Sunday, February 24, 2013

Big Brother Wears Google Glasses





WEEKEND EDITION FEBRUARY 22-24, 2013


An Orwellian Looking Glass

by ALYSSA ROHRICHT


In 2014, for a mere $1,500, you can literally have Big Brother strapped to your retinas. It isn’t marketed that way, of course. Instead, Google Glass is marketed as making “augmented reality” a part of our every day lives. And while Google’s mantra may be “Don’t Be Evil” (though the company’s own morality is questionable at best), you can be assured that the government, the Secret Service, and corporations are chomping at the bit to get ahold of this veritable gold mine of information.

“Imagine your brain being augmented by Google,” Google CEO and co-founder Larry Page said in a 2004 interview. And that’s now something we no longer have to imagine. In a teaser-video for Google Glass, we’re shown the viewer flying an airplane, playing sports, ice sculpting, and playing with a dog, all the while the glasses display the time, the temperature, and incoming phone calls in the upper right view frame of the glasses-wearer. The glasses take instant photos, videos, and even display information from the internet, including translating text and an instant GPS feature.

It is hard not to make the connection between Google Glass and George Orwell‘s Big Brother lurking around every corner of the dystopian novel. In Orwell’s nightmarish future world, Big Brother – via telescreens that can never be turned off – can literally see into every space of the city. He is in your bed room, at work, on the street, and peering down every hallway. With Google Glass, Big Brother won’t need a telescreen and he won’t need to spy on citizens. Instead, citizens will do the spying for him. Google Glass will constantly be gathering real-time information about your every single movement. What you see, what you hear, where you go and how you get there, who you speak with and what about, what you eat, drink, purchase, what you research, what you read on the street and in books and even what you do in the privacy of your home.

Gold mine is an understatement. Advertisers and corporations have been data mining for years, and we already give them most of this information through what we type on search engines, the websites we visit, and even through our smart phones and GPS devices. And they’ve been using that information to target us with tailored advertisements expertly based on our patterns of interests ripped directly from that information. Google Glass doesn’t necessarily do anything new, but it is the ease with which we are offering up our data on a silver platter that is transforming the data mining world. We aren’t just inviting these companies – and furthermore, the government – to view our thoughts, patterns, and consumer habits when we access the web. Now we’re inviting them into our private lives even further and literally placing them at the forefront of everything we do by affixing them directly in front of our faces 24/7.

Obviously, I’m not the first to criticize this new gadget, nor am I the first to see the glaring connection to our impending Orwellian future. Mic Wright writes in The Kernel that “Project Glass is the telescreen made real, strapped directly onto your face, pumping adverts into your retina, encouraging you to perpetually jones for more information in a way that will make today’s Twitter addicts seem slothful and non-reactive.” And it is true. We are not only giving up our last semblances of privacy, we are also succumbing even further to our ever-growing need to be “tapped-in” to the interweb and the endless stream of useless information it offers us.

The ramifications of the ease of accessibility for government and security agencies is even more frightening, especially in the face of the recent Justice Department “white paper” obtained by NBC earlier this month detailing the legal justifications that the Obama Administration has claimed for the targeting and killing of American citizens without trial. The paper was written in an attempt to legitimize the 2011 drone killings of three U.S. citizens in Yemen, including Samir Khan and Anwar al-Awlaki, and later Abdulrahman, al-Awlaki’s 16-year-old son. The paper argues that the targeted killings of U.S. citizens are justified and legal under U.S. law if a threat is “imminent” (though for a specific attack to be imminent does not mean that it must currently be under way at the time), a high-level official has provided evidence that the person in question may be a threat, and if capture is difficult. The incredibly vague memo leaves much room for interpretation, and of course, this is intentional. When questioned about the right to due process under the Constitution, General Eric Holder responded in March of 2012 saying,


“Some have argued that the President is required to get permission from a federal court before taking action against a United States citizen who is a senior operational leader of al Qaeda or associated forces. This is simply not accurate. “Due process” and “judicial process” are not one and the same, particularly when it comes to national security. The Constitution guarantees due process, not judicial process.”

Basically, if the Executive Branch says you’re guilty, that’s all the due process you need. Never mind a court, a trial by jury, or the notion that you’re innocent until proven guilty. The word of our government should be all that we require for any legal justifications.

The prospects for the information that Google Glass can provide to our government, which now reserves the right to detain us without charge (under the National Defense Authorization Act) and even immediately and covertly put an order out for our deaths, are terrifying, to say the least.


“In the past no government had the power to keep its citizens under constant surveillance. The invention of print, however, made it easier to manipulate public opinion, and the film and the radio carried the process further. With the development of television, and the technical advance which made it possible to receive and transmit simultaneously on the same instrument, private life came to an end.”

This dire prophecy is from Orwell’s 1984 and never before has this statement rang so true as today. As Wright wrote in his piece, in a way, Google Glasses are something “grimly inevitable.” It is not surprising that technology and access to the web has finally made the push not just to the tips of our fingertips but literally to right before our eyes at every moment. Not surprising, but worthy of resistance nonetheless. Wright notes,


“What will be lost with the proliferation of Google glasses, and what will be gained? Project Glass will not materially improve our lives. It will improve Google’s databases and make it easier to sell, sell, sell us more products and services. Ultimately, whatever the utopian rhetoric of Google’s cash-rich, sense-light engineering team, Project Glass will make you the easiest piece of meat to market to in history”

“BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU,” Orwell wrote in 1984. For years, we’ve carried Big Brother around in our pockets, willingly giving up our information on the web and through our phones. Now, as those in the tech world clamor to be one of the lucky “bold, creative individuals” to get to try out Google Glass for free and before the wide-release, we will lose our last vestiges of privacy. Facecrime is no longer just a term in a book to describe an illegal act given away by a facial expression. Now, it has become our reality – our “augmented” reality.

Alyssa Rohricht maintains Crash Culture and can be reached at aprohricht@msn.com.


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Saturday, February 23, 2013

The Offshore Outsourcing of American Jobs: A Greater Threat Than Terrorism


By Dr. Paul Craig Roberts

Global Research, February 17, 2013

Creators Syndicate and Global Research 18 April 2010






Is offshore outsourcing good or harmful for America? To convince Americans of outsourcing’s benefits, corporate outsourcers sponsor misleading one-sided “studies.”

Only a small handful of people have looked objectively at the issue. These few and the large number of Americans whose careers have been destroyed by outsourcing have a different view of outsourcing’s impact. But so far there has been no debate, just a shouting down of skeptics as “protectionists.”

Now comes an important new book, Outsourcing America, published by the American Management Association. The authors, two brothers, Ron and Anil Hira, are experts on the subject. One is a professor at the Rochester Institute of Technology, and the other is professor at Simon Fraser University.

