Monday, June 24, 2013

Total of 23 children seized from Mennonite community; youngest nine months old



By The Canadian Press | Associated Press – Thu, Jun 20, 2013



WINNIPEG - Court documents show a total of 23 children have been taken into the care of the province from a Manitoba Mennonite community where adults have been charged with abuse.

The documents show the youngest child is nine months old while the oldest is 15.

Documents from Child and Family Services quote one 13-year-old boy as saying he "does not want to return home."

Four adults from the orthodox community have been charged with assaulting children using cattle prods and leather straps between July 2011 and January of this year.

RCMP are still investigating and say more charges could be laid.

The identities of the children are protected under a publication ban.


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The Forced Depopulation of America’s Rural Areas


Wednesday, June 19, 2013



Dave Hodges
Activist Post

Agenda 21 policy calls for dramatically increasing urbanization and forcing indigenous populations out of rural areas and into densely populated stack-and pack micro apartments controlled by technocrats with the ability to control every aspect of one’s life. When completed, this lifestyle will be a hell on earth.

In Part One, I detailed how the Chinese government, under the direction of global corporations like Goldman Sachs, is instituting a mass relocation of its population from rural to urban. At the point of a gun, the Chinese military is forcibly removing one million Chinese farmers per month from their rural homes and forcing them into the massive ghost cities from which China has spent nearly $3 trillion to construct.

The Chinese government, Hank Paulson and other globalists falsely claim that the mass relocation of Chinese farmers is necessary to fuel the Chinese economy. Yet, there are no jobs available to these Chinese farmers when they arrive in the ghost cities. Strong industry and the need to fill positions is what drew Americans into the cities during our industrial revolution, not the other way around as the globalists are claiming is the case in China. What we are witnessing in China is the beginning of the implementation of the Agenda 21 creation of massive megacities complete with stack-and-pack micro apartments.

As in China, there is a decided plot to move American farmers off their land and into urban areas; this plot commenced nearly two decades ago and is currently picking up momentum. The American and Chinese methods for depopulating rural areas are different, but the net effect is exactly the same.

Can you imagine if the US military, as is happening in China, were to forcibly relocate American farmers to urban areas under the threat of violence from the military? The US would witness the outbreak of widespread violence. Unlike the Chinese farmers who are being forced by gunpoint off their land. American farmers are being nudged off their land by market forces created by covert government policy.

When both countries achieve virtual depopulation of the rural areas of their respective countries, only the government subsidized corporate farms will remain. Local communities and their individual citizens will lose total control over all food, which is a prescription for disaster.

I will determine what and how much you may drink - Mayor BloombergIf you wonder why New York City Mayor Bloomberg and Michelle Obama have been trying to control the size of sodas, the amount of salt one can use and are dictating what school children will eat for lunch, the answer is that they are conditioning the American public that the government controls all food intake. The reasons for these new controls over diet will become painfully clear after reading the following paragraphs.

Rural Flight In the United States

I know that this will come as a shock to many reading this article because they did not learn of these events from FOX or CNN. However, in actuality, the process of moving the United States towards a complete Agenda 21-style of total urbanization has already commenced, and it began nearly 20 years ago.

In 1994, the US became official participants in the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which was a ‘liberalized’ trade agreement between Canada, the U.S. and Mexico. Under NAFTA, farmers’ income in all three countries has plummeted and millions of small farmers have lost their land, while agribusiness corporations (i.e. large government subsidized corporate farms) have reaped huge profits.

NAFTA has had three dramatic effects on farmers in North America and all three effects further cause dense urbanization as outlined in Agenda 21 documents.

The Roots of Illegal Immigration

The first notable effect of NAFTA is that it immediately bankrupted over three million farmers in northern Mexico and this group became the vanguard of millions of Mexicans illegally entering the US in search for subsistence work of any type.

Depopulating Rural Areas By Bankrupting US Farmers

The second dramatic impact of NAFTA lies in the fact that it has had catastrophic consequences for US farmers, as a record number of small farmers have lost their farms and have gone through foreclosure while the government subsidized corporate farms have thrived. Since NAFTA, the average annual growth of the US trade deficit has been 45% higher. Since NAFTA took effect, about 170,000 small family farms have gone bankrupt which represents a decline of 21% of family farms in the US. The 21% of America small farmers who have been bankrupted since the advent of NAFTA, represents a higher percentage of displaced American farmers than what is happening with forced relocation of Chinese farmers to the ghost cities. And what happens to American small farmers who have lost their livelihood? They either work on their former competitors' corporate farms as hired hands, or they relocate to urban areas in search of employment.

American Farmers: Death By a Thousand Cuts

If it is not the EPA enforcing its Agenda 21 wetlands regulations with devastating consequences on farmers, it is the FDA harassing farmers for pursuing time-honored farm-related industries such as the raw milk industry. Congress is plotting new attacks on the US farmer as I write these words. Even Amish farmers have felt the wrath of the federal government. Average, everyday Americans are being arrested for merely growing their own food.

Whether it is China or the US, Agenda 21 urbanization policies are designed for the purpose of herding people into dense urban areas for reasons of control; and the primary method of control has to do with controlling food production.

The US Government Is Gaining Control Over All Food

The Chinese government is working to control all food in order to control the people. On an ever-increasing basis, NAFTA is providing the US government with the exact same ability. Therefore, the third draconian impact of NAFTA is that it has led to even more nefarious free trade agreements which has led to the loss of control for local communities over their own food supply.

Underlying the World Trade Organization, the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA), and the Central American Free Trade Agreement, is the philosophy that all food (i.e. from basic grains, meat, fruits and vegetables) should be exclusively produced for international export. This is a drastic departure from the time-honored practice where each country produced the majority of food its citizens needed on local, small farms and only traded in certain products that could not be successfully grown locally. If anyone wonders where this is headed, we only have to look to Africa for the answer.

The very first great wave of a NAFTA style of globalization in agriculture took place in Africa, Asia, and Latin America as global corporations forced local farmers to give up local food production, and shifted production to plantations using enslaved Indigenous and African labor to grow the luxury crops of coffee, sugar, bananas, and cocoa for export to the colonizing countries.

The lesson here is, if the government controls the food, the government controls the people.

Starvation Will Be Used to Enforce the Agenda 21 Depopulation of Rural Areas

The use of food by the U.S. government has been a matter of official U.S. governmental covert policy since 1974-1975.

In December, 1974, National Security Council directed by Henry Kissinger completed a classified study entitled, “National Security Study Memorandum 200: Implications of Worldwide Population Growth for U.S. Security and Overseas Interests.” The study was based upon the unproven claims that population growth in Lesser Developed Countries (LDC) constituted a serious risk to America’s national security.

In November 1975 President Ford, based upon the tenets of NSSM 200 outlined a classified plan to forcibly reduce population growth in LDC countries through birth control, war and famine. Ford’s new national security adviser, Brent Scowcroft, in conjunction with CIA Director, George H. W. Bush, were tasked with implementing the plan and the secretaries of state, treasury, defense, and agriculture assisted in the implementation of these insane genocidal plans.

