Saturday, June 29, 2013

Rand Paul: Obama’s empty talk coming back to haunt him


June 29, 2013 by Joe Saunders


Remember the sequester that was supposed to destroy the American economy?


Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul does.

And in a speech Friday night in South Carolina, he said the American public’s memories of the overheated rhetoric President Obama and his fellow Democrats used to describe the sequester’s impact is just another reason they’re losing support.




“I think people saw through it and saw it frankly as a charade. They saw that he was playing games,” Paul said. “And I think he’s losing respect from the public for this.”

At a GOP event in the Palmetto State, Paul said the Democratic doomsaying about the sequester budget cuts – and the virtually nonexistent repercussions of them so far – means Republicans could be “actually winning the battle on this, the public relations battle.”

Paul, a potential contender for the Republican presidential nomination in 2016, hasn’t officially announced his candidacy, but the South Carolina trip had a campaign feel to it, The Hill reported. In a state whose early primary has made it a lightning-rod for attention from GOP contenders, Paul visited local tea party groups, Republican activists and big-money donors Palmetto State donors.

He also used the opportunity to attack Hillary Clinton, the biggest name on the Democrats’ list of possible post-Obama candidates. Paul revived questions about Clinton’s handling of the attack on the U.S. consulate that killed an American ambassador and three others in Benghazi, Libya, in September.

“I’ve had a few questions for Hillary Clinton,” he said, according to The Hill. “She hasn’t really answered them to my satisfaction. I frankly think she isn’t telling the truth.”

He didn’t get any argument from the crowd.



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Susan Rice: Snowden leaks haven't weakened Obama




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In this June 25, 2013 photo provided by the United Nations, outgoing U.S. Ambassador Susan Rice speaks to reporters at her final news conference at the U.N. headquarters. Rice, who will start her new job as U.S. national security adviser on July 1, said the U.N. Security Council's failure to take action to stop the conflict in Syria is "a moral and strategic disgrace that history will judge harshly." (AP Photo/United Nations Photo, Devra Berkowitz)





EDITH M. LEDERER 29 minutes ago PoliticsForeign PolicyBarack ObamaUnited States



UNITED NATIONS (AP) — U.S. Ambassador Susan Rice dismissed claims that Edward Snowden's highly classified leaks have weakened the Obama presidency and damaged U.S. foreign policy, insisting that the United States will remain "the most influential, powerful and important country in the world."

Rice's remarks were her only public ones on Snowden and came in an interview with The Associated Press as she prepared to leave the U.N. post and start her new job Monday as President Barack Obama's national security adviser.

She said it's too soon to judge whether there will be any long-term serious repercussions from the intelligence leaks by the former National Security Agency contractor who fled to Hong Kong and then Russia after seizing documents disclosing secret U.S. surveillance programs in the U.S. and overseas, which he has shared with The Guardian and Washington Post newspapers.

"I don't think the diplomatic consequences, at least as they are foreseeable now, are that significant," she said.

U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel and Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, have called Snowden's leaks a serious breach that damaged national security. Hagel said Thursday an assessment of the damage is being done now.

"There will always be difficult issues of the day," Rice said, "and frankly this period is not particularly unique."

"I think the Snowden thing is obviously something that we will get through, as we've gotten through all the issues like this in the past," she said in the interview Thursday before heading to a lunch in her honor hosted by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

The United States has charged Snowden with espionage and demanded his extradition, but China and Hong Kong let him fly to Moscow and the Russians have so far refused. The Snowden case has not only raised tensions with Moscow and Beijing but with many Americans concerned about the NSA collecting their Internet and phone data.

Rice dismissed commentators who say Snowden's disclosures have made Obama a lame duck, damaged his political base, and hurt U.S. foreign policy, saying: "I think that's bunk."

"I think the United States of America is and will remain the most influential, powerful and important country in the world, the largest economy, and the largest military, (with) a network of alliances, values that are universally respected," she said.

Rice said Obama has "significant ambitions and a real agenda" for his second term, pointing to major speeches last week on disarmament and nonproliferation and this week on the impact of climate change.

As for Snowden, she said, "It's often, if not always something, and U.S. leadership will continue to be unrivaled, demanded, expected — and reviled and appreciated around the world."

Rice, 48, is expected to bring her outspoken and aggressive negotiating style to her new, higher-profile job
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At the United Nations, she has been a bold and blunt ambassador, successfully pushing for tougher sanctions against Iran and North Korea and international intervention in Libya. But Libya ultimately caused her greatest professional disappointment when she became the face of the administration's bungled account of the terrorist attack in Benghazi that killed four Americans, including the U.S. ambassador.

The furor scuttled Rice's long-held hopes of becoming secretary of state when it became clear she would not gain Senate confirmation to that post, which went to John Kerry.

Rice has called her 4 1/2 years at the U.N. "the best job I ever had," and told The AP she would be "hard-pressed" to think of any better place to prepare for her new post.

"You get to deal with ... literally every country under the sun, and I think you get a unique feel for the orientations, interests, styles, of a wide, wide range of countries," she said.

To succeed at the U.N., Rice said, it's crucial to form alliances and coalitions, which change depending on the issue, so a friend one day can be an opponent the next day.

Rice has sparred repeatedly with Russia's U.N. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin, who can be equally blunt. But despite being on opposite sides of the Syrian conflict, which has paralyzed council action to end the fighting, Rice said they agree perhaps 85 percent of the time.

"I like and respect him," she said. "I think he likes and respects me, and it's been a good relationship. That's why I asked him to speak at my farewell. I asked people who were important to me. He's a very smart and a very funny guy and he can be a pain in the butt, too — and I tell him that to his face!"

At the farewell, Churkin delivered an off-the-record roast of Rice, without notes, that had some 300 diplomats, U.N. officials and journalists doubled-over in laughter.

The Syrian conflict will be near the top of Rice's agenda in Washington as will the nuclear ambitions of Iran and North Korea.

Rice said the result of Iran's presidential election earlier this month, a victory for Hasan Rouhani, a moderate who supports direct talks with Washington, "was a dramatic demonstration of the Iranian peoples' dissatisfaction with the status quo."

"To the extent that the leadership feels obliged to heed popular opinion — obviously we would hope they would — it may perhaps signal a readiness to move in a different direction, and if so, we would welcome it," she said.


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P.S.
*Susan Rice (CFR, Trilateral Commission Executive Committee)
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Obama visits former slave trade fort in Senegal

NEWS


28/06 13:57 CET


Play/stop Video



On the first leg of his eight day visit to Africa, US president Obama has taken his family to visit the point in Senegal where Africans were shipped as slaves to North America.

The House of Slaves fort on Goree Island off the coast of Senegal, was built in the late 18th century. For Obama, it was a moving moment.

He told local people who had come to see him that: “It’s always powerful for me to visit countries outside of the United States generally, but obviously for an African-American, and an African-American president to be able to visit this site I think gives me even greater motivation in terms of the defence of human rights around the world.”