The authors note that despite the enormity of the stakes for all Americans, a state of denial exists among policymakers and outsourcing’s corporate champions about the adverse effects on the US. The Hira brothers succeed in their task of interjecting harsh reality where delusion has ruled.

In what might be an underestimate, a University of California study concludes that 14 million white-collar jobs are vulnerable to being outsourced offshore. These are not only call-center operators, customer service and back-office jobs, but also information technology, accounting, architecture, advanced engineering design, news reporting, stock analysis, and medical and legal services. The authors note that these are the jobs of the American Dream, the jobs of upward mobility that generate the bulk of the tax revenues that fund our education, health, infrastructure, and social security systems.

The loss of these jobs “is fool’s gold for companies.” Corporate America’s short-term mentality, stemming from bonuses tied to quarterly results, is causing US companies to lose not only their best employees-their human capital-but also the consumers who buy their products. Employees displaced by foreigners and left unemployed or in lower paid work have a reduced presence in the consumer market. They provide fewer retirement savings for new investment.

Nothink economists assume that new, better jobs are on the way for displaced Americans, but no economists can identify these jobs. The authors point out that “the track record for the re-employment of displaced US workers is abysmal: “The Department of Labor reports that more than one in three workers who are displaced remains unemployed, and many of those who are lucky enough to find jobs take major pay cuts. Many former manufacturing workers who were displaced a decade ago because of manufacturing that went offshore took training courses and found jobs in the information technology sector. They are now facing the unenviable situation of having their second career disappear overseas.”

American economists are so inattentive to outsourcing’s perils that they fail to realize that the same incentive that leads to the outsourcing of one tradable good or service holds for all tradable goods and services. In the 21st century the US economy has only been able to create jobs in nontradable domestic services-the hallmark of a third world labor force.

Prior to the advent of offshore outsourcing, US employees were shielded against low wage foreign labor. Americans worked with more capital and better technology, and their higher productivity protected their higher wages.

Outsourcing forces Americans to “compete head-to-head with foreign workers” by “undermining US workers’ primary competitive advantage over foreign workers: their physical presence in the US” and “by providing those overseas workers with the same technologies.”

The result is a lose-lose situation for American employees, American businesses, and the American government. Outsourcing has brought about record unemployment in engineering fields and a major drop in university enrollments in technical and scientific disciplines. Even many of the remaining jobs are being filled by lower paid foreigners brought in on H-1b and L-1 visas. American employees are discharged after being forced to train their foreign replacements.

US corporations justify their offshore operations as essential to gain a foothold in emerging Asian markets. The Hira brothers believe this is self-delusion. “There is no evidence that they will be able to outcompete local Chinese and Indian companies, who are very rapidly assimilating the technology and know-how from the local US plants. In fact, studies show that Indian IT companies have been consistently outcompeting their US counterparts, even in US markets. Thus, it is time for CEOs to start thinking about whether they are fine with their own jobs being outsourced as well.”

The authors note that the national security implications of outsourcing “have been largely ignored.”

Outsourcing is rapidly eroding America’s superpower status. Beginning in 2002 the US began running trade deficits in advanced technology products with Asia, Mexico and Ireland. As these countries are not leaders in advanced technology, the deficits obviously stem from US offshore manufacturing. In effect, the US is giving away its technology, which is rapidly being captured, while US firms reduce themselves to a brand name with a sales force.

In an appendix, the authors provide a devastating expose of the three “studies” that have been used to silence doubts about offshore outsourcing-the Global Insight study (March 2004) for the Information Technology Association of America, the Catherine Mann study (December 2003) for the Institute for International Economics, and the McKinsey Global Institute study (August 2003).

The ITAA is a lobbying group for outsourcing. The ITAA spun the results of the study by releasing only the executive summary to reporters who agreed not to seek outside opinion prior to writing their stories.

Mann’s study is “an unreasonably optimistic forecast based on faulty logic and a poor understanding of technology and strategy.”

The McKinsey report “should be viewed as a self-interested lobbying document that presents an unrealistically optimistic estimate of the impact of offshore outsourcing and an undeveloped and politically unviable solution to the problems they identify.”

Outsourcing America is a powerful work. Only fools will continue clinging to the premise that outsourcing is good for America.

Dr. Paul Craig Roberts was Assistant Secretary of the Treasury in the Reagan administration. His latest book, “How The Economy Was Lost,” has just been published by CounterPunch/AK Press.

To find out more about Paul Craig Roberts, and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate web page at www.creators.com .



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Papal resignation linked to inquiry into 'Vatican gay officials', says paper


Pope's staff decline to confirm or deny La Repubblica claims linking 'Vatileaks' affair and discovery of 'blackmailed gay clergy'


John Hooper in Rome
The Guardian, Thursday 21 February 2013



The Vatican is awhirl with rumours about the pope's decision to retire. Photograph: Filippo Monteforte/AFP/Getty Images


A potentially explosive report has linked the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI to the discovery of a network of gay prelates in the Vatican, some of whom – the report said – were being blackmailed by outsiders.

The pope's spokesman declined to confirm or deny the report, which was carried by the Italian daily newspaper La Repubblica.

The paper said the pope had taken the decision on 17 December that he was going to resign – the day he received a dossier compiled by three cardinals delegated to look into the so-called "Vatileaks" affair.

Last May Pope Benedict's butler, Paolo Gabriele, was arrested and charged with having stolen and leaked papal correspondence that depicted the Vatican as a seething hotbed of intrigue and infighting.

According to La Repubblica, the dossier comprising "two volumes of almost 300 pages – bound in red" had been consigned to a safe in the papal apartments and would be delivered to the pope's successor upon his election.

The newspaper said the cardinals described a number of factions, including one whose members were "united by sexual orientation".

In an apparent quotation from the report, La Repubblica said some Vatican officials had been subject to "external influence" from laymen with whom they had links of a "worldly nature". The paper said this was a clear reference to blackmail.

It quoted a source "very close to those who wrote [the cardinal's report]" as saying: "Everything revolves around the non-observance of the sixth and seventh commandments."

The seventh enjoins against theft. The sixth forbids adultery, but is linked in Catholic doctrine to the proscribing of homosexual acts.

La Repubblica said the cardinals' report identified a series of meeting places in and around Rome. They included a villa outside the Italian capital, a sauna in a Rome suburb, a beauty parlour in the centre, and a former university residence that was in use by a provincial Italian archbishop.

Father Federico Lombardi, the Vatican spokesman, said: "Neither the cardinals' commission nor I will make comments to confirm or deny the things that are said about this matter. Let each one assume his or her own responsibilities. We shall not be following up on the observations that are made about this."