NSSM 200 formally raised the question, "Would food be considered an instrument of national power? … Is the U.S. prepared to accept food rationing to help people who can’t/won’t control their population growth?” Kissinger has answered these questions when he stated that he was predicting a series of contrived famines, created by mandatory programs and this would make exclusive reliance on birth control programs unnecessary in this modern day application of eugenics in a scheme that would allow Henry to have his cake and eat it too in that the world would finally be rid of the “useless eaters!”

Third world population control, using food as one of the primary weapons, has long been a matter of official covert national policy and a portion of President Obama’s Executive Order (EO 13603), National Defense Resources Preparedness is a continuation of that policy. Only now, the intended target are not the LDC’s but, instead, the American people.

With the stroke of his pen, Obama has total and absolute control over all food where his EO states:

e) “Food resources” means all commodities and products, (simple, mixed, or compound), or complements to such commodities or products, that are capable of being ingested by either human beings or animals, irrespective of other uses to which such commodities or products may be put, at all stages of processing from the raw commodity to the products thereof in vendible form for human or animal consumption. “Food resources” also means potable water packaged in commercially marketable containers, all starches, sugars, vegetable and animal or marine fats and oils, seed, cotton, hemp, and flax fiber, but does not mean any such material after it loses its identity as an agricultural commodity or agricultural product.
(f) “Food resource facilities” means plants, machinery, vehicles (including on farm), and other facilities required for the production, processing, distribution, and storage (including cold storage) of food resources, and for the domestic distribution of farm equipment and fertilizer…NAFTA was merely the opening artillery bombardment against the American farmer and the ultimate depopulation of rural areas. The death of the American farmer will ultimately come at the hands of EO 13603 and I believe this will be fully implemented when Obama declares martial law.




Put this map into your GPS, it will tell where you soon cannot go.
Do you think that you and your family are actually safe from the ravages of depopulating the rural areas through economic blackmail and ultimate starvation? Think again! Unless you presently live in the core inner city and occupy less than 500 square feet of living space, your government, as I write these words, is actively plotting to get you out of the suburbs and into densely populated urban areas. This will be fully exposed in Part three of this series.

Part One

Interview 687 – Sibel Edmonds Blows the Whistle on Government Blackmailing


24
JUN
2013


Posted by Corbett


Podcast: Play in new window | Download 



In this remarkable conversation, Sibel Edmonds reflects on Russ Tice’s recent revelations to Boiling Frogs Post and The Corbett Report that the NSA has wiretapped top government officials for years. Edmonds discusses from her own experience how the FBI collects dirt on Congressman and public officials for use as political leverage. We also talk about how this scandal proves that there is no “official channel” for whistleblowers to follow when they want to expose wrondoing because the system is being controlled from behind the scenes by the criminals in the national security establishment.


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Signs Of Change - June 2013



Signs Of Change The Past Week Or June 2013


HawkkeyDavisChanne

Published on Jun 8, 2013


The signs keep adding up and are becoming hard to ignore. Major and historic flooding, earthquakes, massive tornadoes and more has taking place the past week or so. Stay Safe and thanks for watching here!

*Music Used*
Brand X Music - The Connection

Not everything makes these videos at the end of the week, if your looking for more events, links or you just want to share join us all here.
Thank you all for sharing with me on FB, join us here
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Hawkke...

Thank you all for sharing!

Watch More Of This Series From The Playlist
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=...

I do not own any of these videos thanks to all the people who film these disasters and the news medias that report them.

FAIR USE NOTICE: This video may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for educational purposes only. This constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 of the US Copyright Law.
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NBC Meet the Press - Sunday 6/23/13

Sun Jun 23, 2013 11:41 AM EDT


Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy


David Gregory interviews The Guardian's Glenn Greenwald about the developing Edward Snowden story and why Greenwald thinks his source should not be viewed as a criminal for leaking classified NSA information. Assistant Democratic Leader Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill.; Ranking member of the Homeland Security and immigration "Gang of 8" member, Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., Intelligence Committee Chairman Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Mich., and Rep. Loretta Sanchez, D-Calif., weigh in on how the NSA scandal affects national security and discuss the future of immigration reform.


Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy


A panel of experts discuss the NSA scandal and provide insights and analysis on the politics behind the immigration battle on Capitol Hill.


Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

A panel of experts discuss whether immigration reform can get through the House and the controversy surrounding Paula Deen.


Source
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Study Daniel and the Revelation




Jan 22


Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand. Revelation 1:3. 

A message that will arouse the churches is to be proclaimed. Every effort is to be made to give the light, not only to our people, but to the world. I have been instructed that the prophecies of Daniel and the Revelation should be printed in small books, with the necessary explanations, and should be sent all over the world. Our own people need to have the light placed before them in clearer lines. 

Those who eat the flesh and drink the blood of the Son of God will bring from the books of Daniel and Revelation truth that is inspired by the Holy Spirit. They will start into action forces that cannot be repressed. The lips of children will be opened to proclaim the mysteries that have been hidden from the minds of men.... 

Many of the prophecies are about to be fulfilled in quick succession. Every element of power is about to be set to work. Past history will be repeated; old controversies will arouse to new life, and peril will beset God’s people on every side. Intensity is taking hold of the human family. It is permeating everything upon the earth.... 

Study Revelation in connection with Daniel, for history will be repeated.... We, with all our religious advantages, ought to know far more today than we do know.

Angels desire to look into the truths that are revealed to the people who with contrite hearts are searching the word of God and praying for greater lengths and breadths and depths and heights of the knowledge which He alone can give. 

As we near the close of this world’s history, the prophecies relating to the last days especially demand our study. The last book of the New Testament Scriptures is full of truth that we need to understand. Satan has blinded the minds of many so that they have been glad of any excuse for not making the Revelation their study. But Christ through His servant John has here declared what shall be in the last days; and He says, “Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein.” 

Maranatha, p. 30
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Sunday, June 23, 2013

Facebook security breach: year-long expose of user data, phone numbers


Posted by Jake Robison on Jun 22, 2013


Facebook says a security breach caused it to inadvertently reveal the personal data of six million users including their phone numbers for the past year. It’s mystifying to explain how an entity as large and far reaching as Facebook could go a year without catching such a glaring breach, particularly seeing how I spotted it from nearly day one. Except I mistakenly thought the bug was a feature.

I am one of the six million users whose phone number showed up on my Facebook profile, even to those who weren’t my friends, beginning last year. Once I spotted it, I assumed Facebook had changed its policy such that phone numbers were reassigned to the portion of a user’s personal data which is publicly available even to those who aren’t authorized as friends. Miffed that it would do so without my approval or even so much as notifying me, I removed my phone number from my Facebook profile entirely. Problem solved. It has been on there since 2007, and I’d never once gotten a phone call from a Facebook friend whom I didn’t want to hear from. But if Facebook was exposing my phone number to the world, including to telemarketers, then it didn’t get to have my phone number at all.

Shame on me for assuming that the security breach was intentional. I should have brought it to Facebook’s attention on the chance that it was in fact a bug and not an intentional policy shift. But with Facebook so often having been cavalier about the personal data of its users over the years, it never occurred to me that it this was anything other than another unwanted user data policy change.


