system would be closed Monday. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo had already ordered all bus, subway and commuter train service be halted at 7 p.m. Sunday.

“If you don’t evacuate, you are not only endangering your life, you are also endangering the lives of the first responders who are going in to rescue you,” Bloomberg said during a news conference Sunday morning. “This is a serious and dangerous storm.”

Rainfall was expected to start late Sunday or early Monday in New York as Sandy headed north from the Caribbean, where it left more than five dozen people dead. It was expected to turn left toward the mid-Atlantic coast and come ashore late Monday or early Tuesday, most likely in New Jersey, and collide with a wintry storm coming from the west and a cold front from the Arctic to create a rare hybrid storm.


A woman grabs the few remaining water bottles from the shelves at the Waldbaums grocery store as Hurricane Sandy approaches on Oct. 28, 2012 in Long Beach, New York. (Getty Images)


Bloomberg said forecasters had revised their initial predictions upward and were expecting a six- to 11-foot storm surge to affect low-lying areas of New York City. The worst of the storm was expected to come Monday night.

“I don’t want anybody to go to bed tonight thinking they can spend some time worrying” tomorrow, Bloomberg said. “We’ve got to take some preparations today and we anticipate the surge will hit a lot of low-lying areas and the possibility of flooding will continue to Tuesday afternoon.”

The National Weather Service said Sunday morning that Sandy was expected to bring “life-threatening” storm surge flooding to the mid-Atlantic coast, including along the Long Island Sound and New York Harbor. Sandy was expected to have near-hurricane-force winds of 75 mph when it made landfall.



Construction workers carry boards of wood to cover air vents that could cause the New York City subway system to flood in preparation for Hurricane Sandy on Oct. 28, 2012 in New York. (Getty Images)


This post will be updated.

​The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Tens of thousands warned to evacuate ahead of terrifying megastorm heading to eastern US


BY ALLEN G. BREED,WAYNE PARRY, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS OCTOBER 28, 2012 9:50 AM


Hannah Smith, 4, looks over a pile of sandbags as her dad, Charles, checks their stability in front of their home along Ocean View Avenue Saturday, Oct. 27, 2012 in Norfolk, Va. Hurricane Sandy, upgraded again Saturday just hours after forecasters said it had weakened to a tropical storm, was barreling north from the Caribbean and was expected to make landfall early Tuesday near the Delaware coast, then hit two winter weather systems as it moves inland, creating a hybrid monster storm. (AP Photo/The Virginian-Pilot, Ross Taylor) MAGS OUT

SHIP BOTTOM, N.J. - Tens of thousands of people were ordered to evacuate coastal areas Sunday as big cities and small towns across the U.S. Northeast braced for the onslaught of a superstorm threatening some 60 million people along the most heavily populated corridor in the nation.

As a monstrous Hurricane Sandy made its way up the Atlantic Coast, New York City announced its subways, buses and trains would stop running Sunday night, and its 1.1 million-student school system would be closed on Monday. Mayor Michael Bloomberg also ordered the evacuation of part of lower Manhattan and other low-lying neighbourhoods.

"If you don't evacuate, you are not only endangering your life, you are also endangering the lives of the first responders who are going in to rescue you," Bloomberg said. "This is a serious and dangerous storm."

Tens of thousands of people along the coast in Delaware, New Jersey, Connecticut and other threatened areas were also under orders to clear out because of the danger of heavy rain, punishing winds and a potentially deadly tidal surge.

Sandy was headed north from the Caribbean, where it left at least 65 people dead, mostly in Haiti, and was expected to hook left toward the mid-Atlantic coast and come ashore late Monday or early Tuesday, most likely along the New Jersey shore, colliding with a wintry storm moving in from the west and cold air streaming down from the Arctic.

Forecasters warned that the resulting megastorm could wreak havoc over 800 miles (1,300 kilometres)from the East Coast to the Great Lakes.

The danger was hardly limited to coastal areas, with worried about inland flooding. They also warned that the rain could saturate the ground, causing trees to topple onto power lines and cause blackouts that could last for several days.

States of emergency were declared from North Carolina, where gusty winds whipped steady rain on Sunday morning, to Connecticut. Delaware ordered 50,000 people in coastal communities to clear out by 8 p.m. Sunday.