He added that interpretations of the report were creating "a tension that is the opposite of what the pope and the church want" in the approach to the conclave of cardinals that will elect Benedict's successor. Another Italian daily, Corriere della Sera, alluded to the dossier soon after the pope announced his resignation on 11 February, describing its contents as "disturbing".

The three-man commission of inquiry into the Vatileaks affair was headed by a Spanish cardinal, Julián Herranz. He was assisted by Cardinal Salvatore De Giorgi, a former archbishop of Palermo, and the Slovak cardinal Jozef Tomko, who once headed the Vatican's department for missionaries.

Pope Benedict has said he will stand down at the end of this month; the first pope to resign voluntarily since Celestine V more than seven centuries ago. Since announcing his departure he has twice apparently referred to machinations inside the Vatican, saying that divisions "mar the face of the church", and warned against "the temptations of power".

La Repubblica's report was the latest in a string of claims that a gay network exists in the Vatican. In 2007 a senior official was suspended from the congregation, or department, for the priesthood, after he was filmed in a "sting" organised by an Italian television programme while apparently making sexual overtures to a younger man.

In 2010 a chorister was dismissed for allegedly procuring male prostitutes for a papal gentleman-in-waiting. A few months later a weekly news magazine used hidden cameras to record priests visiting gay clubs and bars and having sex.

The Vatican does not condemn homosexuals. But it teaches that gay sex is "intrinsically disordered". Pope Benedict has barred sexually active gay men from studying for the priesthood.


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Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of god


Georgetown Prof: Neurosurgeon Ben Carson Unlikely to Get GOP Nomination




(Photo: Georgetown University)
Professor Clyde Wilcox



By Leonardo Blair , CP Contributor

February 23, 2013|12:14 pm


While neurosurgeon Dr. Benjamin Carson's "powerful speech" at the National Prayer Breakfast two weeks ago has social conservatives rooting for him to run for president, he is unlikely to get the nod as the GOP's presidential nominee in 2016 if he decides to run, says Georgetown University professor Clyde Wilcox, who works in the school's Department of Government and is an expert on religion and politics.

"It was a pretty powerful speech. I do not think in the end it will make any difference in politics. He is not likely to be a serious candidate for president on the GOP side," wrote Wilcox in an e-mail to The Christian Post on Thursday.

In a follow-up interview with CP on Friday, Wilcox explained his thoughts. "If you look at how nominations work in the Republican Party, it's almost always the person who finished second (in the primaries) the last time that gets it (the nomination)," he said, pointing to John McCain and Mitt Romney as recent examples.

Wilcox likened Carson to conservative political commentator Patrick Buchanan, who in 1992 caused quite a stir when he challenged incumbent President George H.W. Bush in the presidential primaries. Buchanan accused Bush, whose popularity was waning, of being too liberal, and although Buchanan gained 38 percent of the votes, he failed to beat Bush.

In what later became known as the culture war speech, Buchanan in his address at the 1992 Republican National Convention said there was a "religious war" going on over America's soul. He said of Bill and Hillary Clinton: "The agenda Clinton & Clinton would impose on America – abortion on demand, a litmus test for the Supreme Court, homosexual rights, discrimination against religious schools, women in combat – that's change, all right. But it is not the kind of change America wants. It is not the kind of change America needs. And it is not the kind of change we can tolerate in a nation that we still call God's country."

Wilcox also cited Carson's political inexperience as a factor against his candidacy. "If he says he wants to be President, from my point of view, he doesn't understand how politics works. When was the last time someone was elected President without ever having held public office? It's not an accident that we haven't done it in the last 20 years."

African Americans, he said, are unlikely to be sufficiently convinced to support the Republican Party. "I'm sure a number of African Americans, including friends of mine, would say 'yeah that's true (Carson's speech), but is it enough to make me switch to the Republican Party? I don't think so.'

"He may have a chance of being a vice presidential nominee but president? Probably not," said Wilcox.

The big question, argues the Georgetown professor, is where should Dr. Carson go from making such a big splash? He recommends that Carson should perhaps look into building a movement that would speak to the social conservative voice in both parties.

Wilcox has taught for 20 years in Georgetown University's Department of Government. He writes on a number of topics in American and Comparative politics, including religion and politics, gender politics, public opinion and electoral behavior, campaign finance, and science fiction and politics.

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My response

Not that I think Dr. Ben Carson should run or that he stands a chance? But, Professor Clyde Wilcox has one 'cardinal' reason for scrutinizing Dr. Carson; Professor Wilcox is a Jesuit (he's an instructor in America's oldest and largest JESUIT university) in my opinion, or a coadjustor, and Dr. Carson is a Seventh day Adventist; The two are at the opposite ends of the religious philosophical spectrum. If anyone doubts me I suggest you read about the history of the Reformation, the founding of the Jesuit Order, the Holy Inquisition and the Counter-Reformation. You will then see a microcosm and a resurgence of history in this scenario... Diametric opposites


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Diaz: “Now Mahony should pull out of the Conclave”

02/23/2013




MIGUEL DIAZ

“Vatican Insider” interviews the former U.S. ambassador to the Holy See, Miguel Diaz

PAOLO MASTROLILLI
NEW YORK


“Just like everyone else, Cardinal Mahony should reflect on the example set by the Pope.” Miguel Diaz, who up until two months ago was the U.S. ambassador to the Holy See, is using all his diplomatic skill to persuade the Archbishop Emeritus of Los Angeles, who was involved in the Church sex-abuse scandal, not to take part in the Conclave. Regarding the election of the Pope’s successor, he added: “There are obvious divisions. What the Church needs now is a leader that is able to say “that is enough”.” Diaz returned to his post as theologian at the University of Dayton, in Ohio, but the post of U.S. ambassador to the Holy See remains vacant: “I am waiting for President Obama and Secretary of State, Kerry, decide though of course I would be glad to participate in the election of the new Pope.”


What were your thoughts when you heard about the Pope’s resignation?

“I wasn’t particularly surprised because Benedict XVI had spoken about it previously. He gave a human dimension to the papacy and acted as an example to all leaders, religious and non: when one is no longer in a condition - not only physical - to do their job, one has the right and the duty to resign.”


Mahony’s case is the most disputed one in the United States.

“The decision lies with him and he certainly has the legal right to vote in the Conclave, but the Pope also had the right to continue as Pope but instead chose to step down, accepting his human limits. A Pope’s physical conditions are not the only thing that can prevent him from serving to the best of his ability. We should all learn from Benedict’s example and ask ourselves whether there are obstacles and act responsibly, to ensure the common good of the institution, of the people of God and of all human beings.”


President Obama was also often criticised by the American hierarchy: how did he react?

