Monday, May 27, 2013

John Kerry: US effort in Palestine peace process renewed



Secretary of State reveals a plan by Tony Blair to bring $4 billion of investments to Palestine

By Francis Matthew, Editor at Large
Published: 22:59 May 26, 2013




US Secretary of State John Kerry announced his renewed determination to make the peace process in Palestine work, while also revealing a plan by Quartet Ambassador Tony Blair to bring $4 billion of investments to Palestine.
The plan to build a powerful private sector in Palestine includes investment from local, regional and international businesses designed to dramatically lift the Palestinian economy.

Over 300 key business and society leaders representing a large part of the Palestinian and Israeli GDPs were in attendance to hear US Secretary of State John Kerry, President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli President Simon Peres speak at the World Economic Forum in Jordan.

Kerry was clear that the political leadership of Palestine and Isreal still had to reach an agreement, when he said that the two great peoples of Israel and Palestine should not be known for what they failed to do, or even worse refused to do.

“This economic plan does not replace the political process and the Two State Solution, and the lack of peace is the greatest danger to the region,” he said.

As a new Secretary of State, he recognised that he had been warned not to go near the Middle East, and commented that “I understand that the search for peace in Middle East is diplomatic quicksand. But cynicism never built anything and we all have to work for resolution of the conflict.”

Kerry spoke out unequivocally in favour of the Two State Solution, saying that it is the only sustainable answer. He dismissed any thought of a one state solution of Greater Israel as leading to decades of violence.

Kerry said that he had met the leaders of the Arab Peace Initiative last month who have updated their offer should be peace be achieved with Israel.

“No one is talking temporary borders or solutions. We are talking final and complete solution to be found in the next few months.”


Abbas

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas spoke earlier warning that the Two State Solution needs to be implemented before the wave huge of young Palestinians dismiss normal politics and turn to more radical solutions.

“Our young people are losing hope and do not believe they will get two state side by side. With this despair a desperate and radical element will prevail in the future. Give youth hope and a legitimate right to self determination.”

Abbas called for political leaders on both sides to prioritise the Two State Solution. He said he is deeply concerned the lack of progress will reinforce the dangerous status quo, which is untenable and will create a catastrophe. Abbas also called for the release of all Palestinian political prisoners.

Israel President Simon Peres described the Arab Peace Process as a meaningful change and a strategic opportunity. He called for two states to live side by side in peace and respect.

Peres said that “our leaders” must make the effort to bridge the gap between Palestine and Israel, in a clear hint to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to do more to restart the peace process.

“All these differences can be resolved in open and honest negotiations,” Peres said.


“Sceptics do not make history.”

The session was started by leading representatives of the business communities from both sides, Palestinian Munib Masri and Israeli Yossi Valdi issuing a stirring a call to action to both their leaders to break the impasse on the peace process and seek the implementation of the Two State Solution.


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Protest in Paris against France's gay marriage law



May 26, 2013


PARIS (AP) — Tens of thousands of people protested against France's new gay marriage law in central Paris on Sunday, and police clashed with right-wing demonstrators.

The law came into force over a week ago, but organizers decided to go ahead with the long-planned demonstration to show their continued opposition as well as their frustration with President Francois Hollande, who had made legalizing gay marriage one of his keynote campaign pledges in last year's election.

Marchers set off from three separate points across Paris, and by early evening they filled the Invalides esplanade just across the Seine River from the Champs Elysees.

As night fell, several hundred protesters clashed with police, throwing bottles and chasing journalists.

Interior Minister Manuel Valls said police had arrested around 100 far-right protesters who refused to leave following the end of the demonstration.

Meanwhile, in southern France, the 66th Cannes Film Festival gave the Palm d'Or, its top honor, to "Blue is the Warmest Color: The Life of Adele," a French film about a tender, sensual lesbian romance.

Police estimated around 150,000 people took part in the demonstration in Paris, but march organizers claimed on their Twitter account that more than a million people did.

A similar protest in March drew about 300,000.

Around 5,000 police were on duty Sunday because previous anti-gay marriage protests also had seen clashes between far-right protesters and the police.



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Walt Disney World To Indoctrinate Your Children During ‘Gay Days 2013′




MAY 22ND


Posted by NTEB News Desk in End Times



Walt Disney is recruiting for the LGBT

Every year since 1991 Disney World in Orlando Florida has allowed thousands of homosexuals, lesbians and trans-genders to hold a coming out party in the Magic Kingdom on the first Saturday of June.The first Saturday in June is typically the first Saturday during the summer break from school when tens of thousands (10,000s) of children are in the theme park.




Have fun explaining this to your 10 year old child as your walk around the Magic Kingdom.

The next Gay Day at Disney World in Orlando Florida will be held in the Magic Kingdom on Saturday, June 1, 2013.

Many Gay Day patrons wore shirts that promoted homosexuality, kissed, hugged and groped in very public places and dressed in drag all to the curiosity of tens of thousands of children.

The event has been very offensive to the general public. A Disney official informed a Florida Family Association team member one year that they gave out 3,000 free passes just in the first two hours of the event.

2011 Gay Day at Magic Kingdom fully supported by Walt Disney World

Disney’s official email response to critics of Gay Day erroneously pretends that they have nothing to do with Gay Day and have no control over who enters their park. Disney’s email response is posted below. The following facts clearly contradict Disney’s position.

  • Disney has prohibited drag queens from entering the Magic Kingdom following Gay Day 1991 when even the mainstream media reported in a negative light the estimated 1,800 cross dressers in the park with children. Yet, Disney continues to allow thousands of people to wear shirts promoting homosexuality.
  • Dozens of gang members visiting Disneyland in California have been evicted after entering the park wearing gang colors according to Kenneth Green, Director of Corporate Communications. He said the company was concerned the groups might intimidate or invoke fear in the hearts of regular patrons. So, Disney can see where a dozen people wearing gang colors might be offensive to regular families but not thousands of same-sex revelers wearing shirts that flaunt and promote homosexual, lesbian and transgender behavior.
  • Disney provided special group discount tickets with a pink Mickey logo for Gay Day Patrons.
  • Disney paid personnel to hand out special pamphlets to Gay Day patrons informing them of organized activities.
  • Disney paid personnel to greet Gay Day patrons at the front gate.
  • Disney recruited employees to be guides for special groups of Gay Day patrons.
  • Disney gave free Disney tee shirts to people who complained that they did not know that the red shirt they innocently wore meant they supported Gay Day.
  • The State of Florida does NOT prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.