Officials in New York City were particularly worried about the possibility of subway flooding. The city closed the subways before Hurricane Irene last year, and a Columbia University study predicted that an Irene surge just 1 foot (30 centimetres) higher would have paralyzed lower Manhattan.

Sandy was at Category 1 strength, packing 75 mph (120 kph) winds, about 250 miles (400 kilometres) southeast of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, and moving northeast at 14 mph (22.5 kph) as of 11 a.m. (1500 GMT) Sunday, according to the National Hurricane Center in Miami. It was about 575 miles (925 kilometres) south of New York City.

The storm was expected to continue moving parallel to the Southeast coast most of the day and approach the coast of the mid-Atlantic states by Monday night, before reaching southern New England later in the week.

The storm was so big, however, and the convergence of the three storms so rare, that "we just can't pinpoint who is going to get the worst of it," said Rick Knabb, director of the National Hurricane Center in Miami.

Amtrak began cancelling passenger train service Saturday night to parts of the East Coast, including between Washington and New York. Airlines started moving planes out of airports to avoid damage and added Sunday flights out of New York and Washington in preparation for flight cancellations on Monday.

The Virginia National Guard was authorized to call up to 500 troops to active duty for debris removal and road-clearing, while homeowners stacked sandbags at their front doors in coastal towns.

President Barack Obama was monitoring the storm and working with state and locals governments to make sure they get the resources needed to prepare, administration officials said.

In North Carolina's Outer Banks, there was some scattered, minor flooding at daybreak Sunday on the beach road in Nags Head. The bad weather could pick up there later in the day, with the major concerns being rising tides and pounding waves.

In New Jersey, Gov. Chris Christie's emergency declaration will force the shutdown of Atlantic City's 12 casinos for only the fourth time in the 34-year history of legalized gambling there. City officials said they would begin evacuating the gambling hub's 30,000 residents at noon Sunday, busing them to mainland shelters and schools.

"I've been here since 1997, and I never even put my barbecue grill away during a storm," Russ Linke said shortly before he and his wife left the Jersey shore barrier island town of Ship Bottom on Saturday. "But I am taking this one seriously. They say it might hit here. That's about as serious as it can get."

He and his wife secured the patio furniture, packed the bicycles into the pickup truck, and headed off the island.

Witlet Maceno, an emergency room nurse working at New York City's Mount Sinai Hospital, was headed home to Staten Island on Sunday morning after his overnight shift. He said he was going home to check on his parents, visiting from Atlanta, before he returned to work Sunday evening.

"I'm making sure they're OK, that they have water and food, and that the windows are shut tight," he said. "And I'm going to remove stuff outside that could go flying into the windows" of his street-level apartment.

The storm also forced the presidential campaign to juggle schedules. Romney scrapped plans to campaign Sunday in Virginia and switched his schedule for the day to Ohio. First lady Michelle Obama cancelled an appearance in New Hampshire for Tuesday, and Obama moved a planned Monday departure for Florida to Sunday night to beat the storm. He also cancelled appearances in Northern Virginia on Monday and Colorado on Tuesday.

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Breed reported from Raleigh, North Carolina. Contributing to this report were AP Science Writer Seth Borenstein in Washington; Emery Dalesio in Nags Head, North Carolina.; Karen Matthews and Samantha Bomkamp in New York; Randall Chase in Lewes, Delaware.; Jessica Gresko in Arlington, Virginia; and Nancy Benac in Washington.

Source

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Hawaii Tsunami Hits Following Canada Earthquake

By OSKAR GARCIA and MARK THIESSEN 10/28/12 07:34 AM ET EDT





HONOLULU — A Hawaii tsunami warning that spurred coastal evacuations statewide was downgraded to a tsunami advisory early Sunday, ending the threat of serious damage less than three hours after the first waves hit the islands.

Hawaii Gov. Neil Abercrombie said early Sunday that the Aloha State was lucky to avoid more severe surges after a powerful earthquake struck off the coast of Canada.

Abercrombie said beaches and harbors are still closed statewide.