“It is impossible for two institutions to be perfectly in line with each other. We knew there were differences but we made sure these did not paralyse us: the first conference I attended in Rome was on AIDS prevention.”


Why has Hilary Clinton never visited the Vatican?

“Organisational problems, that’s all. She told all ambassadors to do three things: listen to others, learn and lead based on what we have heard. I have done just this.”


What was your experience of the scandals during your time in the Vatican?

“Divisions do exist and all Catholics can see them. We are too divided politically, ideologically, theologically and on a regional level. What we need now is a leader who is able to say “that is enough”: this Church is Catholic, differences should not create division but opportunities.”


What do you expect from the next Conclave, an American Pope perhaps?

“It has nothing to do with nationality but quality of leadership. We need a bridge builder who can take on the world’s challenges. A manager who is able to manage God’s plan for mankind.”


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Perversions in the NIV & NASB



Can God Lie?

Mark 1:1-3

NIV

The beginning of the gospel about Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
It is written in Isaiah the prophet: "I will send my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way"
"a voice of one calling in the desert, `Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.'"



NASB

The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
As it is written in Isaiah the prophet: ""BEHOLD, I SEND MY MESSENGER AHEAD OF YOU, WHO WILL PREPARE YOUR WAY;
THE VOICE OF ONE CRYING IN THE WILDERNESS, "MAKE READY THE WAY OF THE LORD, MAKE HIS PATHS STRAIGHT.'''



But wait!
"Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me"
is not found in Isaiah! It is found in Malachi 3:1!!

"The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord..." is found in Isaiah 40:3
Even the NIV and NASB footnotes admit this! Click here to see.

But what does the KJV say?

"As it is written in the prophets..." (Mark 1:2)

Isaiah + Malachi does not equal "Isaiah the prophet."

Isaiah + Malachi equals "the prophets."

Apparently the modern scholsrs can't tell the differnece between "Isaiah" and "the prophets."
If they didn't they wouldn't have made this contradiction in their translations.

But, what if the manuscripts they used are in error?
What if they really do say "Isaiah the prophet?"
Can these manuscripts be trusted?

Can God lie?

"Thy word is TRUE" Psalm 119:160 "...God, that CANNOT LIE..." Titus 1:2


Another lie in the NASB:

John 7:6-11

6 So Jesus said to them, " My time is not yet here, but your time is always opportune.
7 " The world cannot hate you, but it hates Me because I testify of it, that its deeds are evil.
8 "Go up to the feast yourselves; I do not go up to this feast because My time has not yet fully come.''
9 Having said these things to them, He stayed in Galilee.
10 But when His brothers had gone up to the feast, then He Himself also went up, not publicly, but as if, in secret.
11 So the Jews were seeking Him at the feast and were saying, "Where is He?''


In verse 8, Jesus is saying that He is not going to the feast, but in verse 10, He went anyway.
This makes it appear that Jesus lied.

The King James says:

6 Then Jesus said unto them, My time is not yet come: But your time is alway ready.
7 The world cannot hate you; but me it hateth, because I testify of it, that the works thereof are evil.
8 Go ye up unto this feast:
I go not up yet unto this feast: for my time is not yet full come.
9 When he had said these words unto them, he abode still in Galilee.
10 But when his brethren were gone up, then went he also up unto the feast, not openly, but as it were in secret.
11 Then the Jews sought him at the feast, and said, Where is he?


It is only a one-word difference, but in the KJV, the Lord Jesus is NOT made a liar.

If debating this minor change seems unimportant to you,
one new Christian almost lost his faith over it.

Is Jesus in Danger of Judgment?
Matthew 5:22

"But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment..." KJV

"But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment..." NIV

"But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court..." NASB

The newer versions omit "without a cause."
Another "minor" change, right?
Read Mark 3:5

He [Jesus] looked around at them in anger and, deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts..." NIV
After looking around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart, He said to the man..." NASB

In this verse, Jesus was angry, but he had a reason, "the hardness of their hearts."
In the NIV and NASB, anyone who is angry is in danger of judgment, period.
This would make our Lord Jesus in danger of judgment!!!

Blasphemy in the new Bible versions:

NIV calls Satan "Jesus!!!"

Lucifer is another name for Satan. It is found once in the Bible:
Isaiah 14:12:
How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning!
how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! KJV

But the NIV and the NASB (and others) leave it out:
How you have fallen from heaven, O morning star, son of the dawn!
You have been cast down to the earth, you who once laid low the nations! NIV

How you have fallen from heaven, O star of the morning, son of the dawn!
You have been cut down to the earth, You who have weakened the nations! NASB

But wait? Who is the "morning star?"
The NIV reveals that the morning star is none other than Jesus Christ:


"I, Jesus, have sent my angel to give you this testimony for the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, and the bright Morning Star." Revelation 22:16,
But wait! Didn't the NIV say that the morning star is an evil creature that is fallen from heaven?
Didn't the NIV replace "Lucifer" with "morning star?"
Jesus and Satan are one in the NIV!

But wait, you say. The Isaiah 12:14 "morning star" is not capitalized, but the Revelation 22:16 one is.
They have to be different then, because of this.
Wrong. The NIV also calls Jesus, "morning star" with all lower case letters:


And we have the word of the prophets made more certain, and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. 2 Peter 1:19,
I will also give him the morning star. Revelation 2:28--

What about the NASB?
The NASB changes "Lucifer" to "star of the morning" which is means the exact same thing as "morning star." They are gramatical equivalants. The NASB, in effect, makes Satan Jesus. too! This is much more subtle than the NIV, but it is still there.
Another thing about this confusion over the identity of "morning star" the Bible says that God is not the author of confusion (1 Corintians 14:33). If God is not the author of confusion, then who is behind these new "Bible" versions? Who would want us to believe that Jesus and Satan are one?


Source
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NOTE

NIV: New International Version



NASB: New American Standard Bible

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Bible lessons are on tap during Sunday services at Fort Worth bar


Posted Friday, Feb. 22, 2013


Church at bar 1

STAR-TELEGRAM/JOYCE MARSHALL

Christ Chapel Bible Church started holding college services at the Aardvark when students lost their space near the church's main location. On a recent Sunday, services drew about 200 people, mostly TCU students.

Read more here: http://www.star-telegram.com/2013/02/22/4638262/bibles-not-booze-grace-bar-during.html#storylink=cpy



View photos




BY JIM JONES

Special to the Star-Telegram

FORT WORTH -- Beer gives way to Bibles every Sunday morning at the Aardvark bar.

For two years, Christ Chapel Bible Church has held college services at the popular music venue on West Berry Street near TCU.

The students began meeting there when they lost their space near the church's main location on Birchman Avenue. Services have been so popular that church leaders have put off moving the college ministry to a recently built student facility at the church.