Disney has clearly played a role in helping to sponsor this event for years and allows activities they could otherwise prevent. Disney has the right to prohibit people from entering the park with tee shirts that promote LGBT behavior but deliberately chooses to allow this to occur in the midst of thousands of children.

So why doesn’t Disney and Gay Day organizers want their own special Gay Day party in the Magic Kingdom after the park closes when regular guests won’t be offended and Gay Day patrons can party hardy? The answer is they both want to impact a captured audience of tens of thousands of children.




Thousands and thousands of red shirt wearing LGBT who will openly embrace each other in front of your and your children at Walt Disney World on June 1, 2013.

Disney requires special events like Grad Night and Night of Joy to be held after the Magic Kingdom’s regular operating hours. Disney does this to avoid having a large group of like-minded people in the park at the same time with regular patrons who expect a normal day at the Magic Kingdom.

Florida Family Association has asked Disney officials to require Gay Day to be held after hours, like Grad Night or Night of Joy, to avoid offending unsuspecting families who traveled thousands of miles expecting a normal day.

We have prepared an email for you to send to encourage Disney officials to require Gay Day to be held after regular operating hours.

To send your email, please click the following link, enter your name and email address then click the “Send Your Message” button.

Please click here to send your email to Robert Iger, Disney CEO and other Disney officials.

If you have difficulty opening the link to send your emails the company email addresses, suggested subject line and message are posted below.

Email addresses:

Tom.Staggs@disney.com
marsha.reed@disney.com
investor.relations@disneyonline.com
robert.a.iger@disney.com
Jim.Hunt@disney.com
kevin.mayer@disney.com
Zenia.Mucha@disney.com

Suggested Email Subject Line:


Please stop this offensive event from occurring in the midst of thousands of children.

Suggested Email Content:

Disney’s official response to critics of Gay Day erroneously pretends that your company has nothing to do with Gay Day and has no control over who enters your park. The following facts clearly contradict your company’s position.

  • Disney has prohibited drag queens from entering the Magic Kingdom following Gay Day 1991 when even the mainstream media reported in a negative light the estimated 1,800 cross dressers in the park with children. Yet, Disney continues to allow thousands of people to wear shirts promoting homosexuality.
  • Dozens of gang members visiting Disneyland in California have been evicted after entering the park wearing gang colors according to Kenneth Green, Director of Corporate Communications. He said the company was concerned the groups might intimidate or invoke fear in the hearts of regular patrons. So, Disney can see where a dozen people wearing gang colors might be offensive to regular families but not thousands of same-sex revelers wearing shirts that flaunt and promote homosexual, lesbian and transgender behavior.
  • Disney provided special group discount tickets with a pink Mickey logo for Gay Day Patrons.
  • Disney paid personnel to hand out special pamphlets to Gay Day patrons informing them of organized activities.
  • Disney paid personnel to greet Gay Day patrons at the front gate.
  • Disney recruited employees to be guides for special groups of Gay Day patrons.
  • Disney gave free Disney tee shirts to people who complained that they did not know that the red shirt they innocently wore meant they supported Gay Day.
  • The State of Florida does NOT prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.

Disney has clearly played a role in helping to sponsor this event for years and allows activities they could otherwise prevent. Disney has the right to prohibit people from entering the park with tee shirts that promote LGBT behavior but deliberately chooses to allow this to occur in the midst of thousands of children.

As a private property owner in the State of Florida, Disney World certainly has the right to adopt and enforce company policy that would do a better job at protecting thousands of children from being forced to watch the revelry of Gay Day patrons. You do it for Grad Night. You do it for Night of Joy. You can do it for Gay Day. Please stop this offensive event from occurring in the midst of thousands of children by requiring that it be held after regular operating hours when thousands of children will not be in the park. source – Florida Family


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Preaching in Moore: Faith That Stands Up to the Storm

National



By Elizabeth DiasMay 26, 2013


JEWEL SAMAD / AFP / GETTY IMAGES
Crosses adorn a makeshift memorial on the grouds of the Plaza Towers elementary school in memory of the seven children who died during the devastating tornado, in Moore, Okla., May 25, 2013.



Churches across Moore, Okla., have transformed into disaster relief centers this week — the area is, after all, about as Bible Belt as America gets. The city website lists over 80 churches, and nearly a third are Baptist. Church after church has turned sanctuary into donation drop-off site, and lobby into insurance filing center or food bank. This Sunday, pastors are offering another type of assistance, one intended to feed the soul: preaching.

Pastor Ted Miller of Crossroads Church has led his 1,500-member church for only one year, and this is his first time pastoring a community though a tragedy of such magnitude. While none of his immediate church members lost their lives, all have walked through the valley of the shadow of death this week. Many families had children at Plaza Towers Elementary and faced the traumatic reality of little ones missing. Thirty-two families in his congregation suffered total or significant property loss.

Miller’s main Sunday message is to remind parishioners that the tornado’s May 20 destruction was not God’s judgment. Equating natural destruction with God’s plan can be a dangerous theological path to tread — God is not mad, he says, but rather the opposite is true. God comforts people in the midst of their grief. “God is our refuge and strength, our ever-present help in trouble, therefore we will not fear though the Earth should change and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,” he says, quoting Psalm 46. Miller also points to the New Testament book of Romans, in which the Apostle Paul tells of the Earth’s groanings. “The earth groans, weather patterns change, they come and go with climate changes,” Miller explains. “A natural disaster and an act of God are not the same thing.”
(PHOTOS: Moments of Hope in Oklahoma — One Photographer’s Story)

Miller has many stories of hope to share. Miracle after miracle happened last Monday, and the loss of life, while tragic, could have been far more widespread. There’s the man in his congregation who raced home to awaken his sleeping wife and warn her of the storm’s approach. They rode out the tornado in a closet. Another boy broke out of locked-down South Moore High School and ran two miles to Plaza Towers to try to find his little sister. He dug through the rubble until he pulled her out alive.