"We're very, very grateful that we can go home tonight counting our blessings," Abercrombie said.

Meanwhile, the National Weather Service canceled tsunami advisories for Canada and Oregon, leaving northern California as the only spot in North America still under a tsunami advisory.

The first waves hitting Hawaii on Saturday night were smaller than expected.

Gerard Fryer, a geologist tracking the tsunami for the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center, said the largest wave in the first 45 minutes of the tsunami was measured in Maui at more than 5 feet, about 2 feet higher than normal sea levels.

No major damage was reported.

At first, officials said Hawaii wasn't in any danger of a tsunami after the 7.7-magnitude earthquake rattled the western coast of North America Saturday night, sparking tsunami warnings for southern Alaska and western Canada.


Later, officials issued a warning for Hawaii as well, saying there had been a change in sea readings. About the same time, a tsunami advisory was issued for a 450-mile stretch of U.S. coast running from north of San Francisco to central Oregon.

A small tsunami created by the quake was barely noticeable in Craig, Alaska, where the first wave or surge was recorded Saturday night.

Fryer said it could take several hours for the danger to pass in Hawaii, especially if the waves get bigger.

"It's beginning to look like the evacuation may not have been necessary," Fryer said.

The National Weather Service said there were reports of water quickly receding in bays, including Hilo Bay on the Big Island.

The warning in Hawaii spurred residents to stock up on essentials at gas stations and grocery stores and sent tourists in beachside hotels to higher floors in their buildings. Bus service into Waikiki was cut off an hour before the first waves, and police in downtown Honolulu shut down a Halloween block party.

Abercrombie proclaimed an emergency, mobilizing extra safety measures.

While television traffic cameras showed onlookers at the beach in Waikiki, Honolulu Mayor Peter Carlisle warned people to stay away from the surf for several days.

Carlisle – who recommended people think about ditching their cars if they were in traffic – said people should be cautious.

"There's no reason to panic but there's every reason to take all of the necessary precautions," he said.

Coast Guard officials closed all harbors in the state to incoming boats and urged vessels to leave and not return until an all-clear is given.

"We don't have any reports of any tsunami impacts at this time, but we caution mariners because the tsunami surges can continue for several hours," Chief Warrant Officer Gene Maestas said.

In Kauai, three schools used as evacuation centers quickly filled to capacity.

As many people along Hawaii's coasts rushed to higher ground, officials downgraded a tsunami warning to an advisory for southern Alaska and British Columbia. They also issued an advisory for areas of northern California and southern Oregon.

In Alaska, the wave or surge was recorded at 4 inches, much smaller than forecast, said Jeremy Zidek, a spokesman for the Alaska Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management.

The U.S. Geological Survey said the earthquake hit in the Queen Charlotte Islands area. The quake was felt in Craig and other southeast Alaska communities, but Zidek said there were no immediate reports of damage.

The West Coast and Alaska Tsunami Warning Center issued a warning for coastal areas of southeast Alaska, down the western Canadian coast to the tip of Vancouver Island.

Later Saturday evening, the warning for those areas was downgraded to an advisory, while a warning was issued for Hawaii.

In addition, officials issued an advisory for areas from Gualala Point, Calif., about 80 miles northwest of San Francisco, to the Douglas-Lane county line in Oregon, about 10 miles southwest of Florence.

The Del Norte County Sheriff's Department, based in Crescent City, Calif., near the Oregon line, said it hadn't heard of any problems as a result of the tsunami. Crescent City was one of the U.S. towns hit hardest by last year's tsunami from the Japan quake, with boats in the harbor suffering serious damage.

By early Sunday morning, all warnings and advisories for coastal areas of North American had been canceled, except for a stretch of California coast beginning 80 miles north of San Francisco and stretching to the Oregon line, which remained under an advisory.

A tsunami warning means an area is likely to be hit by a wave, while an advisory means there may be strong currents, but that widespread inundation is not expected to occur.

Fryer said it's not surprising that an earthquake so far away could generate dangerous waves in Hawaii.

"There is nothing between Canada and us that would scatter the energy, so once the beam is formed, it just points right at us," Fryer said.

The U.S. Coast Guard in Alaska said it was warning warn everyone with a boat on the water to prepare for a potential tsunami.