"It was meant to be short-term," said Pastor Ben Fuqua, 30, who leads the college ministry. "We feel God was intentional about keeping us here. Cool things have happened.

"Lives have been transformed. We get a lot of students who wouldn't come to a normal church. Our big key value, though, is that we preach the same message as Christ Chapel."

On a recent Sunday, about 200 churchgoers -- mostly TCU students -- were greeted with fresh doughnuts, courtesy of bar owner Dennis Weaver and his staff.

Once the 10 a.m. service began, the students listened to lively music from a three-piece band, prayed and heard age-old messages from the Bible.

Candles burned not far from a wall with Budweiser, Twisted Tea and Jack Daniel's signs. A table adorned with a red tablecloth held a stack of Bibles with a sign, "Grab a Bible."

In his opening remarks, Fuqua invited male students to a weekend "dudes campout," joking that it would include manly things.

"Fire will be involved, guns ... and scotch -- no just kidding," he said.

"Obviously, no drinking is allowed at our services," Fuqua said.

"We use a lot of humor. We try to break down some of the stereotypes people have about church, such as church is boring, the Bible is boring."

Weaver said he learned that Christ Chapel was looking for a college meeting place from Jamey Ice, a guitar player for the Fort Worth-based rock band Green River Ordinance.

Ice, who has been playing at the Aardvark since he was 12, attends Christ Chapel when in town.

Fuqua and Weaver got together and worked out the details.

"They didn't have a place to go. We're prepping everything for our Sunday brunch anyway," Weaver said. "Some of the students stay for brunch. We will have them as long as they want to do it."

Fuqua said the students are at ease attending services at the Aardvark.

"It's much more disarming for students to come here," he said.

Destiny Boos, 19, a TCU freshman, walks to the Aardvark from her dormitory a few blocks away.

"It's a place students feel comfortable hanging out with each other," she said. 'I've never been here for the actual bar part. I don't look at it like that. I look at it as church."

Zachary Paris, 23, a TCU senior majoring in percussion, plays drums at the services.

He's been coming to the Aardvark worship since it began.

"I was blown away by the concept," he said. "It's an incredible way to reach out to people who wouldn't normally go into a church."

Victoria Nachman, 19, a TCU communications major, said students feel welcome at the Aardvark.

"I believe if Jesus were here, he would be in a bar, too -- preaching," Nachman said.

Others are Aardvark regulars during the week.

"I first started coming here not for church but for the music and fun," said Jordan Toledo, 21, a TCU business major. "I spend a lot of time here. I sometimes eat dinner here. I listen to music on Saturday night and come back on Sunday morning. So I love the Aardvark."

Ryan McCarthy, an associate pastor at Christ Chapel, preached from the Book of Romans at a recent service. He said meeting at the bar offers lessons.

"It reminds us that Christians are not to be funneled off into our own little corner of the world," he said.

Melissa Ice, college mission director for Christ Chapel, said the bar services are a reminder that God and church are not something housed in a building with a steeple.

"It's in our hearts," she said. "You can worship God anywhere -- in your home or in you car."


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Friday, February 22, 2013

The Two Witnesses (of Revelation) - Kenneth Cox



Revelation of Jesus Christ - Kenneth Cox - Part 14




Uploaded on Nov 26, 2011

Two Withnesses

Book of Revelation 11

http://3abn.org/

http://www.kennethcoxministries.org/

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And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it


Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.

And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made.

And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.

Genesis 2: 1-3
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Could Too Much TV In Childhood Lead To Antisocial Behavior In Adulthood?


2/18/2013 @ 12:58PM

Alice G. Walton, Contributor




The Tom and Jerry Comedy Show (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

It’s no revelation that violence is everywhere in the media: In TV and video games, it’s practically a given. In fact, according to a new study, on average, TV programs feature about eight violent incidents per hour, and in children’s programming the violence is even more prevalent. Trailers for upcoming shows also condense the violent scenes to give them preference. Past studies have suggested a link between watching violent content and aggressive or violent behavior, though the connection has been somewhat murky – it’s hard to show whether the one actually leads to the other. But the new study goes further in illustrating the potentially causal connection between “excessive” TV-watching in childhood and antisocial and criminal behavior in adulthood.

The new study, published in Pediatrics, followed over 1,000 kids born in 1972 and 1973. They tracked the amount of TV the kids watched in childhood at ages 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, and 15. Their behavior as adults was measured in a number of ways. The authors looked at the total conviction records of the participants once they were young adults, between 17 and 26 years old. Violent convictions were singled out, and included “aggravated robbery, manslaughter, assault with intent to injure, rape, using an attack dog on a person, and disorderly behavior likely to cause violence.” They also measured the prevalence of aggressive behaviors, negative emotions, and antisocial personality disorder among the kids when they were between 21 and 26.

The results were somewhat startling: For every hour of TV the kids watched on an average weeknight, their risk of criminal convictions increased by almost 30%. This “dose-response relationship” is similar to what you’d see with a medication, where the more drug you administer, the more of a given response there is.

More TV-watching in childhood was also linked to a greater likelihood for aggressive behaviors, negative emotions, and antisocial personality disorder. These connections held true even when other factors during childhood, like parenting, antisocial behavior early on, and socioeconomic status were taken out of the equation. Interestingly, the link between TV-watching and violent convictions fell away after other variables were removed, which suggests that the relationship between TV and adult behavior is “more complicated than a simple violence-begets-violence model.”

While the study couldn’t “prove” that TV-watching causes violent or aggressive behavior, the authors say that this study is the closest one has ever gotten to illustrating causation. And the possibility of reverse-causation – i.e., that existing violent or aggressive behavior might lead to more TV watching in kids – is unlikely, given the number of childhood variables that were controlled for.

There are a number of reasons why TV-watching might lead to these behaviors. Kids might be internalizing and imitating what they’re seeing on TV (a.k.a. observational learning theory), they might be emotionally desensitized by the content their viewing, or they may be developing certain cognitive biases based on “repeated exposure to violence.”

“Antisocial behaviour is a major problem for society,” said lead author Bob Hancox. “While we’re not saying that television causes all antisocial behaviour, our findings do suggest that reducing TV viewing could go some way towards reducing rates of antisocial behaviour in society.” The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends no more than one to two hours of quality – keyword: quality – television watching per day for kids. The authors say that while some may consider this connection between TV and antisocial behavior to be modest, at a population level it’s nothing to sneeze at, and reducing the amount of TV our kids watch could have far-reaching effects on their behavior as adults.