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Israel’s Jesuit President, Shimon Peres heads again to Rome to offer Pope Francis I the Cenacle (Church with the Upper Room) and an International Jerusalem


06/16/2013


Israeli President Shimon Peres, the Vatican’s Agent to Israel: Part One



Israeli President Shimon Peres and His Protégé, Yasser Arafat have Destroyed Thousands of Jewish Lives

The ground was hardly warmed in the new papal apartment for Pope Francis I in Rome, when Israeli President Shimon Peres sailed the blue skies from Israel to Italy to lend his “signatured anti-Jewish life” and influence as the President of Israel to betray again the Israeli people in Israel. This betrayal will eventually harm most, the religious pioneering and patriots of Israel who live in the settlement regions of Shomron and Judea.

For three days, in early May (2013), Israeli President Shimon Peres was scheduled to visit Italy in order to also be hosted in a series of diplomatic meeting with the Italian president and Prime Minister of Italy. At that same time, he was being hosted and feted in a ceremony in the city of Assisi, named after the famous Catholic cleric, St. Francis of Assisi.

There Peres was awarded with the new first ever ceremonies of the Franciscans to give a “Peace Award” called the “Metal of Honor for Peace.” There the mayor of Assisi greeted Peres and also by “hundreds of Franciscan monks” in a ceremony at the central Roman Catholic Basilica in Assisi. Then Peres was presented this inaugural award, the “Medal of Honor for Peace” as the president of Israel for his “unique contribution to dialogue and the cause of peace.”




The Basilica de Papale San Francesco di Assisi

As Barry Chamish, in his recent article on May 13, 2013, titled, “Franciscans Honor Shimon Peres”, we learn:

Barry Chamish – “Those who know Peres acknowledge his, honestly, psychopathic need for medals and awards, to the point of bribing the Nobel committee for a prize. Last week, Yoav Yitzhak, in the wide circulation newspaper Maariv, revealed that Peres gave Terje Larsen, the UN Middle East representative, $100,000 to secure him a Nobel Prize.

This week, David Bedein, writing in Makor Rishon, applied the coup de grace. He interviewed a member of the Nobel Prize Committee, Kaare Kristiansen, who not just confirmed the bribe but described Larsen's pressure on the committee in full detail.

But accepting made-up accolades from the Franciscans is utterly insulting to anyone with a modicum of understanding of recent Jewish history. From the mid to late '40s, the Franciscans (along with the Dominicans), in what is known as Operation Paperclip, hid in their monasteries over a hundred thousand Nazis, before smuggling them to freedom worldwide. It is estimated that just the US received 30,000, largely Franciscan “refugees.

So while in Italy, naturally Peres lavished in the praises of the Nazi saviors and then was practically smothered by a pope, not named like many believe after a talking mule, but by the very same church leader that the Franciscans honor, Francis I [St Francis of Assisi]:

No sooner had Bergoglio (Jorge Mario Bergoglio as Pope Francis I) taken office, than Peres invited the new pope to visit Israel, asking him to contribute to peace as a spiritual, rather than a political, leader. He'll be a welcome guest in the Holy Land, as a man of inspiration who can add to the attempt to bring peace in a stormy area," Peres said.”All people here, without exception, without difference of religion or nationality, will welcome the newly elected pope.”

Earlier than the year of 2005, Barry Chamish was the lone Israeli reporter who continued to post insights into the treacherous conspiratorial schemes of the Jewish Labor Zionist national leadership seeking to the destroy the Divine Intent of the G-d of Israel. The expressed intent of the Divine One through His prophets was to reestablish the dynastic rule of His messiah on Planet Earth in what Orthodox Judaism calls the “World to Come”. Albeit the stated goals of the Divine One through His prophets in Israel and Judah, the counter-forces of evil by HaSatan continuously seek to destroy the divine mission and goals of Religious Zionism:
To destroy internally the hopes and dreams of Jews over the last 2,000 year with the words, “Next Year in Jerusalem”. This laid the groundwork for a permanent homeland for the Jewish people in the Land of Israel, and a haven of safety for the Jews still living in the Diaspora would become a permanent reality.
To destroy externally the State of Israel by Islam, and neutralize the State of Israel from within by those Jews called the Sabbatean Jews known as JINOs (Jews in Name Only) and the Jesuit Jews like Adam Weishaupt called the Illuminati whose origins began in Bavaria. All of these stem back to the infamous false messiah in the 17th century, Shabbatai Tzevi, who announced to the Jewish people that the “day of the Jewish messiah would come” on the date of June 18, 1666 (June the 6th month; 18 or 6+6+6, and 1666 or 1000+666). What is even clearer is that ultimate saboteur is the Vatican through the agency of the Black Pope of the Society of Jesus, called the Jesuits.
The road back to Rome is a road well traveled by the current Israeli President Shimon Peres.
He has routinely taken this path over the years as the Israeli investigative reporter, Barry Chamish, called the “traitorous appeasement” of Vatican’s Jewish President. As Barry Chamish continued

Barry Chamish – “In 1979, Yitzhak Rabin published his autobiography, within was a one-line offbeat quote. He said that unlike all Jewish children growing up in Poland, Shimon Peres spent his early education at a Jesuit school. It was an odd fact and I took a mental note of it without understanding its significance...Until I broke my first attention-getting story as a political journalist:

In March 1994, the newspaper Chadashot revealed a most remarkable secret of the Middle East “peace” process. A friend of Shimon Peres, the French intellectual Marek Halter claimed in an interview that in May 1993, he delivered a letter from Peres to the pope.

Within, Peres promised to internationalize Jerusalem, granting the UN political control of the Old City of Jerusalem, and the Vatican hegemony of the holy sites within. The UN would give the PLO a capital within its new territory and East Jerusalem would become a kind of free trade zone of world diplomacy. Halter's claim was backed by the Italian newspaper La Stampa which added that Arafat was apprised of the agreement and it was included in the secret clauses of the Declaration Of Principles signed in Washington in September 1993.

In March 1995, the Israeli radio station Arutz Sheva was leaked a cable from the Israeli Embassy in Rome to Peres' Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem confirming the handover of Jerusalem to the Vatican. This cable was printed on the front page of the radical leftwing Israeli newspaper, Ha’aretz two days later.

A scandal erupted and numerous rabbis who had invited Peres for Passover services cancelled their invitations in protest of his treachery. Peres reacted by claiming that the cable was real but that someone had whiten out the word, "not;" the cable really said that Israel would "not" hand Jerusalem over to the holy pontiff.

Illustrating the sorry political state of Israel's rabbis, they accepted this cockamamie excuse and re-invited Peres to their tables. However, in the widely distributed minutes of a meeting with Clinton in 1997, Peres reiterated his diplomacy, ending with the words, "as I had previously promised the Holy See.”



Jewish Rabbi David Rosen, the Papal Knight Commander of the Pontifical Order of St. Gregory the Great

During this era of high political and religious drama between the Vatican and the State of Israel, BibleSearchers Reflections looked at the issues more closely starting in 1993 to 2005 in the article titled, “The Vatican Wants Jerusalem”. In this article, the historical map of Rome’s model for the control of Jerusalem was mapped out from the date in 1993 when Vatican Rome and Israel agreed to normalized and establish formal diplomatic relations with each other. This was documented in the fundamental agreement between the Holy See and the State of Israel on December 30, 1993. The one problem, the “fundamental agreement” was kept secret.