Rubén Cabrera is a teaching pastor at Iglesia Bautista de Quail Springs, a Latino church in Oklahoma City that has also been assisting with Moore’s recovery efforts. Their sister church, Ciudad de Dios, is located just half a mile from Plaza Towers. Cabrera had planned his sermon topic before the tornado hit, and it could not be more timely. “We read the Bible chapter by chapter, and this Sunday’s portion of the Scriptures is Luke 12:13-21, which talks about possessions and what our attitude should be toward material things,” he explains. “It is strange and it is by providence — I do not think it is coincidence.”

(MORE: Horror and Heroism in Oklahoma After Tornado Tears Through)

Material possessions can be blessings, he says, but they can become idols if people hold to them too tightly. That does not mean the church is not providing for people’s basic needs — pastors and volunteers have been working 20-hr. stretches, from 7:00 AM until 3:00 AM, to make sure people receive the clothes, food, and shelter they need. But Cabrera’s message is about the attitude of the heart. “The encouragement to the church is to put our trust in God because material things can be gone,” he says. “Where your treasure is, that is where your heart is.”

It is a message that Americans across the country can embrace as they remember the people of Oklahoma from their own pews. Even if the tornado and its victims aren’t explicitly mentioned, Moore’s theological messages will likely be present. After all, worshippers across traditions and throughout the country will likely be singing the old familiar hymns: “O God our help in ages past, our hope in years to come,” “Great is Thy Faithfulness,” and, the ever-poignant, “Whatever my lot, Thou has taught me to say, it is well, it is well with my soul.”

MORE: The Lost Mementos of Moore: Tornado Victims Search for Family Photos



Source: http://nation.time.com/2013/05/26/preaching-in-moore-faith-that-stands-up-to-the-storm/#ixzz2UR6s0fZv

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Columbia Union Leaders Discuss Young Adult Attrition



Whole Church Solution Needed, Speaker Says

Story by Taashi Rowe
Published 5/17/13


A 2011 book reveals that 59 percent of young adults are leaving the church.


A. Allan Martin, PhD, didn’t mince words. A former professor at the Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary at Andrews University (Mich.) and a current young adult pastor at a thriving church in Texas, Martin hit the members of the Columbia Union Conference Executive Committee with stark numbers: some 60 to 70 percent of young people leave the Seventh-day Adventist Church.

Yesterday Martin gave a nearly two-hour long presentation to committee members meeting at the Columbia Union headquarters in Columbia, Md. Using the David Kinnaman book You Lost Me: Why Young Christians Are Leaving Church ... and Rethinking Faith as his primary reference, Martin brought the gathering up to speed on the whys and wherefores of persistent young adult attrition from churches across North America. For his book, Kinnaman, president of the Christian research firm the Barna Group, looked at the Christian community as a whole.

However, Kinnman’s findings may not have been exactly news to the committee members. “We’ve heard the sirens in regard to young adult attrition for years,” Martin said. He then referenced Roger Dudley’s 2000 book Why Our Teenagers Leave the Church: Personal Stories From a Ten-Year Study, which had similar findings as Kinnaman. Dudley who led the Institute of Church Ministry at Andrews University, tracked hundreds of young North American Adventists from the late 1980s through the late 1990s, and, found that between 40 and 50 percent of teens end up leaving the church.

Martin noted that repeating the information he shared today was important because, “most of this stuff is not intuitive. The Seventh-day Adventist church is about 25 years behind culture and about 15 years behind mainstream Protestantism so the older generation is still trying to figure it out.”

With young adults continuing to drop out, the union's executive committee members have made engaging and partnering with young adults to further the mission of the church one of their six priorities for 2011-2016. Bringing in Martin to address the leadership on this critical issue was one small step in the direction of stanching the exodus of young adults from the church. While Martin gave some familiar reasons why young adults leave the church, which include them finding it repressive, overprotective, shallow, exclusive, anti-science and having no room for doubt, the presentation also left room for discussion and some solutions.

Beverly Miles said in the urban areas he noticed that those who are leaving the church “feel no need for Jesus in their life and find that answers come from another source.”

Martin was not surprised. He responded that he knew a young lady who became a Muslim because she felt that a greater sense of community and involvement in that religion.



An Intergenerational Solution

Martin also discussed how generational differences impact today’s church including that flattened hierarchical structures have made it easier for young adults to have immediate access to formally distant “authority figures.”

Rubén Ramos, assistant to the Columbia Union president for Multilingual Ministries, wondered if a child’s early education and relationship with their parents impacted their future relationship to their church.

Martin said while he could not fully answer that question, he did know that a child’s relationship with his parents does impact what kind of adult he will become. He also said more youth pastors alone was not the answer. “Kids are smart enough to know that the youth pastor gets paid to be their friend,” he said. “Not having a significant relationship with another adult makes young adults two times as likely to drop out of church.”

He continued, “Older adults are missing from young people’s lives. They are going to their friends [for moral centering] not their parents who have dismissed themselves from young people’s lives.”

Dennis Austin, a Pennsylvania Conference pastor, admitted, “There are some churches that want nothing to do with young people. Sometimes we demonize young adults by telling them we don’t have a place for them so we give them their own spaces. But we need each other. We need to find ways to encourage our congregations to become intergenerational.

Martin agreed, “It is our responsibility to interface with the next generation of the church. I’m all about church planting but if it’s done to segregate, then the church will become anemic especially if it is done to accommodate a preference for a certain worship style.

Martin then detailed the ABCs and D of building young adult relationship, which included authenticity, belonging, compassion and discipleship. He especially stressed longitudinal relationships or what he calls reverse mentoring. “We used to look toward the ‘sage on the stage,’ but this generation is more interested in the ‘guide on the side,’” he said. Finally, he asked committee members to write down the names of 10 young adults who have varying connections to the church, pray for them and reach out to them.

Following the presentation Dave Weigley, Columbia Union president, promised to procure copies of Kinnaman’s book for committee members. “I hope this presentation was beneficial to all of us,” he said. “If we are serious about engaging young adults, we must realize that this was just one step in the process of intentionally reaching them.”


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Know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God?


1 From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members?

2 Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not.

3 Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.

4 Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.

5 Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy?

6 But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.

7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

8 Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.

9 Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness.

10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.

11 Speak not evil one of another, brethren. He that speaketh evil of his brother, and judgeth his brother, speaketh evil of the law, and judgeth the law: but if thou judge the law, thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge.

12 There is one lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy: who art thou that judgest another?

13 Go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain:

14 Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.