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21 Signs That U.S. Public Schools Have Become Training Centers For Sexual Deviancy


 By Michael, on February 17th, 2013 





Why do men and women have a such a hard time relating to each other in a meaningful way in America today? Could our oversexed culture have anything to do with it? In the United States today, we are constantly being bombarded with sexual messages. Just think about it. Did you watch the Super Bowl a few weeks ago? Most of the commercials were about sex on some level, and the “halftime show” featuring Beyonce might as well have been a strip club act. It was utterly shameful. But in America today, all of this is considered to be “normal”. We literally worship sex, and we can never get enough of it. And of course the results of such a society are predictable. There are 20 million new sexually-transmitted infections in the U.S. each year, we have the highest teen pregnancy rate on the planet, and it is estimated that one out of every four girls in the U.S. is sexually abused before they become adults. This culture of sex is pushed on our children from a very early age, and at this point it would be quite accurate to say that U.S. public schools have become training centers for sexual deviancy. A lot of people focus on “sex education” as the problem, but the truth is that it goes much deeper than that. Sex education only lasts for a few weeks at most. The much bigger problem is the fact that an obsession with sex literally permeates our schools. If parents could only eavesdrop on the conversations that our teens are having, they would be absolutely horrified. Thanks to endless brainwashing by the mainstream media, our teens are absolutely addicted to a sexual atmosphere. Every form of entertainment that they enjoy is soaked with sexual imagery, and lust and sex are never far from their minds when they relate to members of the opposite sex (or sometimes the same sex). So should we really be surprised that students are having sex with each other in the hallways of our schools? Should we be surprised that young teachers are taking advantage of our students sexually behind closed doors? We have created a society that is sexually supercharged, and what we are witnessing now are the predictable results of the very foolish decisions that we have made.

The following are 21 signs that U.S. public schools have become training centers for sexual deviancy…

#1 There is a raging epidemic of sexually-transmitted diseases among our young people. According to the latest figures released by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, there are 20 million new sexually-transmitted infections in the United States every single year, and Americans between the ages of 15 and 24 account for approximately 50 percent of those new sexually-transmitted infections.

#2 Many of our teens our catching diseases that they can’t even pronounce correctly. There were more than 1.4 million cases of chlamydia reported in the United States in 2011. An astounding 33 percent of those cases involved Americans that were younger than 20 years of age.

#3 At this point, one out of every four teen girls in the U.S. has at least one sexually transmitted disease. How high does that number have to go before we admit that there is a problem?

#4 Apparently, all of the propaganda about “safe sex” is not really working very well. According to one survey, 24 percent of all U.S. teens that have an STD say that they still have unprotected sex.

#5 When you take morality out of public life, the results are predictable. In the United States today, approximately 47 percent of all high school students have had sex.

#6 Many of our young people seem to not understand the value of waiting until marriage to become a mother. Amazingly, one out of every five teen girls in the U.S. actually wants to be a teenage mother.

#7 When I was growing up, I don’t remember a single girl being pregnant at my high school. But today all of that has changed. A couple of years ago it was being reported that 86 teen girls at one high school in Memphis, Tennessee were either pregnant or had recently given birth.

#8 If you can believe it, the United States has the highest teen pregnancy rate on the entire planet. In fact, the United States has a teen pregnancy rate that is more than twice as high as Canada, more than three times as high as France and more than seven times as high as Japan.

#9 Increasingly, oral sex is being promoted to our young people as a “safer” form of sex. According to shocking research conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, approximately two-thirds of all Americans in the 15 to 24 year old age bracket have engaged in oral sex.

#10 Sex “education” has become much more about “indoctrination” in recent years. One recent example of this trend was detailed in the New York Times

IMAGINE you have a 10- or 11-year-old child, just entering a public middle school. How would you feel if, as part of a class ostensibly about the risk of sexually transmitted diseases, he and his classmates were given “risk cards” that graphically named a variety of solitary and mutual sex acts? Or if, in another lesson, he was encouraged to disregard what you told him about sex, and to rely instead on teachers and health clinic staff members?
That prospect would horrify most parents. But such lessons are part of a middle-school curriculum that Dennis M. Walcott, the New York City schools chancellor, has recommended for his system’s newly mandated sex-education classes. There is a parental “opt out,” but it is very limited, covering classes on contraception and birth control.

#11 Sexual “experimentation” among our teens is reaching heights never seen before. According to one recent study, sexual contact between teen girls in the United States is now at the highest level ever recorded.

#12 In America today, sex in public school hallways has become a common occurrence. In a recent article about Detroit, I shared a quote from one of my readers that actually attended one of the “best” public schools in Detroit…


The school was a new seven story building just a couple of years old. The bathrooms would often lack toilet paper & soap beyond the second floor (the main floor), the bathroom sinks would often not work. The water fountains on north side of the building on from the third floor & up did not work. The elevators would constantly break down. I even got stuck on the elevator before. I almost tripped down a half a flight of stairs because the elastic seal (it was the metal bar at the front of a treader of I don’t know the name of it.) the stairs was not properly installed.
Students would often have sex on the stairs & throughout the school. Parents actually called the school many times & reported kids having sex on the stairs because all of them had glass windows 270 degrees.


#13 Would you feel okay about your teenage girl sharing a bathroom with boys? In the state of Massachusetts, boys will now be able to freely use girls restrooms and girls locker rooms if it makes them feel more “comfortable”.

#14 One of the results of our “culture of sex” has been an explosion in the number of babies being born outside of marriage. For women under the age of 30 living in the United States today, more than half of all babies are being born out of wedlock.

#15 Being a single parent is incredibly hard, but more U.S. children are being raised by just one parent than ever before. At this point, more than one out of every four children in the United States is being raised by a single parent.

#16 Thanks to our “sexual revolution”, men and women are having a harder time than ever relating to each other in a meaningful way. Our young people are being taught that marriage is a “burden” and that they should delay it for as long as possible. Today, an all-time low 44.2 percent of all Americans between the ages of 25 and 34 are married.

#17 There is an epidemic of sex between teachers and students in the United States. In fact, for some teachers one student is just simply not enough. For example, a 33-year-old art teacher down in Arizona was charged with having sexwith four of her male students.

#18 A former high school English teacher down in Texas has that teacher beat. She has been accused of having sex with five different male students. The most disturbing part of her story is that she is a mother of three children and her husband is serving this country in the U.S. Army.

#19 But a high school teacher down in Georgia has both of them beat. She was recently charged with having sex with seven of her students.

#20 Sometimes even teachers that have been convicted of having sex with a student cannot stop themselves. For example, there was one case where a probation officer found a student that a teacher had been convicted of having sex with previously hiding in her closet


Lisa Lavoie, the former Holyoke teacher who plead guilty after having a relationship with a student, has been charged with violating her probation after the student she had a relationship with was found hiding in her closet. 
Back in February 2009, Lavoie ran off with one of her students, who was 15-year-old at the time. Lavoie was a teacher at the Donahue School on Whiting Farms Road in Holyoke.
The pair was found several days later in a motel room in West Virginia. Lavoie pleaded guilty to three counts of statutory rape and one count of enticement of a child in January 2011. She was sentenced to five years probation.