Obama’s next stop is South Africa. The White House has said it is up to Nelson Mandela’s family whether Obama pays Mandela a visit. Mandela is described as in a ‘serious but stable’ condition. The US president has previously described the former South African president as a ‘hero.’


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FYI: 
 (Some folks don't know history or geography)

The president states that he is African-American, and he is right;  According to his own biography, his father Obama Sr. was a Kenyan (an African), and his mother Stanley was from Kansas (White).  

Yet, Obama does not share the African American lineage (he claims) that is descended from the men and women of the African Diaspora that populated the Western Hemisphere (from the U.S. to Argentina) between the 16th through 19th Centuries;  The African Diaspora of the United States, Mexico, Central America, The Caribbean, and South America. e


A geographic explanation

The people that came to the New World during colonial times were from Western Africa (on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean): Senegal, Ivory Coast, Nigeria, Ghana, etc.
On the other hand, Kenya is in East Africa near the Indian Ocean...



The distance between Dakar, Senegal to Nairobi, Kenya is: 3829.1 Miles.

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Cabinet to Consider Sunday as the Day of Rest



(Thursday, June 27th, 2013)





The National Religious Party years ago pushed a bill that would give Israelis a day off monthly, working its plan around rosh chodesh. It was defeated. As a result, the only day off in Israel is Shabbos and many feel that the result is increased chilul Shabbos.

The late MK Rabbi Meir Kahane HY”D was among those who felt Israeli should have Sundays off as is the case in the USA. He proposed moving the national sport, soccer; to Sundays, and this would result in hundreds of thousands of Sephardim opting to go to shul instead of soccer matches. This too did not occur. These efforts were premised on the fact that the half day off on erev Shabbos would not be forfeited, for doing so would also increase chilul Shabbos chas v’sholom.

This time around Minister (Likud) Silvan Shalom may has sufficient support for his plan, to declare Sunday a day of rest and Friday would become a regular work day. Undoubtedly this will be met by fierce chareidi objections, fearing the day off would be at the expense of chilul Shabbos for those unable to get out of work and home in time for Shabbos.


Shalom will on Sunday, 22 Tammuz 5773 convene a meeting with representatives of the Prime Minister’s Office, economic experts, officials connected to Galil and Negev development and others as he seeks to advance his bill. Shalom wishes to have an “American weekend” in Israel instead of the current situation in which many are off on Fridays and those who work end after a half day.

Shalom and supporters of the plan feel this will give residents “a real weekend off”. Shalom believes the move would result in sharp increase in internal tourism as Israelis would be able to go away for a weekend. He is proposing a trial run, perhaps four Sundays over a period of months as a trial to ascertain the feasibility of the changeover.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)


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P.S.

The agencies of evil are combining their forces and consolidating. They are strengthening for the last great crisis. Great changes are soon to take place in our world, and the final movements will be rapid ones.
Testimonies for the Church, vol. 9, p. 11.
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Interpol ~ New World Order Database ~ Bob Trefz



 

MrPioneerlight2011

Published on Jun 23, 2013


DECEMBER 16, 2009: OBAMA SIGNS AN EXECUTIVE ORDER: A DEADLY MODERN-DAY GESTAPO IS SET UP ON U.S. SOIL...INTERPOL OS THE INTERNATIONAL POLICE. FOUNDED IN 1923, THE SECOND LARGEST INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATION IN THE WORLD, RUN BY THE GESTAPO AND NAZI SS...FLUSH WITH THE NAZIS FROM 1930'S-1970'S...A MAJOR STEP IN SETTING UP THE FINAL ROMAN INQUISITION TAKES PLACE...

IN THE DARK OF NIGHT, OBAMA SIGNED E.O. 13524, AMENDING E.O. 12425, GIVING INTERPOL IMMUNITY FROM SEARCH AND SEIZURE, GRANTING IMMUNITY FROM THE US CONSTITUTION. AMERICA IS NOW UNDER THE AUTHORITY OF INTERPOL, THE 21ST CENTURY GESTAPO, WHICH NOW STANDS ABOVE THE CONSTITUTION....
THE GREAT CONTROVERSY HAS GIVEN THE WARNING--A SNARE IS NOW BEING PLACED ON AMERICA--HER FORMER PERSECUTIONS WILL BE REPEATED. IT IS AN EFFECTIVE GLOBAL SYSTEM OF ARREST AND IMPRISONMENT--JUST WHAT THE POPE CALLED FOR. 100 SECRET PRISONS ARE NOW AWAITING THE EXTRAORDINARY RENDITIONS OF INTERPOL. EXTRADITION IS THE EXPERTISE OF INTERPOL. THE GULAG HAS BEEN SET UP, NOW THE GLOBAL GESTAPO HAS BEEN SET UP. WE SHALL SOON SEE AND FEEL WHAT THE ROMAN ELEMENT IS.

THE PROTECTION OF HUMAN LAWS ARE BEGINNING TO BE WITHDRAWN FROM THOSE DESIGNATED AS "ENEMY COMBATANTS." THE SHEKINAH GLORY WILL PROTECT HIS FAITHFUL ONES...THE TRIUMPH AND GLORY OF THE VICTORY CELEBRATION IN HEAVEN WILL BE TREMENDOUS OVER THE GREAT WHORE!
For More Information Please See Our Website: www.exposingdeceptions.org

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Meditation on Revelation


The solemn messages that have been given in their order in the Revelation are to occupy the first place in the minds of God’s people.

Testimonies for the Church Vol. 8,  p.302.


I then saw the third angel. Said my accompanying angel, “Fearful is his work. Awful is his mission. He is the angel that is to select the wheat from the tares and seal, or bind, the wheat for the heavenly garner. These things should engross the whole mind, the whole attention.”

Early Writings, p.118.


Friday, June 28, 2013

Happy Sabbath


After Marriage Decision, Churches Wonder: What`s Next?



2 hrs 12 mins ago 2:10Tribune Religion

After a historic Supreme Court decision this week on same sex marriage, the LGBT community praised the decision and celebrated. But some churches are wondering what this means for them and their futures. One Pastor says it doesn`t matter what the government says and that his church still has the same stance on same sex marriage. Many churches are torn about what to accept and what to do going forward.



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Cleric and 2 Others Arrested in Vatican Bank Investigation



By RACHEL DONADIO

Published: June 28, 2013



ROME — The Italian police on Friday arrested a prelate, a financial broker and an agent of the Italian Secret Service on corruption charges as part of a complex plot in which the priest — who is already under investigation on suspicion of money laundering involving the Vatican Bank
— is accused of trying to repatriate millions of euros from Switzerland to Italy in a private plane.



Francesco Pecoraro/Associated Press

Prosecutors allege that a broker and a secret service agent had been plotting to help Monsignor Nunzio Scarano bring 20 million euros into Italy from Switzerland in a private jet.

Those arrested were charged with fraud, corruption and slander as part of a broad investigation tied to the famously secretive Vatican Bank.

Prosecutors say that the broker and the Secret Service agent had been plotting to help the priest bring 20 million euros, or $26 million, into Italy from Switzerland in a private jet, the ANSA news agency reported. It said that the 20 million euros belonged to “some friends of the monsignor.” The plot never went through.