15 For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that.

16 But now ye rejoice in your boastings: all such rejoicing is evil.

17 Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.

James Chapter 4
King James Version (KJV)
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Sunday, May 26, 2013

Northeast Frost, Freeze Concerns Tonight





By Kristina Pydynowski, Senior Meteorologist
May 26, 2013; 9:07 PM



 


http://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-video/northeast-short-range-regional/16462992001

Weather across the Northeast is detailed in the above AccuWeather.com video.

Since Memorial Day is typically deemed as the unofficial start to summer, many people of the Northeast may find it hard to believe that frost and freezing temperatures are a concern tonight.

The same unseasonably cold air that led to substantial snow in the northern New England mountains will make for a chilly night through the Northeast tonight.

West of I-95 (and west of I-81 from southern Pennsylvania to northern Virginia), temperatures will be cold enough for areas of frost to form.

The same can be said for northern Michigan and southern Ontario.

RELATED:
Rare Planetary Trio Visible This Evening
Temperature Maps
Mid-Atlantic, New England to Flirt with 90-Degree Heat

The threat for a hard freeze will be reserved for the coldest locations, while clouds should prevent both a frost and freeze across northern Maine.

"The [frost/freeze] event is a concern for vegetables, flowers and berries in the area," stated AccuWeather.com Expert Senior Meteorologist Alex Sosnowski, and one residents should prepare for even if tonight's forecast low is slightly above freezing.



"Temperature forecasts are made for eye-level. However, temperatures near the ground on clear, calm nights can be 5 to 10 degrees lower for several hours, especially around and just prior to sunrise," Sosnowski continued.

The frost and freeze danger will center on northern New England and upstate New York Monday night, while milder air pours across the Great Lakes and central Appalachians.



Neither night will those in Boston, New York City, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington, D.C., and these cities' close suburbs have to worry about waking up to frosty flowers or windshields.

Significantly warmer air is on the horizon for the entire Northeast, which will have many residents switching from using their heaters this holiday weekend to air conditioners later this week.


Source


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    Maxine Waters Exposes Obama’s National Citizen Database In TV Interview

    Posted by NTEB News Desk in Department of Homeland Security


    Obama has created a monster that will destroy long after he leaves

    “The President has put in place an organization with the kind of database that no one has ever seen before in life,” Representative Maxine Waters told Roland Martin on Monday. “That’s going to be very, very powerful,” Waters said.



    That database will have information about everything on every individual on ways that it’s never been done before and whoever runs for President on the Democratic ticket has to deal with that. They’re going to go down with that database and the concerns of those people because they can’t get around it.

    And he’s [President Obama] been very smart. It’s very powerful what he’s leaving in place.”


    Source
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    THE KING'S HERALDS HEADING TO THE SMITHSONIAN



    Posted on Apr 25 2013


    After 87 years of singing, the Adventist gospel quartet The King's Heralds will be featured in an exhibit in the Smithsonian. The museum contacted the Heralds to request permission to included a recording of their song "Dry Bones" in an exhibit they are developing about the human body and narrated by talk show host Conan O'Brian. The Kings Heralds are the oldest active Gospel music group.



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    The Church and the State of Matrimony


    ’Til Faith Do Us Part,’ by Naomi Schaefer Riley
    By GUSTAV NIEBUHR
    Published: May 23, 2013

    Americans have always been a religiously diverse people, even as the definition of what counts as diversity has changed. In 1774, members of the Continental Congress protested the idea of bringing in a chaplain to lead prayers: “We were so divided in religious sentiment,” one of them explained, “that we could not join in the same act of worship.” Overwhelmingly Protestant, they nonetheless recognized the significant differences of theology and practice that divided Anglicans from Presbyterians, Baptists from Quakers.


    Pablo Amargo



    ’TIL FAITH DO US PART

    How Interfaith Marriage Is Transforming America


    By Naomi Schaefer Riley

    234 pp. Oxford University Press. $24.95


    On this pluralistic foundation, immigrants and native-born innovators freely built. Transoceanic travel brought explosive growth to America’s Roman Catholic, Orthodox Christian and Jewish minorities from the mid-19th to the early 20th centuries. More recently, liberalized immigration laws have swelled the ranks of religious adherents who trace their theological roots to South and Southeast Asia, with Hindus, Muslims, Buddhists and Sikhs often sharing our college and corporate campuses.

    In “ ’Til Faith Do Us Part,” Naomi Schaefer Riley continues the exploration of these trends, but she chooses a particular territory: beyond the challenge of interfaith proximity lies that of interfaith intimacy. The people we casually meet in class or the next cubicle may become our marriage partners, despite real religious differences. Such unions are on the increase, and Riley reminds us how touchy a subject interfaith marriage can be, among religious authorities as well as parents. Both groups fret about potential disappointments short- and long-term, including unforeseen disagreements between partners and, among the next generation, a waning of religious and ethnic identity — a kind of extinction.

    Riley, a former editor at The Wall Street Journal, is neither a cheerleader nor a scold. Her book functions more as a flashing yellow light at an intersection: slow down, be alert — pay attention to what serious differences may mean to a close relationship. She brings a careful, nuanced and thoughtful approach to an often contentious subject. And she adds considerable value by including results of a poll she commissioned to survey 2,450 Americans on the subject of interfaith marriage. Thus we learn that same-faith couples report somewhat higher rates of “marital satisfaction” (8.4 on a scale of 10) than do their interfaith counterparts (7.9). But the responses by specific groups vary. For example, mainline Protestants seem happy in their interfaith unions, at 8.2 on Riley’s scale. So, too, do Roman Catholics, at 8.1. Evangelical Protestants (those who describe themselves as “born-again”) are further down the scale at 7.7. Still, given the various challenges marriage itself can pose, none of these numbers are bad.

    Riley’s initial interest in the subject is personal. A Jew who married a lapsed Jehovah’s Witness, she reassured her future husband — on their first date — that her family would like him as long as he agreed their children should be raised as Jews. Years on, it’s a happy marriage. (Her sister, by the way, is married to an Orthodox rabbi.) But this is no memoir. Riley rigorously sticks to her role as inquiring journalist, crossing the nation to interview people in interfaith marriages, as well as clergymen and -women who think a great deal about these unions. She covers a broad waterfront, even including mention of niche products that cater to interfaith couples (for example, holiday cards with elves spinning dreidels).