#21 Sadly, there are more stories of teachers having sex with their students in the news almost every single day. The following are just a few of the teacher sex news stories from just this past week…


Are you starting to see that there is a problem?

What are you seeing where you live?

Do you believe that U.S. public schools have become training centers for sexual deviancy?

Please feel free to post a comment with your thoughts below…




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Cardinal Dolan of NY deposed in Milwaukee Catholic Church abuse case


FEBRUARY 21, 2013
BY: DEIRDRE HAGGERTY



Cardinal Timothy Dolan of NY was deposed yesterday in Milwaukee Catholic Church Scandal.
Credits: John Moore/Getty Images



Cardinal Timothy Dolan, current Archbishop of the Diocese of New York, was deposed Wednesday, Feb.20, regarding the Catholic Church sex abuse scandal within the Archdiocese of Milwaukee where he was Archbishop from 2002 until 2009, according to the “Huffington Post”.

Milwaukee Catholic Church sources confirmed Cardinal Dolan’s deposition, who will soon be traveling to the Vatican in the next month to participate in the College of Cardinals, which will choose a successor to Pope Benedict XVI, who announced last week that he will step down as Pontiff.

Joseph Zwilling, spokesman for the New York Archdiocese, issued a statement indicating Cardinal Dolan’s willingness to “cooperate in whatever way he could and had long-awaited the chance to discuss his decision to publicize the names of the clergy who committed the abuse so that victims could come forward, share their story and begin the healing process.”

According to reports, due to the almost 500 allegations, the Archdiocese of Milwaukee has sought bankruptcy protection, one of eight within the United States since the Catholic Church's sex abuse scandal exploded out of Boston in 2002.

Cardinal Timothy Dolan, President of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, is one of two Cardinals to be deposed this week regarding the Catholic Church’s sex abuse scandal.

Although just a rumor and an apparent long shot, Cardinal Dolan’s name has appeared on a fewVatican analysts’ shortlists of Cardinals eligible for possible election to succeed Pope Benedictas the next leader of the Catholic Church in the upcoming College of Cardinals.

Source: "Huffington Post"



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What doth it profit?


14 What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him?

15 If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food,

16 And one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit?

17 Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.

James 2:14-17

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Thursday, February 21, 2013

What the Gospel Is Not

Regarding the Gospel    (Part 2)



"But what I do, that I will do, that I may cut off occasion from them which desire occasion; that wherein they glory, they may be found even as we. For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. And no marvel, for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light." (2 Corinthians 11:12-14)

If Satan can appear in the guise of an angel of light, then it is only prudent to examine what we are hearing. In fact, the Bible warns us constantly to be on the alert and to examine everything.

· The Gospel is not the telling of nice-sounding stories, or personal experiences.

"And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables."
(2 Timothy 4:4)

· The Gospel is not a way (in other words, a system) to follow. Nowhere is this preached or commanded in the Scriptures. Jesus, far from being "the way-shower," said:

"...I am the way, the truth, and the life, no man cometh unto the Father, but by me."
(John 14:6)

· The Gospel is not how we feel about things. Some depend on their emotions to tell them they are in the right way or are hearing the truth. The Bible never speaks about feeling truth. Feelings are a most undependable guide—they vary from hour to hour and person to person.

"the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?" (Jeremiah 17:9)

· The Gospel is not something unfinished which is yet being completed. Salvation depends, not on what we do for God, but on what He has done for us. It depends on the finished work of the Lord Jesus on the cross—a perfect and complete work:

"But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of God;" (Hebrews 10:12) It cannot be added to, or improved upon: "Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin." (Hebrews 10:18)

· The Gospel is not an example of how to live in order to be right with God. Nor is the Gospel a demand that we give God "our very best." God's free gift is not conditional on our efforts or our worthiness, but is actionunmerited by us (grace). Some will say "But faith without works is dead." Ephesians 2:8 points out that even faith is "not of yourselves." Works proceed from the righteous life of Christ, who lives in those who accept the free gift of salvation.

Who does the work spoken of in Philipians 2:12, "work out your own salvation with fear and trembling."? The answer is given in verse 13: "For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure."

· The Gospel is not a "way" of ministry. Not only is the ministry never preached in the Scriptures, but the out-of-context examples held up as requirements for ministers are themselves not consistently followed. Some will say that hearing a worker speak the gospel is required, and quote Romans 10:14, "...how shall they hear without a preacher?" However, verse 18 says: "But I say, Have they not heard? Yes verily, their sound went into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the world."

Some quote Romans 10:17: "So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God." What is the (spoken) word of God? In 2 Timothy 3:16, we read that: "All scripture is given by inspiration of God [literally, is God-breathed], and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness." And note in the preceding verse, that the Bible itself is capable of saving "And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ."

· The Gospel is not the "church in the home." There is not a single Scripture which commands this, and it is never preached in the Bible.

· The Gospel is not an excuse to impose traditions of men and standards of outward appearance. "Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world and not after Christ." (Colossians 2:8)

· The Gospel is not about conformity to a peer group or submission to human authority figures.

· Knowing and believing the Gospel is not related to how we feel towrd the people who share the Gospel. It is not necessary to become disciples of men in order to be followers of God.



Things to Think About


  • Salvation is a gift. Romans 11:29 says "the gifts and callings of God are without repentence" (not subject to change or recall).
  • · A believer is no more able to keep himself saved than he was able to save himself in the first place. When the Galatians attempted to do this, Paul asked them, "Are ye so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?" (Galatians 3:3)
  • "Workers going out two and two and the church in the home" hardly constitutes "glad tidings" or "good news." It is not mentioned in any of the accounts of the preaching of the Gospel. And this modern message is not the Gospel that shook the foundation of the ancient world.


It is important that you rely on the right Gospel, the true Jesus, the only God. One may reject God and His free gift—by seeking to be justified by one's own efforts, by following something which feels more comfortable, by choosing a god after one's own heart.


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Clinton on American Leadership at Council on Foreign Relations


VOLTAIRE NETWORK | WASHINGTON D.C. (USA) | 31 JANUARY 2013



SECRETARY CLINTON: Thank you, Richard, for that introduction and for everything you’ve done to lead this very valuable institution. I also want to thank the board of the Council on Foreign Relations and all my friends and colleagues and other interested citizens who are here today, because you respect the Council, you understand the important work that it does, and you are committed to ensuring that we chart a path to the future that is in the best interests not only of the United States, but of the world.