In a statement, the Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, said that the priest, Msgr. Nunzio Scarano, had been suspended from his position at one of the Vatican’s main financial departments “more than a month ago, ever since his superiors were informed that he was under investigation.”

The Vatican spokesman said that the Holy See had not received any requests from the Italian authorities, but confirmed its “willingness for full collaboration,” and that the Vatican’s internal financial watchdog was following the matter and would take appropriate measures “if necessary.” Those would include requesting that the Vatican’s internal prosecutor open an internal investigation into the monsignor.

A Vatican official said Monsignor Scarano had been suspended from his position as an accountant at APSA, a department that oversees the Vatican’s real estate holdings, after prosecutors in Salerno opened a separate investigation into money laundering. The official indicated that the suspension was a sign that the Vatican was stepping up its internal vigilance.

Only priests, religious, Catholic institutions, employees of Vatican City State and diplomats accredited to the Holy See are allowed to have accounts at the Vatican Bank, known as the Institute for Works of Religion, but rumors have long swirled about whether accounts were used as fronts for other interests, including organized crime and Italian politicians.

In the past, the Italian prelates who controlled the Vatican Bank tended to see any inquires into possible malfeasance as an attack on its sovereignty. Pope Francis and his predecessor, Benedict XVI, have tried to make the Vatican Bank more transparent.

It was not immediately clear whether the Vatican was cooperating with Italian authorities or whether the arrests stemmed from several suspicious transactions — six in 2012 and seven in the first half of 2013 — that Vatican officials said they had flagged and brought to the attention of the Vatican’s own internal prosecutors.

The arrests Friday were the most dramatic events to emerge from the Rome prosecutors’ investigation into the Vatican Bank since 2010, when prosecutors seized 23 million euros from two external accounts used by the Vatican Bank and placed its then-president and director general under investigation.

It had been acting on a warning from the Bank of Italy urging Italian banks to be more vigilant in their dealings with the Vatican, which has not come into full compliance with European banking norms, making it costly and problematic for other banks to do business with it.

In recent years, the Vatican has been under pressure to meet European norms as a condition for using the euro. In 2010, it created an internal financial watchdog and last year appointed as its director a Swiss lawyer who had helped Liechtenstein clean up its murky banking system.

This month, Pope Francis appointed a trusted prelate to a top post at the bank and on Wednesday, the pope took a further step and created a committee of prelates and a Harvard Law School professor to report directly to him on the bank’s progress.

In an interview last month, the new president of the Vatican Bank, Ernst von Freyberg, who was appointed in February by Benedict in one of his last acts as pope, said that he was committed to making the bank more transparent and compliant.

Last year, a report by Moneyval, a monitoring agency under the Council of Europe, said that the Vatican had made progress but still needed to improve in terms of compliance and customer due diligence. The Vatican must submit a new progress report to Moneyval this fall.

Vatican officials have said that the Vatican needs a bank to help Catholic institutions operate around the world, including in politically sensitive areas. The bank had total assets of 7.1 billion euros under management in 2012, most of it invested in government bonds, and turned a net profit of 86.6 million euros.


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Atheists to Unveil Florida Courthouse Monument


Press Release: Atheists to Unveil Florida Courthouse Monument

Posted on: May 29, 2013

Cranford, NJ—Following a settlement with Bradford County, Florida, American Atheists will unveil a new monument in front of the Bradford County Courthouse: a 1,500-pound granite bench engraved with quotations from Thomas Jefferson, Madalyn Murray O’Hair, Benjamin Franklin, and others. The bench will sit adjacent to an existing monument featuring the Ten Commandments.

The unveiling is scheduled for June 29 at noon. It is the first atheist-sponsored monument on government property in the United States. American Atheists President David Silverman will deliver the dedication.

The monument features an excerpt from the Treaty of Tripoli, signed by President John Adams, which declares “The United States is in no sense founded on the Christian religion”; and excerpts from the Bible, quoting the biblical punishments for breaking each of the Ten Commandments–many command death.

American Atheists, along with plaintiff Daniel Cooney of Starke, filed suit in May 2012 for the removal of the Ten Commandments monument, citing separation of religion and government because the monument is on government land.

“We have maintained from the beginning that the Ten Commandments doesn’t belong on government property,” said Silverman. “There is no secular purpose for the monument whatsoever and it makes atheists feel like second-class citizens. But if keeping it there means we have the right to install our own monument, then installing our own is exactly what we’ll do.”

“The monument emphasizes the role secularism has played in American history,” said Public Relations Director Dave Muscato. “And the Bible quotes make it clear that the Ten Commandments are not the ‘great moral code’ they’re often portrayed to be. Don’t kill, don’t steal? Of course. But worship only the Judeo-Christian god? That conflicts overtly with the very first right in the Bill of Rights, freedom of religion.”

“When it comes to government and religion, there are only two ways to show equality: all or none,” said Ken Loukinen, Regional Operations Director. “I am glad that Bradford County has chosen to show equality and will be a great example for other cities in Florida and the United States.”

The monument is being furnished by American Atheists via a grant from the Stiefel Freethought Foundation.

Immediately following the unveiling, a public celebration sponsored by the Tallahassee Atheists, the Humanists of Florida, and the Florida Atheists and Secular Humanists (FLASH) is scheduled to take place at the Days Inn by the courthouse on Temple Avenue in Starke, Florida.

RSVP for the unveiling & celebration on Facebook here.

AMERICAN ATHEISTS is a national 501(c)(3) organization that defends civil rights for atheists, freethinkers, and other nonbelievers; works for the total separation of religion and government; and addresses issues of First Amendment public policy. American Atheists celebrates its 50th anniversary this year.

American Atheists, Inc.
P.O. Box 158
Cranford, NJ 07016
Tel: (908) 276-7300
Fax: (908) 276-7402


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Chick-fil-a president deletes gay marriage remark





1 hour ago same-sex marriage



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Jim Fortier, left, and Mark Toomajian, kiss as they join about two dozen members of gay rights groups




ATLANTA (AP) — The president of the fast-food restaurant chain Chick-fil-A has once again injected himself into the gay marriage debate, this time criticizing U.S. Supreme Court rulings.

Dan Cathy posted a comment Wednesday on Twitter criticizing a pair of U.S. Supreme Court rulings. Those decisions will extend federal recognition to same-sex marriages in the states where they are legal, and will add California — the most populous state — to the 12 others in that category.

"Sad day for our nation; founding fathers would be ashamed of our gen. to abandon wisdom of the ages re: cornerstone of strong societies,"
Cathy wrote, according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (http://bit.ly/12qjRKF ). The post was later deleted.

Chick-fil-A issued a statement acknowledging the post, saying Cathy was offering a personal comment.

"Dan recognizes his views do not necessarily represent the views of all Chick-fil-A customers, restaurant owners and employees, so he removed the tweet to eliminate any confusion," the company said.