    Unsurprisingly, the couples she interviews prove most interesting for the stories they tell. Amy, an evangelical Christian married to Farid, a Muslim, have a relaxed, gently humorous way of relating to each other. David, a Jew married to a Catholic, finds his wife emphatic that their family be observant, transposing her childhood experience in church onto her new family’s Jewish practice. As her husband says, that has “forced me to be much more active and engaged and involved” as a Jew. But such success stories have their unhappy counterparts; Riley’s chapter on divorce makes for painful reading. One woman, a lapsed Christian who married a Jew and rediscovered a powerful faith after her father died, bluntly tells Riley that she would “recommend against” marrying someone of a different faith. “Marriage is hard enough to not add the added dimension of such a fundamental disagreement,” she said. “Both faiths warn against marrying outside the faith for good reasons.”

    Deeply interwoven with Riley’s narrative is an inevitable question: How do the children of these unions turn out? Will they have a religious identity or practice in a nation where pollsters tell us the population at large values religion?

    This is actually an old question. The rifle barrels of the Revolution had barely cooled when a French immigrant, J. Hector St. John de Crèvecoeur, published “Letters From an American Farmer,” a book-length description of the emerging nation. He frankly marveled at the tolerance that allowed Catholics, Lutherans and Protestant sectaries to coexist peacefully. But he also worried about the consequences for religion: “It may happen that the daughter of the Catholic will marry the son of the seceder, and settle by themselves at a distance from their parents. What religious education will they give their children? A very imperfect one.”

    But maybe not. The durability of religious affiliations in America seems to defy the dire predictions. Religionists have fretted about spiritual decline since the second generation of the Puritans. Had Crèvecoeur been right, his co-national Alexis de Tocqueville wouldn’t have discovered a population steeped in religious faith and practice. Tocqueville arrived in 1831, ahead of the great waves of immigration, yet at a time when prophets enlivened the spiritual scene. He visited a colony of Shakers near Albany, followers of Mother Ann Lee. But he missed the biggest religious story of the time: the revelations of Joseph Smith that led to the founding of what would become the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Riley notes that Mormons — while distinctly friendly to the non-Mormon spouses of mixed-faith couples — are the least likely among major religious groups to form interfaith marriages. She attributes this in part to the high demands the church makes on young men and women to serve as missionaries in their late teens, a deeply formative religious experience.

    But back to that question about the progeny of interfaith couples. Are Riley’s findings intriguing? Yes, certainly. But they do not seem to fit a clear model. Take the case of Eileen, a Roman Catholic who had three children with her Jewish husband. Now adults, “one identifies as Catholic, one as Jewish, and one she describes as a ‘philosophy major.’ ”

    And then there’s Judy, a Jew who also married a Roman Catholic — in this instance in 1964, with disapproval from both families. Their union lasted until her husband’s death. Their grown children include two who are religiously unaffiliated and a third who is a Roman Catholic priest. The cousins include Orthodox Jews. Perhaps a plot for a sitcom can be found here. But the issue goes well beyond entertainment. Is interfaith marriage good for America? To the extent that it dispels ignorance, punches holes in stereotypes and deflates bias, I would say it surely can be.


    Gustav Niebuhr, who teaches at Syracuse University, is the author of “Beyond Tolerance: Searching for Interfaith Understanding in America.”


    A version of this review appeared in print on May 26, 2013, on page BR17 of the Sunday Book Review with the headline: The Church and the State of Matrimony.


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    New Jersey Catholic church official resigns in sex abuse case


    The second-highest official in the Catholic Archdiocese of Newark, N.J., Monsignor John Doran, resigned Friday. An outside review found "operational failures" in the handling of the Rev. Michael Fugee, who was convicted in 2003 of fondling a boy.

    By Staff, Associated Press / May 25, 2013



    Richard Gee II, a 48-year-old man from Newark gets a hug from Beatrice Mondare, of Voice of the Faithful outside the Sacred Heart Cathedral Basilica in Newark, N.J., Wednesday, May 15, 2013. Gee, who says he was sexually abused by his pastor at a Newark Catholic church.
    AP Photo/The Record of Bergen County, Carmine Galasso


    Related stories




    NEWARK, N.J.
    The second-highest official in the Catholic Archdiocese of Newark is stepping down in the wake of a sex scandal involving a former priest accused of violating an agreement with law enforcement barring him from working with children.

    Roman Catholic church officials say Monsignor John Doran resigned Friday as vicar general and will no longer hold a leadership position with the archdiocese. Doran signed the agreement the former priest had reached with prosecutors in 2007.

    The move is among several changes the archdiocese says it's implementing to protect children. The changes are noted in a letter from Archbishop John Myers, which will be read in Catholic parishes across the archdiocese this weekend.

    Myers wrote that an outside review found "operational failures" in the handling of the Rev. Michael Fugee, who resigned this month. But he didn't place the blame for lax oversight on Doran, who had been vicar general for six years.

    Doran couldn't be reached for comment Saturday.

    Myers has faced heavy criticism over his handling of the case, with victims' advocates and some politicians calling for him to resign. But in the letter, Myers said the archdiocese has an "exemplary record of addressing allegations against our clergy."

    The 52-year-old Fugee was convicted in 2003 of fondling a boy in Wyckoff. However, that verdict was vacated because of judicial error. Fugee entered a program to avoid retrial and agreed to never again work with children.

    However, he attended youth retreats involving a church in Colts Neck and heard children's confessions.

    Among the changes the archdiocese plans is transferring responsibility for monitoring cases such as Fugee's to the Office of the Judicial Vicar. Myers also will add a special adviser to the archdiocesan review board and commit more resources to the panel.