The first wave hit Craig about two hours after the earthquake.

"It started off where it might be a 3-foot wave, and it kept getting downgraded," Craig Mayor Dennis Watson said. "And the last time we heard, it was less than 1 foot."

It actually was recorded at 4 inches. Watson said he was downtown on the waterfront, and had his car lights shining on pylons.

"I didn't even see the surge. I watched the pylons. And the tides came in about four or five inches. The surge would leave a wet spot as it would go back out, and we never did see that," he said.

There could be subsequent waves in Craig, but an official with the tsunami warning center didn't think it would amount to much.

The first wave "typically is not the largest but nevertheless we don't expect the maximum wave height to be large," said Bill Knight.

The state Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management activated its emergency operations center and notified officials in southeast Alaska communities.

Lt. Bernard Auth of the Juneau Command Center said the Coast Guard was also working with local authorities to alert people in coastal towns to take precautions.

Lucy Jones, a USGS seismologist, said the earthquake likely would not generate a large tsunami.

"This isn't that big of an earthquake on tsunami scales," she said. "The really big tsunamis are usually up in the high 8s and 9s."

She said the earthquake occurred along a "fairly long" fault - "a plate 200 kilometers long" in a subduction zone, where one plate slips underneath another. Such quakes lift the sea floor and tend to cause tsunamis, she said.

In Craig, officials implement an emergency plan, and took fire trucks, ambulances and heavy equipment to higher ground.

"If nothing else it was a good exercise in determining how well our disaster plan works. I thought it came off quite well, really," he said.

Watson said he did receive calls from townspeople about the tsunami.

"There's supposed to be a big Halloween party downtown. People are calling, `Did the wave hit yet so we can go to the party?'" he said.

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Mark Thiessen reported from Anchorage, Alaska. AP reporter Chris Weber in Los Angeles contributed to this report. Oskar Garcia can be reached on Twitter at .http://twitter.com/oskargarcia

The Beginning of Sorrows


And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.
For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.
All these are the beginning of sorrows.
Matthew 24
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Saturday, October 27, 2012

Sandy Intensifies, Heads Our Way as Evacuation Orders Begin in NY, NJ

The storm's effects will be felt here by Sunday evening

By Storm Team 4
| Saturday, Oct 27, 2012 | Updated 2:27 PM EDT





PHOTOS AND VIDEOS


PHOTOS
Watching
Hurricane Sandy
More Photos and Videos


Sandy barreled north from the Caribbean on Saturday, expected to make landfall early Tuesday near the Delaware coast before it hits two winter weather systems as it moves inland, creating a hybrid superstorm that has the potential to cause widespread flooding and power outages that last for days.

MTA officials warned that subways, bridges and commuter rails could be shut down starting 7 p.m. Sunday, but said a decision would not be made until hours before that.

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie declared a state of emergency and ordered mandatory evacuations by Sunday at 4 p.m. for the state's barrier islands from Sandy Hook south to Cape May. During a briefing Saturday, he also ordered evacuations at Atlantic City casinos by that time.

To anyone planning to ignore the warnings, Christie said: "Please don't. We have to be prepared for the worst here."

Sandy, which has left more than 40 people dead in its path, is expected to move parallel to the southeast coast of the U.S. through the weekend.

The storm could be wider and stronger than Irene, which caused more than $15 billion total in damage, and could rival the worst East Coast storm on record. On Saturday morning, forecasters said hurricane-force winds of 75 mph could be felt 100 miles away from the storm's center.

After Irene left millions without power, utilities were taking no chances and were lining up extra crews and tree-trimmers. Wind threatened to topple power lines, and trees that still have leaves could be weighed down by snow and fall over if the weight becomes too much.

Sandy was briefly downgraded on Saturday to a tropical storm, which is defined by only a small difference in wind speed; a hurricane has sustained winds of at least 74 mph while a tropical storm has 73 mph and under. More fluctuations between hurricane and tropical storm status are expected as it heads north.


Track Sandy with our satellite radar

See a timeline of when Sandy's effects will be felt here


The rain bands of Sandy will first show in the region Sunday, with the heaviest rain developing Sunday evening and lasting through Tuesday, meteorologists say. The worst of the system is expected to hit Monday into Tuesday morning.