Cathy's view on gay marriage has created controversy for the Atlanta-based company best known for its fried chicken sandwiches and closing on Sundays. Last year, Cathy told the Baptist Press that the company was "guilty as charged" for backing "the biblical definition of a family." In a later radio interview, he ratcheted up the rhetoric: "I think we are inviting God's judgment on our nation when we shake our fist at him and say, 'We know better than you as to what constitutes a marriage.'"

Public officials in Boston, Philadelphia and Chicago told the company it was no not welcome, though the firm said it set a one-day sales record when after its supporters — including many religious conservatives — held a "Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day" last year. Gay marriage supporters held a "Kiss In" at the restaurants to protest Cathy's views.

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Information from: The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, http://www.ajc.com


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Which Bible verses did the NIV delete?

For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book. The Revelation of Jesus Christ 20: 18-19







WHOLE Bible verses deleted in the NIV



The following WHOLE verses have been removed in the NIV--whether in the text or footnotes.. here is but an example but there is over 40 IN ALL!!! The NIV also is a collaberator with the JWB or Jehovah's Witness "Bible".

Matthew 12:47 -- removed in the footnotes

Matthew 17:21 -- COMPLETELY removed [also deleted from the Jehovah's Witness "Bible"]. What are you NIV readers missing?
KJV: "Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting."

Matthew 18:11 -- COMPLETELY removed [also deleted from the Jehovah's Witness "Bible"]. What are you NIV readers missing?
KJV: "For the Son of man is come to save that which was lost."

Matthew 21:44 -- removed in the footnotes

Matthew 23:14 -- COMPLETELY removed [also deleted from the Jehovah's Witness "Bible"]. What are you NIV readers missing?
KJV: "Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye devour widows' houses, and for a pretence make long prayer: therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation."

Mark 7:16 -- COMPLETELY removed [also deleted from the Jehovah's Witness "Bible"]. What are you NIV readers missing?
KJV: "If any man have ears to hear, let him hear."

Mark 9:44 -- COMPLETELY removed [also deleted from the Jehovah's Witness "Bible"]. What are you NIV readers missing?
"Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched."

Mark 9:46 -- COMPLETELY removed [also deleted from the Jehovah's Witness "Bible"]. What are you NIV readers missing?
KJV: "Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched."

Mark 11:26 -- COMPLETELY removed [also deleted from the Jehovah's Witness "Bible"]. What are you NIV readers missing?
KJV: "But if ye do not forgive, neither will your Father which is in heaven forgive your trespasses."

Mark 15:28 -- COMPLETELY removed [also deleted from the Jehovah's Witness "Bible"]. What are you NIV readers missing?
KJV: "And the scripture was fulfilled, which saith, And he was numbered with the transgressors."

Mark 16:9-20 (all 12 verses) -- There is a line separating the last 12 verses of Mark from the main text. Right under the line it says: [The two most reliable early manuscripts do not have Mark 16:9-20] (NIV, 1978 ed.) The Jehovah's Witness "Bible" also places the last 12 verses of Mark as an appendix of sorts.

Luke 17:36 -- COMPLETELY removed [also deleted from the Jehovah's Witness "Bible"]. What are you NIV readers missing?
KJV: "Two men shall be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left."

Luke 22:44 -- removed in the footnotes

Luke 22:43 -- removed in the footnotes

Luke 23:17 -- COMPLETELY removed [also deleted from the Jehovah's Witness "Bible"]. What are you NIV readers missing?
KJV: "(For of necessity he must release one unto them at the feast.)"

John 5:4 -- COMPLETELY removed [also deleted from the Jehovah's Witness "Bible"]. What are you NIV readers missing?
KJV: "For an angel went down at a certain season into the pool, and troubled the water: whosoever then first after the troubling of the water stepped in was made whole of whatsoever disease he had."

John 7:53-8:11 -- removed in the footnotes

Acts 8:37 -- COMPLETELY removed [also deleted from the Jehovah's Witness "Bible"]. It's deletion makes one think that people can be baptized and saved without believing on the Lord Jesus Christ. Sounds Catholic. What are you NIV readers missing?

KJV: "And Philip said, If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God."

Acts 15:34 -- COMPLETELY removed [also deleted from the Jehovah's Witness "Bible"]. What are you NIV readers missing?
KJV: "Notwithstanding it pleased Silas to abide there still."

Acts 24:7 -- COMPLETELY removed [also deleted from the Jehovah's Witness "Bible"]. What are you NIV readers missing?
KJV: "But the chief captain Lysias came upon us, and with great violence took him away out of our hands,"

Acts 28:29 -- COMPLETELY removed [also deleted from the Jehovah's Witness "Bible"]. What are you NIV readers missing?
KJV: "And when he had said these words, the Jews departed, and had great reasoning among themselves."

Romans 16:24 -- COMPLETELY removed [also deleted from the Jehovah's Witness "Bible"]. What are you NIV readers missing?
KJV: "The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen."

I John 5:7 -- Vitally important phrase COMPLETELY removed [also deleted from the Jehovah's Witness "Bible"]. In the NIV it says,
"For there are three that testify:"
Compare the NIV reading with the following Jehovah's Witness reading--
"For there are three witness bearers,"
What are you NIV readers missing? What does the real Bible say?
KJV: "For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one."

This is one of the GREATEST verses testifying of the trinity. That is why the Jehovah's Witnesses leave it out. They do not believe in the trinity and they do not believe that Jesus is God. Why does the NIV leave it out...? Whole books have been written on the manuscript evidence that supports inclusion of this verse in the Bible. Reader, do you believe in the triunity of God? If so, then this deletion should offend you. People are playing around with the Bible and it ain't funny.

NIV Reader: Do you have enough confidence in the NIV to...
tell God, OUT LOUD, that these verses do not belong in the Bible?
If not, you need to get a King James so you can have some confidence.


EVIDENCE MENU


Source

Note:

  1. I am grateful because my Son sent me this link. 
  2. My only disagreement with this article is the concept of the Trinity; Besides that I concur with everything else. (The term Trinity does not appear anywhere in the Bible.)  I believe that the GODHEAD consists of 3 individual persons that constitute divinity.  
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Camilo Torres Restrepo, Colombian socialist, Roman Catholic priest



CAMILO TORRES DEMO



peripheriaprod

Uploaded on Jan 10, 2007


a film by Diego Briceno-Orduz
a Peripheria Production © 2006

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Liberation Theology and Its Role in Latin America


Colombian Catholic Priest Camilo Restrepo 



Liberation Theology and Socialism

Probably the greatest criticism of liberation theology is its association with socialism. There is a uniform conviction among liberation theologians that some form of socialism offers the best hope for Latin America.[26] However, liberation theologians acknowledge the failure of Marxist-socialist regimes as well as the failure of capitalism. Capitalism favors the privileged, but socialism, in practice, has involved repression and state-control. However, liberation theologians, such as Gutiérrez, see their theory of socialism as something uniquely Latin American and not simply an imitation of old models of any particular philosophy, including Marxism.[27] And the connections between socialism and liberation theology have weakened considerably since its inception to allow liberation theology to appeal to the middle-class. Today, to liberation theologians, socialism offers three advantages: people's basic needs will be met, ordinary people will be active in building a new society, and what is created will be a new Latin America, not a copy of old socialist ideals.[28] Base Ecclesial Communities are one of the only practices that combine both liberation theology and socialism, but even the Communities do not endorse Marxist socialism as much as a system of fairness and equality. The connections between liberation theology and socialism are far more apparent in theory than in practice.