It took another four years when in 1997 the State of Israel agreed to a legal status in Israel for the Vatican. This came with the Meshumad (apostate) Jewish Rabbi David Rosen, the Papal Knight Commander of the Pontifical Order of St. Gregory the Great who put the Vatican’s pathway in the future clearly on the road for the Internationalization of Jerusalem.

It was in October 20, 2005 that Israel National News reported that a seven year negotiation with Vatican Rome was finally completed and it was now time to turn over numerous buildings, parcels of land that the Roman Catholic Church claims that it used to own and control. These facts were being reported by the Vatican newspaper, El Messagero, that Israeli President Katsav was prepared to sign over to the control of the Vatican. The major site of interest was the purported site of the “Last Supper” which is recognized by the Jews as the burial site of Kings David, Solomon, Rechavam, Assa, Chezekiyahu and Amatzia.



Tomb of King David in Jerusalem

According to the agreement, the upper part of David’s Tomb would traded in exchange for an ancient Jewish synagogue in Toledo, Spain that was converted into a Catholic Church after the Jews were expelled from Spain on the 9th of Av, 1492. Other sites of interest in which the Vatican wants the Israeli government to give up sovereignty over include six sites; the Church of the Annunciation in Nazareth, the Coenaculum on Mount Zion, Gethsemane on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem and the Church of the Multiplication on Lake Kinneret (Sea of Galilee).

So today, over the top of one of the largest Jewish yeshivas teaching young Jews the profound truths of the Torah will soon, if the Israeli government finally craters under the pressure from their president, Shimon Peres and the Vatican, every morning mass will be conducted overhead to the droning of ritual chants taking away one of the most peaceful and reverential areas of Old Jerusalem today. This fact alone gained the ire of a Jewish physician, Dr. Daisy Stern who wrote the following in the article titled, “Perfect Crime: The Vatican’s Plot to rob Am Yisrael of Jerusalem (The Secret Machinations of the Vatican, Part II, 2009)

Dr. Daisy Stern – “Nobody hears a peep about what's going on: we just find out that Benedict XVI is coming for a visit to Israel. Only 10 million dollars is used to prepare for his visit, among others 6 million NIS (Jewish Shekels), one for every Jew killed in the Holocaust, to renovate Catholic holy places. Among others, the Cenacle, which until now had bare walls, because no paraphernalia of idol worship is allowed in a yeshiva, that is, the Diaspora Yeshiva of Har Tzion. But no worry: renovation have already begun there. With other words, the properties are being readied for the pope’s arrival, turned into proper Catholic shrine, Jewish or not.”

A year after the Vatican’s major push to gain control of the Cenacle, where the Jewish prince of David and Orthodox rabbi, Jesus the Nazarene (Yahshua HaNotzri) held the “Last Supper” in the House with the Upper Room. In the year of 2005, Israeli President Moshe Katsav agreed to sign over the site to the Roman Catholic Church. The G-d of Israel thought otherwise and within eighteen month, President Katsav was charged and later convicted of two counts of rape with female subordinates, sexual harassment of others, obstruction of justice and sentenced to seven years in prison.

While President Katsav was fighting the charges of rape and obstruction of justice, according to the Jewish journalist, Hillel Fendel with Israel National News (Arutz Sheva), he reported on April 6, 2006 that Shimon Peres was again flying in the air on the way to Rome, while Ehud Olmert was presiding as Acting Prime Minister of Israel. In a most interesting news blog titled, “Peres Meets with Pope in Vatican”, by Israel National News, we learn:


Israeli President Shimon Peres with Pope Benedict XVI reported by Leftist Israeli Haaretz News

Israel National News – “Israel's indefatigable Shimon Peres met with Pope Benedict XVI today, and submitted an invitation to visit Israel from Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. The two met for 40 minutes in the Vatican, and the Pope said he hopes to visit Israel sometime in the first half of next year. They said afterwards that they had discussed Middle East matters. “I definitely believe that a visit by the Pope can influence the peace process,” Peres told reporters. Peres is reported, in 1994, to have promised the Vatican official status in Jerusalem.

In February 2000, the Vatican and the Palestinian Authority signed an agreement calling for an internationally guaranteed special status for Jerusalem. The agreement stated that a special statute would protect "equality before the law of the three monotheistic religions [in Jerusalem], the proper identity and sacred character of the city, [and] freedom of access" to the city's holy sites.

Israel objected, saying that freedom of religion is already protected throughout the country. It also opposed the Vatican's treatment of the PA as an independent country.

Shortly afterwards, Pope John Paul II visited Israel, and - unlike one of his predecessors, Pope Paul VI, who visited in 1964 - agreed to come to Jerusalem. Pope John Paul II met with the Chief Rabbis in their Jerusalem offices, and visited Yad Vashem as well. Pope Paul, on the other hand, refused to visit Jerusalem, leading then-Chief Rabbi Yitzchak Nissim to boycott his visit altogether.

During his visit in 2000, Pope John Paul II conducted a prayer service in Bethlehem, and announced that the Vatican had always recognized the Palestinians' national rights to a homeland. Rabbi Shlomo Aviner, Dean of Yeshivat Ateret Cohanim, said in response that the Pope's goal was simply to obtain a foothold in Jerusalem for the Church, and that his visit was one way the Pope hoped to reach this goal.

“If the Catholics would at least stop supporting the establishment of a Palestinian state in our land, and stop supporting the other Arab nations around us - then this could be considered a significant step,” Rabbi Aviner said.

Pope John Paul II did not expressly apologize for the role played by the Church, and its silence, during the Holocaust. He said instead that the Church is “deeply saddened by the hatred, acts of persecution and displays of anti-Semitism directed against the Jews by Christians at any time and in any place... I fervently pray that our sorrow for the tragedy which the Jewish people suffered in the 20th century will lead to a new relationship between Christians and Jews. Let us build a new future in which there will be no more anti-Jewish feeling among Christians or anti-Christian feeling among Jews...”

Former Chief Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau has said that an earlier pope, Pope Pius XII, refused several requests by Chief Rabbi Isaac Herzog to meet with him before and during the Holocaust to discuss how the Church could help save Jewish lives. After the war, too, Chief Rabbi Herzog asked for the Pope's assistance in locating Jewish orphans who were cared for by Catholic families, and again, the Pope refused.

The current pope has been following in the footsteps of his predecessor John Paul in trying to improve Jewish-Catholic relations.”

It was the year of 2003 in the month of September, when Richard Joel became the first non-rabbi to become the president of the Yeshiva University in New York and Israel in which according to Dr. Daisy Stern, Richard Joel was a Meshumad (apostate) Jew and a “stooge of the Council on Foreign Relations”; the nesting ground for Shabbatian Jews, Frankist Jews, NeoCon Jews, all of which have a propensity to abandon their Jewish roots and become as Rabbi Marvin Antelman called in his seminal books, “To Eliminate the Opiate, Vol I in print, Vol 1 on PDF and Vol 2”, JINOs or “Jews in Name Only.”