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    Saturday, May 25, 2013

    It is well - Acappella



    Acappella - It is well

    Yeison Millaqueo

    Uploaded on Jul 26, 2011


    Acappella
    From the album "hymns for all the world"
    Words: Horatio G. Spafford (1873)
    Arrangement: Don Marsh © 1994 Anthony K. Music (ASCAP)
    Lead: Duane Adams

    Lyrics:

    When peace like a river
    Attendeth my way
    When sorrows like sea billows roll
    Whatever my lot
    Thou hast taught me to say
    It is well, it is well with my soul

    Chorus:
    It is well, with my soul
    It is well, it is well, in my soul

    My sin O the bliss
    Of this glorious thought
    My sin not in part but the whole
    Is nailed to the cross
    And I bear it no more
    Praise the Lord, praise the Lord
    O my soul

    Repeat Chorus

    And Lord haste the day
    When the faith shall be sight
    The clouds be rolled back as a scroll
    The trump shall resound
    And the Lord shall descend
    Even so it is well with my soul

    Repeat Chorus

    It is well

    Scriptural Reference:

    "For this is what the Lord says: 'I will extend peace to her like a river. . .' " Isaiah 66:12a

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    Three Churches Professing One Message



    HISVineFreeSDAChurch

    Published on Apr 15, 2012

    Sealing Series #13 - Revelation Chapter Three - By Pastor Charles Mills - Port St Lucie FL At HIS Vine Free Seventh-day Adventist Church

    HIS Vine Free Seventh-day Adventist Church is preaching the Historic Message given by God to His people to proclaim to the world for a witness.

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    The New Age Agenda



    Homebase TV presents: 13. The New Age Agenda.  Part 1 - Mark Woodman


    HomebaseTVz

    Uploaded on Dec 6, 2011

    What is the New Age Agenda Movement? Who started it and why? This lecture identifies the key role players and exposes the Satanic under currents.

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    Homebase TV presents: 13. The New Age Agenda. Part 2 - Mark Woodman

    HomebaseTVz

    Uploaded on Jan 4, 2012

    What is the New Age Agenda Movement? Who started it and why? This lecture identifies the key role players and exposes the Satanic under currents.

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    Kenneth Cox : Spiritualism





    samkadya

    Published on Oct 5, 2012


    http://www.adventistsermons.blogspot.... Kenneth Cox speaks on the subject of spiritualism

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    Habemus Iesuita



      [click to listen]

    May 2013

    Dear Friends, Welcome to Keep the Faith Ministry. And thank you for joining me today as we study prophecy once more and learn about the momentous events that are unfolding in the world around us. If ever there was an entity that involves prophecy it would be the papacy. Its... READ MORE


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    Friday, May 24, 2013

    Happy Sabbath


    Speak thou also unto the children of Israel, saying, Verily my sabbaths ye shall keep: for it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations; that ye may know that I am the Lord that doth sanctify you.
    - Exodus 31:13

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    Dr. Richard Ruhling Issues Warning Regarding Impending Calamity May 26, 2013






    2013-05-23 16:18:16 - An earthquake of biblical size and timing may initiate the scenes of Revelation on May 26. Ruhling believes America's parallels with Egypt imply an impending calamity



    "America has a dozen points in common with Egypt in Bible times and their history ended in calamity with the Exodus," warns Dr Richard Ruhling, author and speaker on current events and Bible prophecy,

    Since historians and many people believe "history repeats," Dr. Ruhling offers a dozen similarities of then and now.

    1. Egypt was the strongest nations then as America has been recently.

    2. Egypt was the source of food in times of famine as America is for many countries now.

    3. Egypt had many gods; we have American Idol and many movie stars, rock stars and sports stars while the things of the Creator God get little focus or press.

    4. Israel went to Egypt in a time of famine. In medieval Europe there was a famine for the Bible which was proscribed by the church, and pioneers found relief and freedom in America.

    5. Another king came to power who knew not Joseph nor did he recognize the rights and freedoms previously give to Israel. Some in America's leadership ignore its Constitution and principles of self-government where the citizen was sovereign with some powers given to the state which then delegated a smaller segment of power to Washington, and we didn't meddle with other nations.

    6. Israel came into bondage and was forced to work for Pharaoh. Today nearly half of America gets government aid in some form while the other half are taxed to provide food stamps, medical care and income to many who have learned to type into Google, How do I qualify for...

    7. Bondage includes mandatory healthcare but medical care is a leading cause of illness and death.

    8. Egypt was guilty of infanticide; America is guilty of abortion.

    9. When God got ready to deliver His people, He attacked the gods of Egypt. They worshiped the Nile and it turned to blood. America's main idol is money; we shouldn't be surprised to see it go.

    10. Egypt worshiped cattle and they became diseased. Many in America are powerless over appetite and we see increasing evidence of Mad Cow and cattle with TB, super-bugs, flesh-eating bacteria as plagues.

    11. Egypt was not the Promised Land and Israel had no future there. Many today see little future for America. George W Bush bought 100,000 acres in Paraguay; maybe he knows something that we don't? America is not the Promised Land of which Paul wrote, "If you are Christ's, you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise," Galatians 3:29.

    12. Historically, Egypt was "the king of the south," but in the prophecy of Daniel 11:40 America fits the description as it is overflowed in the time of the end with immigrants whose primary loyalty is to the king of the north, shown to be Babylon in Ezekiel 26:7. In the time of the end, this isn't a city in Iraq--Babylon is redefined as a wealthy religious power involved in governments in Revelation 17 .

    Pharaoh kept ignoring the signs of the times until Egypt was decimated by calamity. Ruhling reminds us that "when they shall say, 'Peace and safety,' sudden destruction comes," 1Thess 5:3. He says this is a government theme since 9-11 and even more now with promises for gun control.

    Ruhling thinks May 26 could be huge, based on Christ's sayings, "as in the days of Noah" when the Flood came with Passover timing, but in the 2nd spring month, and "like a man traveling to a far country"--fitting a provision for travel and Passover observance in the 2nd spring month, Numbers 9:10,11.

    Readers may visit Ruhling's website for more information at MayJudgmentDay.com.

    Profile:

    Dr. Richard Ruhling is the author of 'Apocalypse 2013: How To Survive The Fall Of America' available at his website below and Kindle. ‘The Bridegroom Comes’ and ‘Why You Shouldn’t Ask Your Doctor - Choices That Can Save Your Life’, are also available on his websites and Amazon.

    Dr. Ruhling is available for media interview and can be reached using the information below, or by email at ruhling7@juno.com.