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The History of the Catholic Church in Latin America and Liberation Theology





The Jesuit Order was founded in 1540 and came to Spanish America during the term of Thomas de Souza as governor between 1549 and 1553. At that time the Franciscan and Dominican monks were already established in the New World, but these orders were not destined to have the significant impact that the Company of Jesus or the Jesuit Order was to have on the indigenous peoples of Brazil, Ecuador, Colombia, Paraguay, Chile, Mexico, Peru, Guatemala and Haiti. Through their successes with the Indians taken into their care and the resulting conflicts, the Jesuits were finally expelled from South America in 1767.

The Jesuits were inspired to establish their own social order by St. Thomas More who published his Utopia in 1516. The fundamental idea of Utopia was to “restore society to its Christian bases, adopting as supreme guide the norms of natural rights.” The Jesuits saw themselves as fulfilling Thomas More’s prophesy, and to carry out this work they chose the impenetrable jungles of the New World as their home and workshop. Here they felt that they could do their work undisturbed, armed with a self government grant from the king which protected them from other Spaniards.

Land was granted to the Jesuit priests as well as to other religious orders. What mattered, really, was not so much the land itself, but rather the number of Indians, or souls, that lived upon it. Agriculture was important in 1650, and the Jesuits eventually counted themselves among the wealthiest landowners.

Mariano Picon-Salas wrote that the Jesuits formed a link between the baroque age and the prerevolutionary period, indicating their pre-eminence among several religious communities active in the Spanish holdings in the New World at that time. By the Seventeenth Century the Jesuit Order was the foremost cultural organization and one of the strongest economic and political forces in the entire colonial wor1d.

The Jesuits were international in character and brought clergymen into South America from many foreign nations. Father Kino organized Hungarians, Poles and Germans into Jesuit missions in Paraguay. These foreign priests brought new currents of thought to the Spanish Company of Jesus.

The Jesuits were students of the geography and natural history of the areas in which they worked. Father Jose Gumilla’s The Enlightened Orinoco, published in 1791, was “an excellent monograph on the Guianas that describes climatic phenomena flora, fauna and the ethnography of the interior.”

By the eighteenth century the intellectual standards, economic power and social influence of the Jesuits was unmatched. Their economic power derived from enormous plantaions in the central valley of Chile, ranches in the River Plate region and large city and rural estates in Peru and Mexico. There were Jesuit owned workshops in Paraguay, Peru and Ecuador, and mining interests in the Chaco area of New Granada, now Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela and Panama.

These vast holdings comprised the material aspect of what German Arciniegas calls the “largest Utopian experiment ever attempted.” The Jesuits established this “utopian empire” under adverse conditions. The first step was to pacify the local Indians. Father Gonzalez de Santa Cruz and Rodriguez y del Castillo were martyred in 1628 and were beatified by Pius XI. After the Indians were pacified the missions were often attacked by groups who were searching for Indians to use as slaves.

All Indians on the reductions received pots and pans, needles, clothing and other necessities. The quantity of these goods increased as the collective wealth of the community grew.

The government of the reduction was carried out by elected representatives. Again, this limited democracy did not stir admiration, but rather jealousy of the privileged Creoles. The Creole haciendas tended to be poorly managed, relying on slave labor. The reductions were perceived as political and economic threat and eventually were outlawed and the Jesuits were forced to leave New Granada.

Once the Jesuits gathered the Indians into the relative security and isolation of the reductions, the process of conversion and reinforcement of Christian Doctrine took place. Sometimes the Jesuits resorted to trickery and appealed to the Indians’ idolatry to reinforce Christianity. In Paraguay, the priests exploited the Indian’s idolatry by standing inside of a wooden statue and shouting orders to them.

The Jesuits also used the theater, already developed by Franciscan and Dominican monks. At that time the theater was an integral part of European religious festivals. It was used to attract and amuse the Indians. Dances of Indian and African origins were blended into the mysteries of the new religion. The purely African communities instantly accepted the school of the Jesuit theater and learned from it.

Another device which the Jesuit Fathers used to make religion more believable to the Guaranis was to use yerba-mate, a tea brewed from the leaves of the yerba tree. The Guarani believed that the yerba had magical powers since the yerba is actually a stimulant. Since the Jesuits could not persuade the Guaranis that yerba-mate did not have magical powers, they fabricated the story that St. Thomas had conveyed supernatural powers to the yerba and brewed it as a tea for his converts. The Jesuits eventually exported the yerba cultivated by the Guarani.

The Jesuits used their wealth, amassed from the workings of the reductions, by investing it in land, tools and draft animals. They were free with technical and scientific advice and allowed the Indians a voice in decision making. Jesuits used their wealth to direct and control seminaries and missions of great importance to the economic life of the colonies. They provided intellectual centers in small, provincial towns, providing banking facilities and forums for the resolution of local political problems.

In Paraguay the Jesuit press printed books in the Guarani language. These were printed from wooden fonts carved by the Indians, themselves. Although Guarani was the spoken language, prayers and hymns were written down in Latin.

In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries the Jesuits began to defend their Indian charges and their rights against the authority of Spain. This authority was present in the new elite and the landlords and the Jesuits were forced out of one city after another. Finally, after a last stand at Ilano, the Jesuits were forced out of New Granad altogether when Pope Clement XIV dissolved the order in 1773.

Once in exile the Jesuits turned to writing. They wrote truthfully and objectively since writing was all that was left to them. The Catholic monarchy which had been effectively administered by the Jesuits then began to disintegrate. By the early eighteenth century the Jesuits’ Paraguayan community was the most peaceful and prosperous unit of government in Latin America.

From the point of view of the royal government, this was most beneficial. The Crown had allowed the missionaries to convert and pacify the Indians. After this was accomplished, royal officers and members of the secular ecclesiastical hier archy replaced them. This was economical for imperial territory was expanded with a minimum of risk. The Crown government was ready to assume control after Indian hostility was past and before the missionaries could assume positions of power. The equilibrium between diminishing Indian strife and expanding missionary organization was carefully watched by royal and ecclesiastical authorities. The time designated between pacification and conversion and the time when the secular clergy would take charge was ten years. The period, however, was usually more than a decade and on the frontier lasted until the end of colonial times.