Sandy is likely to arrive in our region during a full moon when tides are near their highest, increasing coastal flooding potential, particularly across the south shores of Long Island and coastal New Jersey.

Significant beach erosion is expected along the shore lines with wind gusts of 60 to 70 mph, 6 to 10 inches of rain, waves of up to 20 feet and widespread power outages that, with some trees still leafy and the potential for snow, could last to Election Day.

Under the heaviest rain band, which looks like it will settle across New Jersey, rain totals could exceed 10 inches, saturating the ground. As strong winds move across those soaked soils, that could cause trees to come down, causing large-scale power outages.

NEW YORK

The first evacuations in New York have been ordered on Fire Island. Residents are to leave by 2 p.m. Sunday, the Islip town supervisor said.

New York City officials are warning that people in low-lying areas might have to evacuate. The city's emergency management situation room has been activated.

The city's primary evacuation zone includes Battery Park City, Coney Island, Manhattan Beach, Far Rockaway and Midland Beach and South Beach in Staten Island. See the zone in orange on this map.

Mayor Bloomberg said Friday that six hospitals and 41 chronic care facilities are in those areas. At this point, officials are not recommending evacuations but say all those facilities should cancel all elective admissions and should discharge patients that can be sent home.

In August 2011, Bloomberg ordered evacuations in low-lying areas of the city as Hurricane Irene approached. The entire subway system was also shut down.

The MTA says its plan calls for service to be shut down if sustained winds of 39 mph or higher are expected. Ahead of the storm, extra workers were being called in, trains were being removed from outdoor yards and subway ventilation grates vulnerable to flooding were being sandbagged and covered.

The agency says some vehicles may be barred from its bridges when winds reach 50 mph or more, and the bridges could be closed if winds reach 60 mph.

Bloomberg said officials would decide Sunday if school would be in session on Monday.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo has activated the state's emergency crews. He also urged people to prepare storm kits, which include non-perishable food, water, cash, filled prescriptions, a battery-powered or hand-crank radio, first aid kit, flashlights and batteries.

"We want to take every precaution possible," Cuomo said.


NEW JERSEY

Despite the dire predictions, some coastal residents said they planned to stay in their homes. Many predicted Sandy would fizzle as most of the recent storms to approach the shore did, while others said they felt safer in their homes.

Many residents, though, were preparing for the worst.

One island resident who wasn't taking any chances was Russ Linke. He and his wife planned to leave Ship Bottom after securing their patio furniture and packing bicycles into their pickup truck.

"I've been here since 1997, and I never even put my barbecue grill away during a storm," Linke said. "But I am taking this one seriously. They say it might hit here. That's about as serious as it can get."

Christie is urging residents to closely monitor the storm and prepare to put in motion their own emergency plans.

The Department of Environmental Protection is opening the Pompton Lakes Dam to lower the lake's level in advance of the storm. The town of Pompton Lakes sits between the Pequannock and Ramapo rivers and has a long history of flooding.

In addition, the state is lowering the levels of four reservoirs used for drinking water in northern New Jersey for the first time ever in preparation for the storm. According to Larry Ragones, a spokesman for the department, the actions were being taken to "create a void space for runoff from the storm."


CONNECTICUT

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy has declared a state of emergency. He says the state is better prepared for Sandy than it was last year when it was hit by the remnants of Hurricane Irene, which knocked out power to residents for days.

Malloy met Friday with representatives from the electric, cable and communications utilities to discuss their preparations. Electricity line crews are already making their way to the state.

Malloy said residents need to plan on at least 7 inches of rain to fall over a 36 hours and winds of 40 mph. Effects could be felt early Sunday evening.

The state has launched a site to keep residents up to date on Sandy. It can be found atwww.ct.gov/sandy.


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Whose wife of them is she?