As Richard said, tomorrow is my last day as Secretary of State. And though it is hard to predict what any day in this job will bring, I know that tomorrow, my heart will be very full. Serving with the men and women of the State Department and USAID has been a singular honor. And Secretary Kerry will find there is no more extraordinary group of people working anywhere in the world. So these last days have been bittersweet for me, but this opportunity that I have here before you gives me some time to reflect on the distance that we’ve traveled, and to take stock of what we’ve done and what is left to do.


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More resignations: Tunisia and Bulgaria



Tunisia PM Resigns After Cabinet Initiative Fails
ABC News - ‎Feb 19, 2013‎
The resignation is expected to further deepen the country's political instability, which earlier Tuesday prompted an international ratings agency to downgrade the government's credit rating. Tunisians overthrew a dictator in January 2011, sparking the Arab ...

Read more




Bulgarian government resigns amid protests
euronews- 20 hours
Bulgarian Prime Minister Boiko Borisov told parliament on Wednesday that his entire government hasresigned. The move came after ...

Read more


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Florida fireballs renew calls for early warning system (+video)


Florida fireballs lit up the night sky Sunday. The fireballs (aka meteors) were seen by more than 60 people in Florida. Coming after the huge meteor in Russia, there are new calls for an early warning system to protect the Earth from giant meteors and asteroids.

By Staff, CSMonitor.com / February 20, 2013


http://landing.newsinc.com/shared/video.html?freewheel=69016&sitesection=csmonitor&VID=24435086

A fireball, caused by a falling meteor, was seen by spectators from Miami to Jacksonville, Florida, Sunday evening.


Related stories
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Russian meteor blast had force of 300-kiloton nuclear warhead (+video)
As asteroid zips past Earth, exploding meteor hints at what could have been (+video)



The streaking meteor was small compared to the one that hit Russia last week, but it was a bright light in the Florida sky – and was captured on video.

“This one wasn’t grain-of-sand size, which what most of them are,” Thomas Webber, director of the Museum of Science and History’s Bryan-Gooding Planetarium toldthe Florida Times Union in Jacksonville. “When we get something a little bigger, that maybe has a silicate coating that ablates off as it travels though the atmosphere and takes some of the heat with it, they can appear much brighter and last a lot longer.”

More than 60 people reported seeing the meteor on the American Meteor Society’s “Fireball Log.”

They posted comments including, "I saw flames coming from it as it was falling and then it burned out. It was very distintive as a flaming, falling ball."

The Florida fireball, coming on the heels of the huge meteor that fell in Russia last week and an asteroid that buzzed past the Earth from a distance of just 17,200 miles, is raising awareness of how many objects fall to Earth each day.

The American Meteor Society notes that hundreds, if not thousands, of meteors fall to Earth daily. Most burn up in the atmosphere. But larger meteors, or asteroids, could pose a threat to life on Earth. Recent events have renewed calls for an early warning system, including a telescope in space dedicated to finding asteroids. As The Christian Science Monitor reported recently:

"In their hunt to identify such near-Earth objects wider than half a mile across – potential civilization busters if one were to strike Earth – astronomers have cataloged about 95 percent of the objects in this size class during the past 15 years.

But they have found less than 1 percent of the objects 100 feet across or larger, a class that includes the asteroid 2012 DA14. This object flitted past Earth Friday afternoon Eastern Standard Time a scant 17,200 miles from Earth – a record for a known object of its size."

On Friday, Lamar Alexander (R) of Tennessee and chairman of the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee, issued a statement regarding the two events that noted that the committee will hold hearings in the near future to explore ways to improve efforts to detect asteroids as well as to deal with any deemed a potential threat to the planet.

Discussing the recent asteroid flyby and the Russian meteor, Prof. Michio Kaku of City College of New York, told CBS News: "This could be a game changer," in terms of getting government support for better tracking of these objects. "We need an insurance policy. Inevitably, we're going to get hit with a big one. Look at the moon: it's pockmarked ... so we need to have an early warning system."


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Lawsuit Filed to End School Yoga Program, Claiming It Is a Religious Practice


The National Center for Law and Policy wants Encinitas public schools to stop offering yoga

By Sarah Grieco, Elena Gomez and Melissa Pamer
Wednesday, Feb 20, 2013 | Updated 6:35 PM PST




Getty Images
File photo


A lawsuit has been filed against a San Diego-area school district for its student yoga curriculum, claiming the exercise classes are "inherently and pervasively religious."

The National Center for Law and Policy filed the lawsuit on Wednesday on behalf of Stephen and Jennifer Sedlock and their children, who are students in the Encinitas Union School District.

The district last fall began offering yoga during physical education classes. Children have the choice to opt out of the program.

The Sedlocks allege the school district is not complying with the California constitution’s right to religious freedom. The lawsuit also calls the children participating in the program "religious guinea pigs."

Encintas schools accepted a $533,000 grant for the yoga classes from the Jois Foundation, which the conservative legal firm that filed the lawsuit claims is a religious organization. The attorney who filed the suit called the relationship between the foundation and the school district "improperly cozy."

Jois Yoga states on its website that it works as an "extension of the Ashtanga philosophy and practice." The organization is based in Encinitas, where Ashtanga yoga was first introduced to the United States, according to the website.

The yoga group's foundation is focused on "educating the whole child" by bringing yoga to schools, particularly in underserved communities.

School district Superintendent Timothy Baird said he’s shocked a lawsuit was filed against the district.

"We have not stripped religion out of it. We never put religion in it," Baird said. "What we took out were cultural connections, so we don't use Sanskrit words. But basically what you have kids doing is stretching, moving, breathing. That's not religious."

An FAQ on the program on the district's website states: "There is no discussion of spiritualism, mysticism, religion in any context. The students simply perform the physical components of movement and breathing related to mainstream yoga."

Yoga originated thousands of years ago in India and is associated with Hinduism and other Eastern religions. In recent decades, it has become the subject of widespread practice across the United States, often with little spiritual element to classes.

In a press release issued by Escondido-based National Center for Law and Policy, attorney Dean Broyles said the Encinitas yoga program was a "breach of public trust" that sets a "dangerous precedent."

"This is frankly the clearest case of the state trampling on the religious freedom rights of citizens that I have personally witnessed in my 18 years of practice as a constitutional attorney," Broyles said.

The lawsuit, which alleges civil rights violations, was filed in San Diego Superior Court. It ultimately seeks to suspend the yoga program indefinitely and "restore traditional physical education to the district."

The National Center for Law and Policy is a nonprofit legal group focused on conservative causes, including religious freedom, as well as "the sanctity of life, traditional marriage, parental rights, and other civil liberties," according to its website.



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