The removal of the Jesuit influence brought on a series of local uprisings. The revolt at Asuncion grew into the Antequera revolution. Antequera wanted local control of local institutions in Buenos Aires and Peru. The execution of Antequera became the rallying point for both the upper classes and commoners and their new South American political conciousness which began an attitude of belligerence toward the Spanish monarchy. Without the Jesuits, dissatisfaction over military recruitment, ever-increasing taxes and the Indians’ hatred for their Spanish magistrates came to the surface. In 1749 Juan francisco Leon led a revolt of small cocao planters in Venezuela and in 1752 rebellions at LaRioja and Catamarca in North Argentina protested arbitrary military conscription of peasants. These were followed by large scale uprisings between 1749 and 1782.

Francis Xavier Clavijero and other exiled Jesuits saw miscegenation as the only answer to the problem of the races. Other members of the order, however, disagreed strongly. Clavijero wrote in his Storia Anitca del Mexico. “There is no doubt at all that the policy of the Spaniards would have been wiser if, instead of fetching wives from Europe and slaves from Africa...they had insisted on making a single people out of themselves and the Mexican Indians.” Clavijero attempted to remove erroneous concepts of the Europeans regarding the Indians and bestow a universal character upon them. For example, he compared the Mexican word “Teotl” to the “Theos” of the Greeks. He then used “Teotl” to express a Christian-like monotheism, reflecting a widespread eighteenth century interest in creating a universal cu1ture.

Herbert Wendt believed that the Jesuits actually wanted to prevent the mingling of blood of the whites and the Indians. Their motivation was not racial, but rather they wanted to prevent “the uprooting and debasement that were taking place in Latin America.”

Before the expulsion of the Jesuits, many of them were beginning to take a “benevolent attitude toward the ideas of separation and independence from Spain, which began to be bruited about in the eighteenth century. The interests of the order began to coincide “with those of the regional burgeois that considered its rise in the economic scale as handicapped by Spanish monopolistic practices and by the excessive, French style centralization that the Bourbon dynasty was imposing.”

John Gunther states that the Catholic Church grew rich and decadent in America. In fact, Paraguay became practically a Jesuit colony. “Nowhere did the clergy, secular or regular, bestow upon the people anything like proper recompense for their inordinate position, though an effort was made in education.”

In agreement with Gunther is Mariano Picon-Salas who wrote that even long before the expulsion the generally bad relations between Spain and the order were at their worst in Paraguay “where they held a virtual fiefdom.”

In 1754 the Paraguayan Fathers led their Indians in a revolt against a Spanish-Portuguese boundary treaty, and in Peru, Jesuits were accused of terrorizing Indians and depriving them of land, wages, women, children and personal freedom. The Bourbons also cited widespread smuggling, graft, cheating of Indians and a general tendency to ignore orders from Spain. This weakening of the bonds between the Old World and the new invited intervention by rival powers and this, too, became a factor in the expulsion of the Jesuits.

The expulsion of the Jesuits in 1767 was part of a whole pattern of administrative reform both foreign and domestic under the Bourbons. As an official explanation, the monarchy cited the need to “bring local Jesuit power to an end and assert royal power in their stead.” This explanation was related to the Bourbon attack upon the Jesuit society in Europe and the result of Enlightenment ideas, religious nationalism and resistance to papal authority.


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Paula Deen N-word controversy costs her lucrative deals with Target,..


Paula Deen N-word controversy costs her lucrative deals with Target, Home Depot; diabetes drug maker Novo Nordisk suspends relationship


Former Food Network star's attempts at damage control in the wake of racial epithet admission in deposition have failed to sway major corporate partners.


BY ETHAN SACKS / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
PUBLISHED: THURSDAY, JUNE 27, 2013, 12:22 PM
UPDATED: THURSDAY, JUNE 27, 2013, 2:40 PM





SERG ALEXANDER/GETTY IMAGES


Paula Deen’s food empire is crumbling as several major corporate endorsers and partners severed ties with the celebrity chef Thursday in the wake of the scandal surrounding her past use of the n-word.

Retail giants Target and Home Depot and pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk have joined the growing list of partners who can’t stand the heat and are staying out of Paula Deen’s kitchen.

The 66-year-old celebrity chef has been broiling in disgrace since her admission in a deposition that she used the N-word went public last week.




HANDOUT/REUTERS
Deen pleads her case to ‘Today’s’ Matt Lauer in a tearful interview Wednesday.



PHOTOS: STARS WHO RUN THEIR MOUTHS INTO SCANDAL

The most recent defections come less than a week after the Food Network announced it wouldn’t renew the contract of its biggest star and a day after Wal-Mart and Caesars Entertainment dropped Deen like a burnt casserole.



CAROLYN KASTER/ASSOCIATED PRESS
Target is among the corporate partners that have announced they are dropping Deen’s merchandise.



“We have made a decision to phase out the Paula Deen merchandise in our stores as well as on Target.com,” a rep for the chain told TMZ.com. “Once the merchandise is sold out, we will not be replenishing inventory."

RELATED: MARTHA STEWART: 'I FEEL SORRY FOR PAULA DEEN'




SUE OGROCKI/ASSOCIATED PRESS
Home Depot also announced it’s severing ties with Deen.



In suspending ties with Deen, a type 2 diabetes patient who pitched Novo Nordisk’s drugs to control the disease, the Danish medical company praised her efforts to spread awareness.

Nevertheless, “Novo Nordisk and Paula Deen have mutually agreed to suspend our patient education activities for now, while she takes time to focus her attention where it is needed,” the company said in a release.



YOUTUBE
Paula Deen released a video statement Friday apologizing to fans, but The Food Network announced it wasn’t renewing her contract just hours later.



RELATED: PAULA DEEN LOSES WALMART DEAL — BUT POPULARITY SURGES AMONG FANS

Deen’s estimated $17 million food empire has been under seige since it was revealed that she had used a racial epithet in a $1.2 million lawsuit filed by a former manager at the Uncle Bubba’s Oyster House, a Savannah, Ga., restaurant owned by Deen and her brother, Bubba Hiers.




SPLASH NEWS/SPLASH NEWS
Deen’s troubles began with a $1.2 million lawsuit filed by an African American former manager at the celebrity chef’s Savannah, Ga., restaurant, Uncle Bubba’s. In a deposition for the suit, Deen admitted to using the n-word in the past.



The simmering backlash cost Deen not only her plum TV gigs on The Food Network, where she had hosted the shows “Paula’s Best Dishes” and “Paula’s Home Cooking,” but also a lucrative endorsement deal with pork purveyor Smithfield last week. Deen attempted to fix some of the public relations damage by appearing on the “Today” show in an emotional interview Wednesday.

RELATED: WATCH: PAULA DEEN BREAKS DOWN ON 'TODAY'




HANDOUT/REUTERS
Paula Deen breaks down in tears during her ‘Today’ show interview, saying she’s not a racist.



"I have never in my life intentionally said anything hurtful or unkind," Deen told anchor Matt Lauer in a tearful exchange that apparently wasn’t enough to placate Target or Home Depot.

But Deen's fans are rallying to defend the maven of Southern comfort food, propelling her upcoming cookbook, "“Paula Deen’s New Testament: 250 Favorite Recipes, All Lightened Up," to No. 1 on Amazon Thursday - four months before it even comes out.