27 Then came to him certain of the Sadducees, which deny that there is any resurrection; and they asked him,
28 Saying, Master, Moses wrote unto us, If any man's brother die, having a wife, and he die without children, that his brother should take his wife, and raise up seed unto his brother.
29 There were therefore seven brethren: and the first took a wife, and died without children.
30 And the second took her to wife, and he died childless.
31 And the third took her; and in like manner the seven also: and they left no children, and died.
32 Last of all the woman died also.
33 Therefore in the resurrection whose wife of them is she? for seven had her to wife.
34 And Jesus answering said unto them, The children of this world marry, and are given in marriage:
35 But they which shall be accounted worthy to obtain that world, and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry, nor are given in marriage:
36 Neither can they die any more: for they are equal unto the angels; and are the children of God, being the children of the resurrection.

Luke 20: 27-36.
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Conflicts Between Trade Confederacies and Labor Unions



The work of the people of God is to prepare for the events of the future, which will soon come upon them with blinding force. In the world gigantic monopolies will be formed. Men will bind themselves together in unions that will wrap them in the folds of the enemy. A few men will combine to grasp all the means to be obtained in certain lines of business. Trades unions will be formed, and those who refuse to join these unions will be marked men.—Letter 26, 1903. {2SM 142.2}

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The Seventh Day is the Sabbath of Rest


 Six days shall work be done: but the seventh day is the sabbath of rest, an holy convocation; ye shall do no work therein: it is the sabbath of the Lord in all your dwellings.

Leviticus 23:3
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Friday, October 26, 2012

Berlusconi Gets 4-Year Sentence for Tax Evasion

By RACHEL DONADIO
Published: October 26, 2012

ROME — Two days after former Prime MinisterSilvio Berlusconi announced that he would not lead his party in Italy’s next elections, a court in Milan sentenced him on Friday to nearly four years in prison on charges of tax fraud in a case involving television rights.



Tony Gentile/Reuters
Silvio Berlusconi

Although the ruling was Mr. Berlusconi’s fourth lower-court conviction, it was his first since he stepped down as prime minister in November 2011, after years in which his personal legal battles often eclipsed the work of his government.

The symbolism of ruling — a clear blow against Mr. Berlusconi — also comes at a time when his center-right party is unraveling and Italy is in the throes of the most dramatic political transition since the one in the early 1990s in which he first came to power.

A lawyer for Mr. Berusconi said the former prime minister would appeal the ruling, which must go through two more rounds of appeal before becoming definitive. It is unlikely that he will ever serve jail time. Even if a definitive ruling were reached before the statute of limitations in the case runs out next year, Mr. Berlusconi would most likely still have parliamentary immunity.

On Wednesday, Mr. Berlusconi, 76, called for the first primaries of his People of Liberty party, or P.D.L., and said that he would not lead it in Italy’s national elections next spring to replace the unelected technocratic government of Prime Minister Mario Monti, who has been guiding Italy through a perilous economic crisis. But he said that he would stay involved in politics, and that he would most likely remain a member of Parliament.

The investigation at the heart of Friday’s ruling centered on television and movie rights that Mr. Berlusconi’s Fininvest holding company bought in the 1990s via offshore companies from companies in the United States.

Judges said that Mr. Berlusconi and other executives of his Mediaset business empire were accused of inflating the price of television rights for American programs via a series of offshore companies, and funneling the overflow into a series of illegal slush funds.

The court on Friday acquitted the chairman of Mediaset, Fedele Confalonieri, a longtime Berlusconi loyalist.

Judges also banned the former prime minister from holding public office for five years, a penalty that would be applied only if, and after, a ruling against by the highest court were reached.

On Friday, judges read not only the sentence against Mr. Berlusconi but also the reasoning behind it, a step that normally takes between 60 and 90 days after a ruling. That could speed up the appeals process, making a high court ruling possible before the statute of limitations in the case runs out next year.

“If the sentence is confirmed before the statute of limitations runs out, he has to leave Parliament,” said Marco Travaglio, a journalist who has chronicled all of Mr. Berlusconi’s trials.

A lawyer for Mr. Berusconi, Piersilvio Cipollotti, said that the former prime minister would appeal the ruling.

Mr. Berlusconi, who owns Italy’s largest private broadcaster, Mediaset, as well as major holdings in real estate, insurance, advertising and publishing, has been involved in dozens of legal cases over the years.