Yeshiva University President Richard Joel

Under the invitation of President Richard Joel, Yeshiva University invited and hosted on January 2004, the largest meeting of Cardinals ever to be assembled outside of Vatican Rome to meet exclusively with Jewish rabbis; this time in Yeshiva University in New York City. It was organized by Israel Singer with the World Jewish Congress and another “Meshumad” (apostate) the Jewish Cardinal Lustiger of Paris, France who almost gained the Curia’s nod to become the new pope taking the place of the deceased Jewish Pope John Paul II yet was instead earned by the Jewish Pope Benedict XVI (Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger) who was also a Meshumad (apostate) Jew.

The attendees at this meeting included Ten Cardinals from Rome, plus a host of Conservative and Reform rabbis plus 16 Orthodox rabbis which included current and chief rabbis from six different countries including Chief Rabbi of Israel, Israel Meir Lau. There amidst Torah study, was an atmosphere which Dr. Stern called “highly dubious activity in this setting, where anti-Semitism around the world was being discussed.” The rabbis in attendance were put under extreme pressure with the message; “give the Vatican back her properties or else we cannot vouch for your safety.”

On the negotiating side of the table by the Vatican were Pietro Sambi, Archbishop and Apostolic and since 1998, the Nuncio to Israel and Palestine, plus Franciscan Father David Yaeger, Giovanni LaJolo the Vatican Secretary of Relations with States, who later brought the issue of the State of Israel not relinquishing her Vatican properties to the United Nations.

Let it be clear, in addition, that the Catholic Church is and has been a strong supporter of the Oslo Peace Agreement, which, as noted earlier, goes hand in hand with the Fundamental Agreement, and is a code for the same goal, namely, return of "Church properties" to the Church, under the guise of fairness to the Arabs.

How do all of these events link themselves together? Today, Pope Francis I namesakes, the Franciscans, to whom Friar David Yaeger is a member, were one of the two major Catholic Orders that were in charge of enforcing the “Grand Inquisition.” It was their supreme order that they were to kill, maim, burn and torture Jews and Protestant Christians in the name of the Roman Christian Church! And we now are to believe that the Franciscans still carry the mantra of the peacefulness of St. Francis of Assisi?

So what does the Hommes de Parole NGO do? They invite with kindness and graciousness their Jewish rabbis, especially the Israeli chief rabbis, to the table of consensus and try to indoctrinate them into the charade of “land for peace”. It was their purpose that these same rabbis will return to the Land of Israel and influence the secular Jews running the government to give up former Roman Catholic “Church Property” whose acquisition came with the Roman Christian Crusades.

Then we have to remember that they, the Church did not gain these acquisitions peacefully, but by the very acts of peace they are promoting today, virtually killed and destroyed every Jewish person in the Land of Israel in the 11th to the 13th century CE. So we tie together very carefully the theme that the Roman Catholic Church and the Oslo Peace Accord are indelibly intertwined. It was not created under the guise of fairness and peace for Arab Palestinians but for Vatican’s control of Jerusalem and the Middle East, but rather to hide that the Vatican wants control over the Temple Mount, so that the Vatican’s P2 Masonic Lodge with the Illuminati can erect a Temple for the Jews and a House of Prayer for all people, with the Vatican now being leading architect, instead of the G-d of Israel for peace to all the world.

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You may Want to Read the Entire Series: Israeli President Shimon Peres, the Vatican’s Agent to Israel

Part One – “Israel’s Jesuit President, Shimon Peres heads again to Rome to offer Pope Francis I the Cenacle (Church with the Upper Room) and an International Jerusalem

Part Two – “The Global Plot of Shimon Peres and Pope Benedict XVI to undermine the Sovereignty of Israel during the 2006 War between Israel and Lebanon

Part Three – “The Vatican’s Emissary to Israel, Shimon Peres prepares to give Pope Francis I control of the Temple Mount

You might Want to Read the BibleSearchers 2005 Series; “The Vatican seeks to Reclaim its Own”

Go to Part One – “The Vatican seek to Reclaim its own; The Church with the Upper Room

Go to Part Two - “The Pathway and the Players in the Bid to Control Jerusalem

Go to Part Three – “The Vatican Wants Jerusalem

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The facts exist; the G-d of Israel is the ruler of all the Earth. Evil powers under the rule of HaSatan are trying to usurp that rule so that all of Planet Earth will come under the rule of rebellious angelic forces. Hashem’s capital of this solar system is Jerusalem, a place that G-d calls His own in unequivocal terms. The final Drama of the Ages will be over Jerusalem, yet when all hope appears to be lost, the forces of Light will eradicate the forces of darkness. The era of the Messiah will now reign in an era of Torah enlightenment.

If you want to learn more, click the link and Contact “Kol Ha Tor Vision”, the Voice of the Turtledove. Kol Ha Tor is a joint Orthodox Jewish and 10-Triber Mission to bring awareness of the imminent fulfillment of the Biblical Prophecies regarding the Redemption of all Israel (12 Tribes Re-conciled and Re-United). This super Event of all Times will entail Establishing the Shomron (the Ancient Bible Heartland of the Patriarchs) and the Judean Wilderness as part of the Land of Israel, and preparing the “Land” for the Return of the Lost Tribes of the House of Israel and then the Redemption of All Israel.

For inquiries about Kol Ha Tor Vision for the Lost Tribes of Israel, Visit – “Shomron Lives!”, a Spiritual Retreat and Guest House in Samaria.


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Quoting the Pope and Missing the Point


by SAM SAWYER, SJ on June 16, 2013



The New York Times went for the obvious headline — about the Pope talking about a “gay lobby” — and missed the chance to run this one: “Pope Says Don’t Worry About the Inquisition.” Confused? Let me explain.



Wait for it, wait for it…

A Pope who’s very comfortable going off-script and improvising — jazz-style, as Ryan Duns has observedhas been keeping the media on their toes. Most recently, there’s discussion of a set of private remarks from the Pope’s meeting with representatives from the confederation of Latin American religious orders, via a set of notes leaked from the conversation. Aside from raising the question of who leaked the notes (a couple of months back, we would have said the butler did it) this story also illustrates what drives news coverage: if the words “gay” and “Pope” are anywhere in the same story, then — bang! — there’s your headline.

But that story gets the emphasis wrong on a number of fronts. In the first place, it’s unlikely that the Pope, even in a private meeting, was staking out a general position on homosexuality within the Church — he was speaking about the issue of corruption within the Curia, and acknowledged that the speculation about a “gay lobby” was part of this larger issue that must be addressed in order for the Curia to serve its proper role. The issue isn’t homosexuality per se, but rather the fact that secrecy and hypocrisy lead to unfreedom, as Ryan Duns, SJ discusses on his own blog.

Further, the Pavlovian over-reaction to a story involving the church and sex has buried a much more sensational quote. If all you’re reading is the New York Times, you’d walk away thinking that the Pope had a meeting with Latin American religious orders in order to talk about homosexuality. In fact, Pope Francis was encouraging them to be bold in pursuing their ministry — and especially not to be fearful about the challenges they may face from within the church, even including concern from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (i.e., the Vatican department charged with maintaining orthodoxy, formerly known as “the Inquisition”). He’s reported as saying, “Maybe you’ll receive a letter from the Congregation for Doctrine [sic], saying that they were told this or that thing…. But don’t let it bother you. Explain what you have to explain, but keep going forward.” Don’t let doctrinal controversies bother you — explain yourselves and keep going forward: that’s the real news from this meeting.