    Contact Information:
    Dr. Richard Ruhling

    PO Box 1914
    Shallotte NC 28459

    Contact Person:
    Dr. Richard Ruhling
    Author
    Phone: 910-842-9248
    email: email

    Web: www.richardruhling.com

    Author:
    Don McCauley
    e-mail

    Web: www.freepublicitygroup.com
    Phone: 910-842-9248



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    Dr. Richard Ruhling Issues Statement Regarding Possible Megaquake And Martial Law On May 25, 2013


    (Encore feature)


    An earthquake of biblical size and timing may initiate the scenes of Revelation on May 25.
     The end of freedom with military, "standing where it ought not," suggests the need for Christians to evacuate cities if they see martial law being set up


    FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE


    PRLog (Press Release) - May 12, 2013 - WILMINGTON, N.C. -- "An apocalyptic earthquake may initiate martial law and the end of freedom as we've known it," says Dr. Richard Ruhling, author and speaker on current events and Bible prophecy, citing the following five sources of information in the order of their helpfulness.

    1. Government agencies. The science of seismology is not well-developed. Predictability by the US Dept of Interior and their geoglogic offices is not significant.

    FEMA is more helpful with www.Ready.gov --Be Informed; Have a Plan; Make a Calamity Kit. You haven't done it? Now's a good time. FEMA bought 140 million meals for their May, 2012 drill on the New Madrid Fault. It may be overdue for a big one, and maybe FEMA knows something we don't. There seems to be a connection between calamities and government drills

    A. Oklahoma City Murrah Bldg had the records of the Branch Davidians who burned alive in Waco, TX. The evidence was blown up on the 2nd anniversary, 1995. The BATF had a drill the day before Timothy McVeigh activated a fertilizer bomb out front. Patriots examining the scene found explosives attached to supporting columns that failed to go off, or the whole building would have come down.

    B. World Trade Center, NORAD drill on September 10, 2001

    C. Haiti's Earthquake, SOUTHCOM drill then.

    D. Sandy Hook Drill CT Dept of Emergency Services & Public Protection with FEMA

    E. Boston Marathon

    2. Patriot sources. Alex Jones urged his listeners on July 25, 2001 to call the White House to cancel plans for a "false flag" terrorist event. 9-11 and other events have given Jones credibility, but he doesn't seem to know the nature and timing of the next event.

    3. Nostradamus. The occult sources of information are forbidden in Scripture but one researcher cited Nostradamus: "A horrible destruction. Blood, thirst, famine, when the Comet shall run. [Two comets this year]...The great earthquake shall be in the month of May. Saturn, Capricorn, Jupiter, Mercury in Taurus, Venus, Also Cancer, Mars in Zero.” The astrology of planets led the researcher to May 8; not exactly.

    4. Ellen White. Seventh-day Adventist founder and visionary saw church leaders in apostasy and risking judgments that would come in end-times. Visiting New York City, in vision she saw tall buildings "warranted to be fire-proof...These buildings were consumed as if made of pitch. The fire engines could do nothing to stay the blaze." Oddly, her description of 9/11 was published in Vol 9, pg 11-13 of Testimonies for the Church in 1909.

    Earthquake. Visiting the medical school in Loma Linda, California that she founded, Ellen White had a vision of an earthquake: "Many lives were blotted out...It seemed that...Judgment day had come." She cited Zephaniah 1:8 for future punishment by God "in the day of the Lord's sacrifice" (Passover). ibid, pgs 92-95.

    Reminiscent of her 9-11 vision published in Vol 9, pgs 11-13, the Seventh-day Adventist Sabbath Lesson for May 25 is titled "The Day of the Lord"  and it focuses on Zephaniah's "Day of Doom,"-- the same passages that Ellen White cited in her earthquake vision at Loma Linda. But the earthquake may affect much more than Loma Linda.

    5. The Bible shines as a basis of integrating all the above information as follows:

    Bible imagery supports May 25 for possible judgment, "as in the days of Noah" when the Flood had Passover timing, but in the 2nd spring month. This year it's May 25. Maybe it's a coincidence, but as Adventists celebrate their 150th anniversary on May 21, it will be the 10th day from the new moon day on May 11/12--the same day Noah entered the ark as some gathered outside to celebrate, Genesis 7:4,11.

    The disciples were probably thinking of Passover for when God executes judgment when Christ said, "You don't know [understand], for the kingdom of heaven is like a man traveling to a far country," Matthew 25:14. His clue on timing connects His last two last parables to second Passover, as follows:

    Israelites traveled in the spring, but if they went to a far country and couldn't get back to Jerusalem for Passover, they were to keep it a month later, Numbers 9:10,11. Christ said the law was in effect "till heaven and earth pass." His return for a time of judgment could fit His sayings better than we've understood, due to translation of speech idioms.

    2nd Passover (full moon) falls on Friday night/Saturday (May 24/25) and "watching" (being awake and praying that God will pass over us) is protective, says Ruhling, (Matt 24:43; Revelation 3:3)

    Several recent geopolitical events have occurred on Jewish feast days, according to Ruhliing, including the U.S. Senate's approval for $760 billion in bank bailout on October 1, 2008. The new moon was in the sky that night--it was the Feast of Trumpets when anciently they blew trumpets for 10 days till the Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur. Leviticus 23:24-27. In 2008, the stock market crashed for 10 days.

    Ruhling believes that if the earthquake occurs with martial law being set up, Christians should evacuate according to the warning by Christ about military "standing where it ought not" in Mark 13:14.

    Readers may visit Ruhling's website for more information at http://MayJudgmentDay.com.

    Profile:

    Dr. Richard Ruhling is the author of 'Apocalypse 2013: How To Survive The Fall Of America' available at his website below and Kindle. ‘The Bridegroom Comes’ and ‘Why You Shouldn’t Ask Your Doctor - Choices That Can Save Your Life’, are also available on his websites and Amazon.

    Dr. Ruhling is available for media interview and can be reached using the information below, or by email at ruhling7@juno.com.

    --- End ---



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    Obama: Increase in domestic terrorism fueled by Internet

    Politics

    May 23, 2013 | 3:01 pm




    Charlie Spiering
    Commentary Staff WriterThe Washington Examiner


    Popular in Politics

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    Byron York: House-Senate showdown coming over border security





    During his foreign policy speech Thursday afternoon, President Obama warned that domestic terrorism would increase in the modern age of the Internet.

    “[T]his threat is not new,” Obama said. “But technology and the Internet increase its frequency and lethality.”

    Obama warned Americans that materials on the Internet could influence people to commit terrorist acts.