A trial over accusations that Mr. Berlusconi paid for sex with an underage prostitute is currently being heard in Milan. He has denied all charges against him.

Between 1997 and 1998, when Mr. Berlusconi was the opposition leader, he was convicted by lower courts on charges of tax fraud and corruption.

In one case, known as All Iberian, prosecutors said Mr. Berlusconi and his associates used offshore accounts to illegally finance Italy’s former socialist party leader, Bettino Craxi, who was Mr. Berlusconi’s former political patron.

All three previous lower court convictions were either overturned on appeal or thrown out for lack of evidence — or the statute of limitations ran out before a definitive highest court ruling was reached.

In 2009, a Milan court sentenced the British lawyer David Mills, who has helped Mr. Berlusconi’s company set up the offshore accounts, for taking almost $600,000 in exchange for providing favorable testimony in two trials against Mr. Berlusconi.

The ruling was upheld on appeal, but in 2010, Italy’s highest courtthrew out the case after the statute of limitations ran out.


Gaia Pianigiani contributed reporting.



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Billions in Hidden Riches for Family of Chinese Leader


BEIJING — It is unclear how much Wen Jiabao, the prime minister of China, who has staked a position as a populist and a reformer, knows about the $2.7 billion in assets that his family has amassed.


  • Video: The People’s Premier
  • The Lede Blog: Ask About the Wealth of Chinese Officials
  • Read This Article in Chinese
  • Documents Download a PDF Version



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    Will white men sink Obama?

    By BRIAN MONTOPOLI / CBS NEWS/ October 26, 2012, 6:00 AM

    JEWEL SAMAD/AFP/GETTYIMAGES
    Listen to President Obama and Mitt Romney on the campaign trail, and you could be forgiven for briefly thinking only one gender is allowed to vote. Both candidates regularly tailor their message to female voters: You can see it in the president's attacks on Romney's desire to cut Planned Parenthood funding and potentially appoint judges to overturn Roe v. Wade, and in Romney's claim that "this president has failed America's women" due to an uptick in female poverty.

    There's a reason for this: Women are widely perceived as more likely than men to be swing voters. In the battleground state of Colorado, for example, both campaigns are open about the fact that they believe whoever makes the best case to suburban women will win the state.

    Yet all the talk about women might make it easy to forget that men are a significant chunk of the electorate as well. While women outvoted men by about 10 million votes in the 2008 presidential election, men still made up 48 percent of the electorate. And white men alone made up more than one third of the electorate - 36 percent - according to national exit polls.

    It's true that whites are slowly shrinking as a portion of the electorate as blacks, Hispanics and Asians grow in influence, which is why you don't see many news stories about them as a voting bloc. But they still pack a powerful electoral punch. White men, in fact, are providing the biggest drag on the president of any voting bloc as he tries to win another four years in the Oval Office. Even if the president gets his expected 80 percent support from minority voters, he is unlikely to win the election if he can't win more than one in three white men. And he might not.

    A Washington Post/ABC News poll released this week found that white men support Romney over Mr. Obama 65 percent to 32 percent - a 2-to-1 margin. That suggests the president is doing worse among white men then he did in 2008, when exit polls showed he lost white men by a 57 percent to 41 percent margin. The poll also found white men moving away from the president: Romney's 19-point mid-October lead on handling the economy among the group has risen to 35 points today.

    The 2008 numbers were actually pretty good for a Democrat, at least when it comes to recent history. Mr. Obama's share of the white male vote was the highest for a member of his party since 1976, when Jimmy Carter won almost half of white male voters. (In each of his two presidential elections, George W. Bush won white men by more than 25 points.) Yet Mr. Obama's support among white men appears to have slipped since 2008. A big loss among white men would particularly hurt the president in the Midwestern swing states of Ohio, Wisconsin and Iowa.

    The movement of white men away from Democrats over the past four decades, argued Progressive Policy Institute President Will Marshall, is tied to both the culture war and the perception of "a change in the focal point of Democratic economic policymaking."