In addition to dealing with leaked private remarks, the media and the Vatican press offices have also had to deal with the unprecedented practice of daily short papal homilies at Masses in the Domus Santa Marta where Francis has continued to live since his election. Even though the Vatican has stopped publishing the text of the Pope’s daily homilies to avoid suggesting that they are formal teaching statements, they’re still being widely reported and discussed, especially when he said that even atheists are redeemed.



As with the “gay lobby” story, a single word in that homily — “redemption” — got the press off on the wrong foot, and the coverage ended up tying itself up in knots on the specifics of who can get into heaven. We talked about it here at TJP, too. However, if you actually read what the Pope said (go ahead, it’s right here) that’s exactly the question he’s rejecting. In his homily, he pleads for Catholics to recognize, in a “culture of encounter,” their commonality with all who do good. And then he imagines someone — someone who’s missing the point — objecting “But, Father, this is not Catholic! He cannot do good.” And to this person, Francis replies that our common identity as children of God and the one redemptive sacrifice of Christ on the cross for all means that we can, and must, “meet one another doing good.” The real message? Stop arguing about who’s being saved, and start doing good.

Here’s a quick rule of thumb for interpreting pope quotes. First, he’s almost certainly not inventing new Church teaching on the fly, and he’s also not working from talking points designed to serve up soundbites. What he’s actually doing is preaching — that is, trying to say something to encourage and support people in their faith. The standard for that communication is not what will sound good when it’s reported, but what people really need to hear about the love of God and God’s will for them. What’s been consistent across everything he’s said — and can be found both in the homily touching on atheism and the leaked private remarks — is that Francis focuses on doing good first, and trusts that we can sort out the theological details later. The message isn’t just “practice what you preach” — it’s that the only message you can preach is the one you’re already practicing. That’s the real story.


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Christians' views vary on gay marriage


High court expected to decide this week on same-sex issues

June 23, 2013 12:05 am



Sam Rohrer says he may disagree with same-sex marriage, but he would welcome them as neighbors.


By Ann Rodgers / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette


Sam Rohrer leads a statewide network of 2,000 conservative Protestant pastors opposed to same-sex civil marriages. But if the U.S. Supreme Court broadens access to such marriage this week, the Pennsylvania Pastors Network won't advise anyone to shun gay or lesbian couples who move in next door.

"They should respond in love and treat them as they would any other person. That would be Christ's example," said the former state representative from Berks County, adding that it doesn't mean "endorsing the condition."

Most opposition to same-sex civil marriage comes from theologically conservative Christians, while more liberal denominations support it. Many theological conservatives support a status other than marriage to provide benefits to same-sex couples, though leaders on both sides say the opportunity for such compromise has passed.

The leaders and pastors interviewed for this story hold a wide range of views, but all said they would welcome a same-sex couple as neighbors.

Archbishop Robert Duncan of the Anglican Church in North America and the Anglican Diocese of Pittsburgh led a split with the Episcopal Church, triggered partly by acceptance of a partnered gay bishop. He argues that same-sex marriage isn't a matter of equal rights but of preserving heterosexual marriage as the foundation of human society. He could reluctantly accept civil unions.

"While we would say that this won't have a good result for the nation ... this is not a theocracy. The nation has a freedom to define what equal rights look like. It doesn't have the right to redefine an institution," he said.

Evan Wolfson, a Squirrel Hill native who founded Freedom to Marry, believes same-sex marriage will strengthen society.

"It does not change the meaning of marriage. It simply allows same-sex couples to marry the person they love, to establish and protect a family, and to make a lifetime commitment in the same way that other couples are able to," he said.

Civil unions and domestic partnerships "are no substitute for the full measure of respect, clarity, security and responsibilities of marriage," he said. They "do not fully protect families in real situations, especially in emergency situations.."

This week the Supreme Court is expected to rule on a ban on same-sex marriage in California and the federal Defense of Marriage Act, which, passed in 1996, says marriage is only between "one man and one woman," denying federal benefits to same-sex couples. The court decision may affect only California and federal programs but theoretically could require or ban gay marriage nationwide.

Prior to 2003, when the Massachusetts high court was the first to rule same-sex civil marriage a matter of equal rights, there was little consensus among gay activists over its importance.

"There was a whole mentality 20 years ago where gay people would say, 'Oh, we don't want to be married. It's an institution that's falling apart. We're fine with civil unions,' " said the Rev. Renee Waun, pastor of East Suburban Unitarian Universalist Church in Murrysville. She became an advocate for gay rights a few years after her 1981 ordination as a United Methodist minister, when she was often called to visit dying AIDS patients in Shadyside Hospital.

The AIDS crisis led to the marriage movement, said the Rev. Janet Edwards, a Presbyterian Church (USA) minister from Squirrel Hill. Gay people realized the danger of not having health insurance or federal survivor benefits and were inspired by men who faithfully cared for their stricken partners.

"They embraced many within the community who were involved in long-term, deeply committed, loving, supportive relationships, which they began to recognize was marriage," said Rev. Edwards, who endured a church trial in 2008 for conducting a marriage of two women. She was acquitted on the grounds that she couldn't have done so since marriage is only between a man and a woman.

Rev. Edwards said that in an era when Christians lament the failure of heterosexuals to marry, same-sex couples are their allies.

"It's a gift from the LGBT community to the whole, which is to get all of us thinking about the value of marriage," she said.


Different interpretations

Most opposition to same-sex civil marriage is rooted in religious conviction. A recent Pew poll found that 73 percent of those who believe that gay sex is sinful oppose it, while 84 percent of those who say it's not a sin support it.

Leviticus 20:13 says, "If a man has sexual relations with a man ... both of them have done what is detestable. They are to be put to death."

That Bible verse isn't what led Wesley Hill, assistant professor of biblical studies at Trinity School for Ministry in Ambridge, to conclude that his gay sexual orientation requires him to be celibate. The first two chapters of Genesis, which "presents male and female as the partners of one another" and Jesus' affirmation of that in Matthew 19, are far more important to him.

Mr. Hill, 32, grew up in a Baptist family where homosexuality was unacceptable, but he knew that other traditions found it compatible with Christianity. He studied all sides, he said.

"I found myself convinced of the more traditional reading of scripture, that marriage between one man and one woman was the only context for sexual expression in a Christian setting, and that if I intended to remain a traditional orthodox Christian, I needed to be celibate."

He believes people are born with same-sex orientation as a result of the fall -- humanity's original rebellion against God -- which brought imperfections to the world. He hasn't settled his view of same-sex civil marriage.

"There is wide agreement in traditional Christian churches on what scripture says but a wide range of views on how you translate that into a secular society where there are people who are not Christians and there are gay people who want to get married," he said.

Some theologians say the biblical condemnations concern pagan rituals, not committed relationships. More liberal theologians argue that there was no biblical standard for marriage, citing patriarchs with multiple wives. Theological conservatives say those are a record of sin, not an endorsement of polygamy or adultery.