Source: http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/tv-movies/deen-loses-lucrative-deals-target-home-depot-diabetes-drug-maker-article-1.1384036#ixzz2XTfsvJFU

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Star witness Rachel Jeantel is illiterate





She was unable to read any part of a letter she had a friend write for her. There’s a picture of the letter in the linked article, and while it’s not quite as easy to read as typeset print, I think it’s legible enough.


Trayvon Martin’s friend – and star witness – was forced to admit in court today that she could not read a letter she wrote last year about the teen’s shooting death.

Rachel Jeantel testified on Thursday for the second day in a row, in which she said she thought the encounter between Trayvon and George Zimmerman was racially charged because of her friend’s description of Zimmerman as a ‘creepy-a** cracker’.

In a painfully embarrassing moment in an already awkward and tense cross examination, defense attorney Don West asked her to read the letter aloud and she said she could not.

He asked her: ‘Are you able to read at all?’

She appeared sheepish and bowed her head as she mumbled into the microphone: ‘Some but not all. I don’t read cursive.’

The only thing she could read was her name. West then read the letter to the court.

It’s obvious that the reason why she didn’t write the letter herself in the first place, and couldn’t read any of it at all in court except for her name, is that she’s illiterate. So the star witness in the case is both illiterate and a proven liar. (She lied about her age, lied under oath about why she didn’t attend Trayvon’s funeral, what else did she lie about?)



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Michael Eric Dyson: "A symbolic Jew has Invited a Metaphoric Hitler to Commit Holocaust and genocide upon his own people”



MSNBC's Dyson on Clarence Thomas: A symbolic Jew has Invited a Metaphoric Hitler to Commit Holocaust

TPNNVideos


Published on Jun 26, 2013


Unconscionable racism and defamation of character runs rampant on the left in the wake of the Voting Rights Act decision on Tuesday. Though the decision was cast by a majority of the Supreme Court justices, the wrath of the left has largely been directed at Justice Clarence Thomas, a black justice who has earned the ire of liberals for decades for having the audacity to break the presuppositions of the left that to be black is to be dogmatically liberal.

In a segment on MSNBC's Martin Bashir, Georgetown Professor Michael Eric Dyson rehashed the issues of the Civil War and lobbed outrageous rhetoric at Justice Thomas saying, "A symbolic Jew has invited a metaphoric Hitler to commit holocaust and genocide upon his own people."

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P.S.

Michael Eric Dyson
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Life

Dyson was born to African-American parents, Everett and Addie Dyson. He attended Cranbrook School in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan on an academic scholarship but left and completed his education at Northwestern High School.[1] He became an ordained Baptist minister at 19 years of age.[2] Having worked in factories in Detroitto support his family, he entered Knoxville College as a freshman at age 21.[3] Dyson received his Bachelor's from Carson–Newman College (magna cum laude) in 1985,[1] and his Master's and Doctorate in religion, from Princeton University. Dyson serves on the board of directors of the Common Ground Foundation, a project dedicated to empowering urban youth in the United States.[4] Dyson and his wife, writer and ordained minister Marcia L. Dyson,[1] are regular guests and speakers at the Aspen Institute Conferences and Ideas Festival.[5][6] Together, they lecture on many American college campuses.

Career

Dyson has taught at Chicago Theological Seminary, Brown University, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Columbia University, DePaul University, and theUniversity of Pennsylvania.[1] Since 2007, he has been a Professor of Sociology at Georgetown University.

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Enough said!

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Thursday, June 27, 2013

Senegalese president shoots down Obama’s push for gay rights in Africa

World




11:53 AM 06/27/2013

Ariel Cohen


During his first visit to Africa as president, Barack Obama took the opportunity to champion same-sex marriage, despite the fact that he was speaking in a country where homosexuality is forbidden and a punishable crime.

Senegalese President Macky Sall rebuffed Obama’s urging by saying that although his country is “very tolerant,” it is not ready to decriminalize homosexuality.


Obama’s advocacy for gay rights in Africa came within twenty-four hours of arriving in Senegal.


“I want the African people just to hear what I believe, and that is that every country, every group of people, every religion have different customs, different traditions,” Obama said during a joint press conference with Sall, Senegal’s president. “And when it comes to people’s personal views and their religious faith, et cetera, I think we have to respect the diversity of views that are there.”

In Senegal homosexual activity is illegal and punishable by one to five years in prison as well as fine of up to 1,500,000 francs. Additionally, 97 percent of Senegalese citizens consider homosexuality taboo.

“Every world religion has this basic notion that is embodied in the Golden Rule — treat people the way you want to be treated,”
Obama said, according to a transcript provided by the White House. “And I think that applies here as well.”

Senegal is a 95-percent Muslim country, and a sexually conservative and patriarchal nation. Women are encouraged to dress modesty in public, and polygamy is not uncommon.

Sall responded by defending his country’s current laws.

“These issues are all societal issues basically, and we cannot have a standard model which is applicable to all nations, all countries — you said it, we all have different cultures,” Sall answered, as translated. “We have different religions. We have different traditions. And even in countries where this has been decriminalized and homosexual marriage is allowed, people don’t share the same views.”

Obama has made it a priority to promote LGBT rights overseas and during his travels. In 2011, he openly condemned a bill proposed in Uganda, which would make some homosexual acts punishable by death.

“I am deeply concerned by the violence and discrimination targeting LGBT persons around the world, whether it is passing laws that criminalize LGBT status, beating citizens simply for joining peaceful LGBT pride celebrations, or killing men, women and children for their perceived sexual orientation.”

Obama stated that same-sex marriage or gay rights did not come up in conversation during private talks at the Senegalese presidential palace.



Source: http://dailycaller.com/2013/06/27/obama-makes-same-sex-marriage-gaffe-in-senegal/#ixzz2XTP7ZOdX

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Why the fuss with Ecuador all of a sudden?



Ecuador breaks US trade pact to thwart 'blackmail' over Snowden asylum

The Guardian - ‎1 hour ago‎

Ecuador has ramped up its defiance of the US over Edward Snowden by waiving preferential trade rights with Washington even as the whistleblower's prospect of reaching Quito dimmed. President Rafael Correa's government said on Thursday it was ...


Ecuador Tells US To Take Its Trade Agreement And Shove It, After Threats ...

Techdirt - ‎19 minutes ago‎



Ecuador Cancels US Trade Pact Over Repeated Threats

Antiwar.com - ‎23 minutes ago‎


Ecuador renounces trade benefits from US Congress

Thegardenisland.com - ‎45 minutes ago‎



US senator says Snowden case risks Ecuador trade status

Chicago Tribune - ‎1 hour ago‎


-----------------------------------------



Edward Snowden, the alleged 'fugitive' NSA Surveillance leaker, has supposedly asked Ecuador for Asylum; So, now the U.S. has a controversy with Ecuador, because the U.S. wants to apprehend Snowden to prosecute him for treason.  

Here's an ironic fact about the South American country of Ecuador:

The present currency of Ecuador is the United States dollar.

Now that is strange.  

They use the American Dollar and we have a diplomatic crisis?  