    "Many white men, and many, in particular, non-college white men, have not seen that the Democratic economic agenda is in their interest," said Marshall. "There's an account from the left that says these voters have been estranged from Democrats on social issues. And there's some truth to that. But I also think these voters believe the economic policies of Democrats have benefitted somebody else - not them. Women, minorities, interest groups. They don't feel that Democrats have championed the interests of white male voters in modern times as they did in the days of Roosevelt/Truman."

    The good news - or the less bad news - for Mr. Obama is that the problem is far worse in the South than it is in the Midwestern swing states. Look specifically at the white working class, who were somewhat supportive of Bill Clinton in 1996 but have consistently broken against Democrats since that election. A survey released last month by the Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) found that Romney led 48 to 35 percent among whites lacking four-year college degrees who are paid by the hour or the job. Yet while Romney led by 40 points among southern working-class whites, the president actually led by eight points among Midwestern working-class whites. The president's relative strength among whites in the Midwest is the reason a state like Pennsylvania appears likely to remain blue despite a relatively large white population.

    "The sense that he's doing better with white voters in the Midwest is the firewall for Barack Obama," Marshall said. "It's what's giving him hope that he can win in the Electoral College even if he potentially loses the popular vote."

    Romney struggled in Midwestern states in the Republican primaries against Rick Santorum, and the Obama campaign's characterization of Romney as an uncaring plutocrat with little concern for the employees of the companies he bought and sold at Bain Capital may be particularly resonant there. The auto bailout also boosted the president among white working-class voters in Ohio and elsewhere in the region, and it helps the president that the region is more unionized than the rest of the nation.

    "Obama has had policies that have helped the economy in the Midwest, particularly the auto bailout and the efforts to improve manufacturing," said Darrell West, vice president and director of Governance Studies at the Brookings Institution. He said that whites in the south and in rural areas, meanwhile, have "seen the downsides of the economic policies without getting very many of the benefits."

    It's worth putting a point on the gender gap here: The PRRI study found that while Romney holds a 2-1 advantage among white working class men, the two candidates were tied among white-working class women. David Paul Kuhn, author of "The Neglected Voter: White Men and the Democratic Dilemma,"reported that Democrats have seen a 25 percent decline in white working-class male support between 1948 and 2004, even as white working-class women held steady. Democrats generally perform far worse with men than women, just as they perform worse with whites than minority voters.

    The economic downturn may only have exacerbated the president's white male problem. The effect of the 2008 economic collapse has been dubbed a "he-cession" because it disproportionately left men out of work. "White men have suffered disproportionately from the recession, and it's been hard for them to make up for the lost wages," said West. "It's been a real challenge for Obama to convince those people they would do better in a second term."

    The Obama campaign says its overall economic message resonates with all middle-class voters, including white men.

    "Middle-class Americans, regardless of age, gender or race, have a clear choice in this election," said Deputy National Press Secretary Adam Fetcher. "President Obama is working to tell every American about his concrete, detailed plan to move America forward, get folks back to work and strengthen the middle class." Fetcher went on to attack Romney as "outsourcer-in-chief at Bain Capital."

    The Romney campaign, meanwhile, is trying to win over white men with its argument that the president has been a poor steward of the economy. It has also targeted white working-class men in the Midwest by arguing that the president has engaged in a "war on coal," a message that is particularly resonant in southeastern Ohio.

    The silver lining in all this for Democrats: The impact of their disadvantage among white men looks likely to diminish as time goes on.

    "Democrats have a demographic problem with white men, but that portion of the electorate is shrinking. So it will become less of a problem in future presidential elections," said West. "The problem is for Democrats to get through this election. Their long-term strategy actually looks good."


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    Nothing happens by accident




    "In politics, nothing happens by accident. If it happens, you can bet it was planned that way." 
    Franklin D. Roosevelt
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    Thursday, October 25, 2012

    'Dangerous' Hurricane Sandy and resulting Frankenstorm may impact LI, forecasters say

    Originally published: October 25, 2012 1:49 PM

    Amid dire forecasts for a cold front combining with Hurricane Sandy, state and Long Island officials urged residents Thursday to prepare for potentially punishing rain and high winds in a "Frankenstorm" that could hit as soon as late Sunday.
    The main culprit is Hurricane Sandy, which could potentially "gel" with a cold front and a weather system from the west late Sunday or Monday along the...









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