The Rev. Dave Thompson of Tacoma, Wash., is an evangelical gay man who consults with conservative congregations torn over how to respond to gays and lesbians. He believes that God created humans heterosexual, but after the fall, some people inherited same-sex attraction. He says this is as morally neutral as blindness, and that a faithful same-sex relationship is the closest that gays and lesbians can come to the biblical standard of marriage.

Despite Jesus' condemnation of remarriage after divorce, most "evangelical churches welcome and embrace those individuals whose circumstances are unchangeable," he said. "We don't recommend celibacy because we know it won't work. We need to embrace gay individuals in the same circumstances and say as God did in Genesis that 'It is not good that man should be alone.' "

Archbishop Duncan isn't convinced that same-sex attraction is inborn. If it is, he said, it's a temptation that Christians are called to resist.

"People have inclinations for all kinds of things, but we don't celebrate addiction. We don't celebrate things that result from our fallenness," he said.

"In the cases where he meets people with moral problems and blesses and heals them, Jesus says 'Go and sin no more.' I've got to try to love the way he loves."


New majority

John Green, director of the Bliss Institute of Applied Politics at the University of Akron, has been surveying gay marriage since 2003, when 32 percent of Americans favored legalization.

For the first time, his poll for the Pew Research Center this month found a majority -- 51 percent -- saying it should be legal. The shift has been smaller among theologically conservative Protestants, with 22 percent of white evangelicals and 32 percent of black Protestants supporting same-sex civil marriage. Despite opposition from their bishops, Catholics are among Americans most supportive of legal same-sex marriage, with 61 percent in favor.

Mr. Green attributes that figure to less active Catholics who outnumber frequent Mass-goers. Hispanics, who account for nearly a third of Catholics and tend to favor legalizing gay marriage, also made an impact.

He speculates that Hispanic support comes from roots in nations where civil marriage and church marriage are separate, and couples marry at city hall before any church ceremony. They may see no conflict between civil and church marriage, he said.

Some evangelical leaders now acknowledge that people with an exclusively same-sex orientation can't change it, said Rev. Thompson, a member of the Presbyterian Church (USA). Now 38, he spent 15 years trying to change his orientation. Exodus International, which sponsored his support group, renounced such therapy last year and closed its doors last week.

Evangelical support for legal agreements, such as civil unions, that grant rights and responsibilities similar to marriage, was at 49 percent in the Pew survey. Overall, 67 percent of the public approved of such unions.

In 1997, the Catholic Archdiocese of San Francisco, led by an archbishop who later served doctrinal guardian for Pope Benedict XVI, reached an accord with the city over same-sex health benefits. Employees could designate beneficiaries in their household, such as adult siblings or friends, whether or not the relationship was sexual.

But the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops now opposes federal efforts to "incrementally erode marriage, including attempts to expand spousal benefits ... to persons of the same sex or other unmarried persons."

Mr. Rohrer, the former state legislator, is as opposed to alternative legal arrangements as to same-sex marriage.

"Government's interest is to not recognize any other substitute and thereby weaken the family, which weakens society, which weakens the nation."

Rev. Waun said, "People are treating this as a religious issue when it's a constitutional issue. We're talking about equality before the law. The church can decide what it wants to do. It doesn't have to perform gay weddings."

Clergy often refuse to officiate. Many rabbis won't marry a Jew to a non-Jew, for instance.

"The First Amendment ensures that no house of worship or clergy will ever be forced to marry anyone they do not want to, including same-sex couples," Mr. Wolfson said.


Other impacts on marriage

James Skillen is the retired president of The Center for Public Justice, the evangelical social justice lobby.

He believes that if the Supreme Court rules that same-sex marriage is a civil right, anti-discrimination statutes are likely to be amended. He cited Catholic social service agencies that ended adoptions because their state required them to consider same-sex adoptive parents.

"I'm against the whole idea of assuming that America should be a Christian culture," he said. "But the reality is that what people of faith will be allowed to do publicly will become narrower and narrower."

Mr. Skillen has long been on record in cautious support of a domestic partnership that would allow the designation of benefits to household members whether or not the relationship was sexual. But he is deeply concerned about same-sex marriage.

"Government doesn't create marriage and government doesn't define marriage," he said. It provided benefits only to strengthen society and protect children, he said.

He believes that developments since 1970, including test-tube babies and surrogate mothers, have weakened those protections and turned children into commodities. He expects same-sex civil marriage to further that trend. He said the battle against gay marriage was lost long ago when society failed to ask how the pregnancy industry redefined marriage and family.

"I think we will have a society in which marriage will mean less and less socially and morally," he said. "Government will become increasingly responsible for the unwanted children and for those turned back because the people changed their mind. They will pay a fine, but they won't have the police on their doorstep to make sure children are taken care of."

If same-sex marriage is ruled a civil right, "Then why shouldn't any combination of persons, whether same sex or opposite sex, be able to claim a right to call their relationship marriage? To insist on legalizing marriage only for twosomes would be ... arbitrary," he said.

No matter what the court rules, same-sex couples live openly now. When they move in next door, said Bishop David Zubik of the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh, they should be welcomed. Those who fear it sets a bad example for children, he said, "Any time that I act uncharitable toward someone, I'm setting a bad example. ... Sometimes people have a difference of opinion. But I think that can lead to a very fruitful discussion. It doesn't mean that people have to surrender their beliefs."


Ann Rodgers: arodgers@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1416.
First Published June 23, 2013 12:00 am


Source: http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/local/region/christians-views-vary-on-gay-marriage-692745/#ixzz2X31vfUeX

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Activist who taught Obama to be community organizer is retiring



BY TINA SFONDELES Staff Reporter/tsfondeles@suntimes.com June 2, 2013 8:54PM





Greg Galluzzo is retiring after a lifetime as a Chicago community activist. He mentored Barack Obama during his days as a young community organizer on the South Side of Chicago. He also started the Fiesta del Sol festival in Pilsen. | Sun-Times Media



ARTICLE EXTRAS


View Gallery


Updated: June 3, 2013 2:13AM


The man who taught a young Barack Obama how to be a community organizer on the South Side of Chicago recalls his ability to talk to anyone, from the very poor to the very rich.

At 69, Greg Galluzzo is weeks from retiring — or at least not getting paid — from the Gamaliel Foundation, the training and consulting organization he has directed since 1986. Galluzzo, also the creator of the United Neighborhood Organization, managed to stay behind the scenes during his 41-year community-organizing career, which he says is the sign of a good organizer.

“We’re not supposed to be in the spotlight,”
he said. “We’re suppposed to create the scenario so the indigenous people of the community are our leaders.”

But there are those in the community-organizing world who take a different and very public path. Galluzo met Obama in 1985, and remembers him at age 21 as “a hardworking man, very willing to learn, a man with incredible integrity and a man who was comfortable no matter who he was talking to.”

“He really embraced the community, and the community embraced him,” Galluzzo said. “I think it was one of the more formative moments in his life where he became proud of his own ancestry because the people made him proud.”

Galluzzo met with Obama weekly for a year, teaching him how to raise money for his community organization and how to design community strategies.



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P.S.
According to the words above G. Galluzzo met Obama in 1985, and Barack was 21.  Obama supposedly was born in 1961;  So in 1985, Obama would have been 23 or 24 years old, not 21.  