    “Today, a person can consume hateful propaganda, commit themselves to a violent agenda and learn how to kill without leaving their home,” he said.

    To combat domestic terrorism, Obama reminded Americans that it was important to reach out to Muslim communities.

    “The best way to prevent violent extremism is to work with the Muslim American community -- which has consistently rejected terrorism -- to identify signs of radicalization and partner with law enforcement when an individual is drifting towards violence,” he said. “And these partnerships can only work when we recognize that Muslims are a fundamental part of the American family.”


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    Is Google Dumbing You Down?




    By David McLaughlin, Green Cloud Computers | May 16, 2013
    Last Updated: May 16, 2013 12:44 pm


    Coming in toward the end of the Dot.com bubble that rang in a new millenium, their “Do no evil” mantra seemed to suggest that Sergey Brin and Larry Page had our best interests at heart when they launched Google. Not doing evil is, probably, a key part of any sustainable business plan. However, some fifteen years and trillions of search enquiries later, the question is: Is Google truly doing us good?

    The stated aim of the Google founders is to create a search engine “as smart as people—or smarter,” according to Page, and to move inexorably toward artificial intelligence. Google is a mine of information; or rather your own, personal miner, looking for the very nugget that you as his master have directed him to search for. The enormous vista of informational nuggets it provides, however, leave us greedy for more, eager to dig and quickly discard, but to stand and stare, to savour less. Google’s number 1 result is rarely the definitive answer, but a passing convenience.

    Academics such as University professors have bemoaned today’s students in their apparent inability to think deeply (if at all) on the topic they are writing on, as the stream of our consciousness broadens and flattens, cutting less deeply than before. Aren’t we becoming shallow too? Have we lost the ability to distinguish between information and knowledge, or confused the two? And are we outsourcing our ability to research something, and to search for information on it, to a machine?

    We can see how online newspapers are catering for ever-shorter attention spans, seeking to titillate rather than to inform, seemingly assured that their visitor will be leaving anyway—and very soon.

    Can you live without Google? Much as the way in which reading a map becomes passé once you have a satnav system in your car, Google encourages you to rely on it to the point where you can’t imagine being without it. If you need to find out how to get indelible ink off your new dining room table, Google is just the thing (it’s toothpaste, by the way). But let’s not rely on it too much.

    Perhaps the most affirming thing about our attachment to Googling is that it cannot help us with the most essential things in life. Ask Google how to play Beethoven’s Symphony 9 in D minor, or to describe what it feels like to hold your new-born baby for the first time.

    Try it.Ask Google about the most important things in life. About love. The answers suddenly seem less satisfying.

    Some things we’ll just have to keep on researching ourselves…


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    And no one intervened

    The Woolwich Slaughter



    \
    This past Wednesday afternoon, the 22nd of May, a man was brutally butchered to death on a busy (Woolwich Neighborhood) London street, in broad daylight, and nobody came to his aid.  The man was hit by a car, then two men came out of the car with butcher knives in hand and proceeded to slice and puncture (some accounts say he was beheaded) the victim to death.  Yet, some bystanders filmed the event, others even spoke with the assailants; but, no one interrupted the attack to save the man that was ruthlessly slaughtered by two demon possessed killers.
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    WOOLWICH BARRACKS?           

    How could something like this happen in the world's most 'civilized' nation, in its crown jewel London?  

    Greater still is the mystery that the man murdered was a soldier, and his regiment was just around the corner?
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    Arsenio
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    NBC Affiliate: Ft. Hood Shooter Still Drawing Paycheck, Victims Denied Benefits; When Will 'Nightly News' Cover?


    By: Ken Shepherd | May 23, 2013 | 18:10



    Fort Hood shooter Maj. Nidal Hassan is still drawing his military paycheck while the Defense Department has refused to deem Hassan's victims as suffering combat-related wounds, which would entitle them to Purple Hearts and additional pay and benefits to aid the cost of their rehabilitation, Scott Friedman of Dallas, Texas, NBC affiliate KXAS reported on Wednesday morning.[watch the original KXAS report below the page break]

    Yesterday, native Texan and MSNBC anchor Tamron Hall aired Friedman's report on her NewsNation program in her "Gut Check" segment in which she asked her viewers to weigh in on her Facebook page, "Should the Pentagon designate the Fort Hood shooting a terrorist attack?" [For their part, 76 percent of her viewers agreed that it should.] Although this is a pretty compelling report, at time of publication, neither NBC's Nightly News nor Today programs have aired the story.

    Read More

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    Thursday, May 23, 2013

    Boy Scouts of America Vote to Admit Openly Gay Youths



    BREAKING NEWS Thursday, May 23, 2013 6:18 PM EDT


    The Boy Scouts of America voted Thursday to allow openly gay youths as members, while continuing its policy of excluding openly gay adult leaders.

    More than 1,400 delegates from scout councils across the country adopted the plan, proposed by their top leaders after a year of growing public pressure and bitter internal debate.

    Gay rights advocates inside and outside the scouting organization called the decision a milestone, but vowed to continue pressing the scouts to end the exclusion of gay adults. Religious and conservative scout leaders and parents accused the organization of caving in to political pressure, and some said they would leave the Boy Scouts.

    READ MORE »http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/24/us/boy-scouts-to-admit-openly-gay-youths-as-members.html?emc=na


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    Lois Lerner, Head of I.R.S. Dept. on Tax-Exempt Groups, Put on Leave




    BREAKING NEWS Thursday, May 23, 2013 5:55 PM EDT



    Lois Lerner, the head of the Internal Revenue Service’s division on exempt organizations, was put on administrative leave Thursday, a day after she invoked the fifth amendment to the Constitution and declined to testify before a House committee investigating her division’s targeting of conservative groups.
    Ms. Lerner has been under severe pressure since May 10, when she delivered an awkward apology to Tea Party and other conservative groups whose applications for 501(c)(4) tax exemptions had been singled out for special scrutiny.

    At that time, she said she learned of the targeting in 2012, when Tea Party groups publicly accused the I.R.S. of mistreatment. But a Treasury inspector general’s audit released days later appeared to make it clear that she knew of the effort well before then and had tried to reshape it. Lawmakers from both parties publicly accused her of lying to them.

    READ MORE »http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/24/us/politics/irs-official-who-refused-to-testify-is-put-on-leave.html?emc=na

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