What's next?  An embargo? 




Resource
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P.S.
The United States dollar (sign: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$), also referred to as the U.S. dollar or American dollar, is the official currency of the United States and its overseas territories. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents.
Source: Wikipedia.

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Drug Kings Of New York - Documentary

Rated: TV 14 DLS 

Parents Strongly Cautioned

This program contains some material that many parents would find unsuitable for children under 14 years of age. Parents are strongly urged to exercise greater care in monitoring this program and are cautioned against letting children under the age of 14 watch unattended. This program contains one or more of the following: intense sexual situations (S), strong coarse language (L), or intensely suggestive dialogue (D).






CrimeUncovered


Published on May 7, 2013


Crime documentary on the drug king of New York.

New York City is in the grip of a heroin epidemic, as a new generation of middle-class suburbanite dealers hooked on prescription pills switch to heroin, and venture down the Long Island Expressway — dubbed the “Heroin Highway” — into urban Brooklyn and Queens to get their fix.


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Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton named recipient of 2013 Liberty Medal



Article by: JOANN LOVIGLIO , Associated Press
Updated: June 27, 2013 - 1:20 PM



PHILADELPHIA — Hillary Rodham Clinton, whose lifelong public service career includes turns as secretary of state, presidential candidate, senator and first lady, is the recipient of the 2013 Liberty Medal.

Clinton will receive the medal in a Sept. 10 ceremony at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia. She was not in attendance for Thursday's announcement.

Liberty Medal sponsors and partners said Clinton's nearly four decades of public service exemplify the qualities that the award was established to honor, from her groundbreaking outreach to global leaders to her continuing work to advance opportunities for the world's girls and women.

"The Liberty Medal recognizes individuals who have furthered the ideals of freedom, democracy, and equality, often against great odds," said Jeffrey Rosen, National Constitution Center president and CEO. "Hillary Clinton has devoted her life to expanding opportunities for 'We the People' not just in this country but around the globe."

Liberty Medal sponsors cited Clinton's work as secretary of state from Jan. 2009 to Feb. 2013, when she traveled to 80-plus countries — more than any of her predecessors — "as a champion of human rights, democracy, civil society and opportunities for women and girls around the world."

They also noted her bipartisan efforts as first lady in support of affordable health care and her work as U.S. senator from New York to secure more than $20 billion after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks for the city and its first responders.

"Former Secretary Clinton has dedicated her life to serving and engaging people across the world in democracy," former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, chairman of the National Constitution Center, said in a statement.

Previous recipients of the medal, which was established in 1988 to celebrate the bicentennial of the Constitution, include rock singer and human rights activist Bono, former South African President Nelson Mandela and former President Jimmy Carter.

Six winners have subsequently received the Nobel Peace Prize.

Clinton's husband, former President Bill Clinton, and former President George H.W. Bush were jointly awarded the Liberty Medal in 2006 for their efforts helping victims of Hurricane Katrina and the tsunami in southeast Asia. Both went on to serve terms as chairmen of the National Constitution Center.

The National Constitution Center, which opened in 2003 near Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell, is dedicated to increasing public understanding of the Constitution through its museum exhibits, public lectures and debates, and educational outreach and research.



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Free Speech or Hate Speech? Britain Bans U.S. Anti-Muslim Bloggers


VIEW FROM EUROPE 
JUNE 27, 2013, 9:45 AM






Leon Neal/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
Supporters of the English Defense League at a protest following the killing of an off-duty British soldier, Lee Rigby, in London.


LONDON — A British decision to bar a visit by two prominent American anti-Islam activists has prompted righteous indignation from the targets of the ban as well as a more measured debate about the limits of free speech.

Pamela Geller and Robert Spencer, right-wing bloggers and co-founders of Stop Islamization of America, on Wednesday received letters from Theresa May, Britain’s home secretary responsible for interior affairs, telling them that their presence would “not be conducive to the public good.”

The pair had been due to address a rally on Saturday of the far-right English Defense League (E.D.L.) in the London suburb of Woolwich, whereLee Rigby, a British soldier, was killed in a vicious daylight attack on May 22.

Their association with the E.D.L. stems from the British group’s pastsupport for their campaign against the so-called “Ground Zero Mosque,” a planned mosque and community center near the site of the World Trade Center in Lower Manhattan.

The decision to keep them out was based on the likelihood they would use their visit to repeat what were regarded as their unacceptable and provocative statements about Muslims that might foment violence.

Ms. Geller, a self-styled human rights activist, wrote on her blog, Atlas Shrugged, that her only crime was her “principled dedication to freedom.”

Mr. Spencer, who runs the Jihad Watch Web site, said the British decision amounted to a ban on those who “oppose jihad violence and Islamic supremacism.”

Ms. May took her decision in the context of a reported increase in attackson mosques and other Islamic centers since Drummer Rigby’s murder, for which two Muslims have been charged and which the E.D.L. is accused of exploiting in order to fuel anti-Islamic sentiment.

News of the ban coincided with reports that a mosque in the English town of Redditch was broken into and daubed with Swastikas, racist slogans and the letters “EDL.”

As Ms. Geller proclaimed that Britain had killed the Magna Carta, a government spokesman was quoted by the BBC as saying, “We condemn all those whose behaviors and views run counter to our shared values and will not stand for extremism in any form.”

The ban followed a campaign by Britain’s anti-fascist Hope Not Hate movement against allowing the pair into the country.

Matthew Collins, a researcher with the organization, welcomed the decision and said, “They only wanted to come here and help the E.D.L. stir up more trouble. Britain doesn’t need more hate even just for a few days.”

Keith Vaz, an opposition Labour Party legislator, also welcomed Ms. May’s decision, saying, “The U.K. should never become a stage for inflammatory speakers who promote hate.”

However, James Bloodworth, a left-wing British commentator, warned of the risk of turning Ms. Geller and Mr. Spencer into “free speech martyrs.”

Writing before the ban was announced, he said it would be counterproductive.

“These people already self-pityingly style themselves as a silent majority whose opinions are repressed by the state,” he wrote at the Left Foot Forward Web site. “Do we really want to provide them with such easy ammunition to throw back at us?”

“Banning them for what they might say is also dangerous territory,” he wrote. “Free speech within the law should be paramount.”

Ben Cohen, a British contributor to the American magazine Commentary, said the ban reflected double standards on the part of a country that had put up with the presence of Islamic extremists.

“One does not have to an admirer of Geller and Spencer — to my mind, their views are terrifyingly shrill and bigoted — in order to consider this decision outrageous,” he wrote.

“Banning Geller and Spencer will not mollify those British Muslims already on the path to self-radicalization,” Mr. Cohen wrote. “Nor is it likely to end the disturbing spate of attacks on mosques in the wake of Lee Rigby’s killing.”

The main result of the ban was to make British democracy look weak and spiteful at precisely the time it needed to look strong and confident, he concluded.

What do you think? Is Britain right to want to keep out potential troublemakers? Does a desire to preserve public order sometimes trump the right to free speech?

Source

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