Saturday, June 22, 2013

What Does Human Brain Mapping Actually Tell Us?



Alice G. Walton, Contributor



PHARMA & HEALTHCARE

6/21/2013 @ 2:04PM



BigBrain, Courtesy of Amunts et al 2013


Google “brain” right now and you’ll find a mountain of news stories on a development known as the BigBrain project, which came out just yesterday: Researchers in Europe and Canada have just mapped the human brain with a precision that’s so strikingly detailed, that it’s unprecedented in humans – and it’s in 3D. The team has devised a way to cut the brain into 20 micrometer-thick sections – far slimmer than the chunky 1 mm sections that have been available with magnetic resonance – dye them, scan them, and reconstruct the slices into a 3D “atlas” of the human brain. But while the research is impressive by any count, and it will certainly gives us some clues into brain cell function and anatomy, there’s a limit to what it can tell us.

To accomplish the mission, the team used the donated brain of a 65-year old woman. It was preserved in formalin and then set in paraffin before slicing. The sections were mounted on glass slides and stained. Then came the scanning prep.

“After this we had over 7400 histological sections,” says author Katrin Amunts. “And a large number of wooden boxes in the lab to hold them!” She and her team used a flatbed scanner to scan the slices – a process, says Amunts, that took about 1,000 hours alone. Part of the process was the removal of all the artifacts of slicing – folds, ruptures, and other miscellaneous blips.

The 3D image of the brain was formed by reconstructing the slices, making what is essentially a cell-by-cell computer image or “atlas” of the brain. The data take up a mind-boggling terabyte of space.

So what information does brain mapping actually offer? It will certainly give us a better idea of where one region ends and the next begins, for a closer understanding of behavior-brain correspondence. It will also allow researchers to start making simulations, perhaps making it possible to “see” what happens in various disease states, say, in an Alzheimer’s- or Parkinson’s afflicted brain over time. “Researchers can take these images,” says Amunts, “and measure surfaces, thicknesses of cortical layers. It provides precise anatomical measures, and lets us make comparisons to in vivo imaging.”

She adds that this brain essentially becomes a new gold standard in the field. “We have a new reference brain,” says Amunts. “It can help us address questions and data coming from neuroscience about things like receptor distribution, microanatomy. Before this, the data were so scattered, we haven’t been able to compare it very effectively.” Plus, the resolution from MRI scans is much poorer – a clumsy 1-mm thickness, which is “not good enough to address questions about microstructure,” adds Amunts.

In terms of the person-to-person brain differences that are inevitable, Amunts says, “This is true. And we’ve actually started second brain, to account for some of these. We’re aware of intersubject variability. But the first brain has all the areas that you need.” She says her team probably won’t do more than a few brains in total, given the massive time commitment each requires.

And BigBrain will almost certainly have some major clinical implications, giving doctors a hand in neurosurgery and in placing electrodes during procedures like deep brain stimulation (DBS).

What the project doesn’t do is tell us a whole lot about anything else – those “deeper” questions that we’re all dying understand. In this way, the headlines touting BigBrain’s ability to work such magic as to “unlock the secrets of the mind” and that kind of thing may not to so accurate.

In fact, in a well-timed New York Times editorial this week, David Brooks makes the important point that the brain is not, after all, the mind, and as much as we’d like to think we’re getting closer to grasping human consciousness and thought with imaging studies, we’re just not. The “neurocentrism,” he says, that we’re so attached to is actually not serving us so well at all. In his words, “An important task these days is to harvest the exciting gains made by science and data while understanding the limits of science and data. The next time somebody tells you what a brain scan says, be a little skeptical. The brain is not the mind.”

When asked about the limits of the 3D brain atlas, Amunts says that though it doesn’t answer all questions, ultimately, basic neuroscience is critical for what it can offer us. “I’m a physician by training. I want to know why the region in the language area is involved in language. You have to understand brain first.” Her past work has mapped out the architecture of the brain, and, she says, the specificity can be dazzling. “And now we can look at everything in the same brain. If you only do small bit, you don’t have the full truth. But now we can analyze the whole brain.”

So this is on many levels a big accomplishment for Europe’s Human Brain Project, which has the not unlike our own BRAIN initiative. But there are limits to what it can tell us, and it only gives a peek at what’s actually going on in our heads. There’s much more work to be done, and a staggering number of questions that still need answers.


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Turmoil in the Cities

Photo (Courtesy) Francisco Camacho


May 13

Evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived. 2 Timothy 3:13. 

It was not God’s purpose that His people should be crowded into cities, huddled together in terraces and tenements. In the beginning He placed our first parents in a garden amidst the beautiful sights and attractive sounds of nature, and these sights and sounds He desires men to rejoice in today.
Light has been given me that the cities will be filled with confusion, violence, and crime, and that these things will increase till the end of this earth’s history.
It is time for our people to take their families from the cities into more retired localities, else many of the youth, and many also of those older in years, will be ensnared and taken by the enemy.

Out of the cities; out of the cities!”—this is the message the Lord has been giving me. 
The turmoil and confusion that fill these cities, the conditions brought about by the labor unions and the strikes, would prove a great hindrance to our work. Men are seeking to bring those engaged in the different trades under bondage to certain unions. This is not God’s planning, but the planning of a power that we should in no wise acknowledge. God’s word is fulfilling; the wicked are binding themselves up in bundles ready to be burned. 

We are now to use all our entrusted capabilities in giving the last warning message to the world. In this work we are to preserve our individuality. We are not to unite with secret societies or with trade-unions. We are to stand free in God, looking constantly to Christ. 

The ungodly cities of our world are to be swept away by the besom of destruction. In the calamities that are now befalling immense buildings and large portions of cities God is showing us what will come upon the whole earth. He has told us: “Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh: so likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it [the coming of the Son of man] is near, even at the doors.” Matthew 24:32, 33. 


Maranatha, p.141.
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End Time Preparedness - Autumn 2013 Seminars


Itinerary


We have not yet scheduled our 2014 Spring Seminar trip. If you are interested in having us present seminars in your area, please send us an email through the “Contact Us” form. For details on the seminars, please visit our ‘About Our Seminars‘ page!


Here is our current list of seminars schedule for this summer and fall:

August 3/4 Eugene SDA Church, 1275 Polk St., Eugene, OR 97402
Starting times: Aug. 3 ~ 2:30 pm; Aug. 4 ~ 10:00 am (bring a sack lunch)
Contact: TBA
Directions: Click here for a map

September 22, 2013- Spokane Sustainable Preparedness EXPO- Spokane County Fair and Expo Center Don’t miss this exciting event in Spokane Valley, WA! Come hear up to 20+ different seminars, meet lots of vendors with their areas of expertise, and network with many other like-minded individuals! For more info visit: www.SustainablePreparedness.com.

September 29, 2013- Seattle Sustainable Preparedness EXPO- Evergreen State Fairgrounds Don’t miss this exciting event in Monroe, WA! Come hear up to 20+ different seminars, meet lots of vendors with their areas of expertise, and network with many other like-minded individuals! For more info visit: www.SustainablePreparedness.com.



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Note:

I believe this is what was once known as Mountain Media Minstries of The Meissners, Craig, Nancy and Nick. 

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