Saturday, October 05, 2013

Closed for business


Sunday trading

A French row over the day of rest Oct 5th 2013 | PARIS |From the print edition


IN FRANCE, as elsewhere, Sunday tends to be odd-jobs day. If you forget to buy the right drill bit ahead of time, however, you may be doomed to frustration. DIY stores are among the great majority of retail businesses that are supposed to close on the official day of rest. That now looks set to change.

On Sunday September 29th 14 Castorama and Leroy Merlin stores on the outskirts of Paris opened their doors in defiance of a court order. Employees wore shirts proclaiming “Yes Weekend”, in a Gallic take on Barack Obama’s 2008 mantra. Shoppers signed petitions. Unions protested. Politicians took sides. The government, divided on Sunday trading as on many other issues, handed on the hot potato for further study. Suggestions for change are due in November.

Maintaining Sunday as a mandatory day off has little to do with religion. It is more about preserving a certain idea of France, involving long lunches en famille and a day free from consumerism, and about unions’ determination to keep work in its (limited) place.

Ranged against these defenders of the ban are workers who get fatter pay packets for a Sunday shift (many of the DIY companies’ Sunday workers are students), company bosses who rely on the day for 15-20% of total turnover, weekend shoppers and others in favour of liberalising France’s rigid labour rules. Whether Sunday trading increases sales overall or just redistributes them is debated. But with the unemployment rate at 10.5%, rising to 24.6% among the young, any prospect of creating jobs by easing restrictions should be seized on.

Over time, Sunday rest has been punctured by all sorts of exceptions anyway. Almost a third of wage-earners work on Sundays. Shops may be open on one side of the road and closed on the other. Furniture and garden stores are allowed to trade on Sundays but not DIY stores, though they stock many of the same things. Castorama and Leroy Merlin have been opening outlets near Paris on Sundays for years, thinking, they say, that they had the right to do so. A competitor filed the complaint against them.

Elsewhere in Europe there is also pressure to ease Sunday rules. Britain, where the high street is already largely deregulated, has not made permanent the increase in store-opening hours during London’s Olympic Games. Spain and Italy, though, have relaxed rules in the hope of more sales and jobs. It is not clear that either has emerged.

But for merchants and shoppers the Sunday ban matters. Traditional shops are losing customers to online commerce, which has been growing at around 15% a year in France, according to eMarketer, a research firm. Websites are open all hours. The one thing they do not do—at least not yet—is deliver the missing drill bit when the DIYer has time to drill.


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He Touched Me



He Touched Me - Fairview



drolas94

Uploaded on Sep 30, 2009

lyrics added so you can sing along

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Friday, October 04, 2013

Happy Sabbath


Ireland votes in referendum to scrap the Senate



04/10 12:41 CET




Denmark, Sweden and New Zealand all did it. Today, Ireland decides whether to abolish the Irish upper chamber, known as the Seanad, or Senate.

The Irish national parliament, known as the Oireachtas, consists of the President and an upper and a lower house.

Most major Irish political parties favour abolishing the Senate. Opposition party Fianna Fáil does not. It argues that the government of Prime Minister Enda Kenny wants to centralise its power.

Kenny’s government says that eliminating the Senate would save €20 million a year, which, in this time of crisis, is a necessity.

Recent opinion polls suggest over 60 percent of Irish people support scrapping the Senate.

Results of the referendum are expected on Saturday.


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Representative Juan Vargas of California: “I heard ‘pop, pop"...

 Photo (Courtesy)


Representative Juan Vargas of California said he was headed to the Capitol when he heard several loud bangs, which he initially thought was a car backfiring.
“I heard ‘pop, pop,’ and honestly I didn’t think anything of it,” he said. Then, he said, he saw a police officer charging at him: “I was wondering what’s going on, why is this guy coming at me like a maniac?”
When the officer noticed that Mr. Vargas was wearing one of the red-and-gold pins that are issued to House members, he told him to remove it because he could be a target.
The police permitted some members of Congress to walk through the underground tunnel that connects the Capitol to the Senate office buildings. 


Read more 


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 Vargas graduated Magna Cum Laude with a BA from University of San Diego and earned an MA in Humanities from Fordham University in New York.
After college, Vargas joined the Jesuit Novitiate (introduction) in Santa Barbara. In the Jesuits, Vargas served in an orphanage in the civil-war-torn jungles of El Salvador. After leaving the Jesuits, he decided on law school and graduated in 1991 with a JD from Harvard Law School,[3] making him a classmate of President Barack Obama.


Source Wikipedia
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Female Law Enforcement Personnel of Washington DC in the news

  • 09/16/2013


Valarie Parlave, assistant director in charge of the FBI’s Washington Field Office, told reporters Tuesday, Sept. 17 at a news conference that the Navy Yard shooting suspect used a shotgun and a handgun, possibly obtained from one of his victims, in his shooting rampage on Monday.

http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2013/09/17/aaron-alexis-used-shotgun-handgun-to-kill-at-dc-navy-yard-police-say

 

Washington shooter had valid Navy Yard pass
 
 



RELATED

Aaron Alexis
Aaron Alexis-FBI Image.jpg
Background information
Occupation Civilian contractor, U.S. Navy sailor
Born May 9, 1979
New York, New York, U.S.
Died September 16, 2013 (aged 34)
Washington, D.C., U.S.
Cause of death Gunshot wound to the head[2]
Nationality American

Information (above) source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington_Navy_Yard_shooting


  • 10/03/2013

Photo (Courtesy) http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/09/18/20565355-from-teen-mom-to-dcs-top-cop-chief-cathy-lanier-believes-in-compassion


The woman's motive was unknown, but Washington, D.C., Police Chief Cathy Lanier dismissed any suggestion that she had tried to breach security by accident and said the officers "acted heroically."

http://www.newswest9.com/story/23603844/shots-fired-at-us-capitol-female-suspect-killed


RELATED  




Photo (Courtesy) http://sigforum.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/320601935/m/4950096433/p/1


A chase that began with a black luxury car ramming a security barricade near the White House on Thursday ended 16 blocks away on Capitol Hill with police killing the woman driver, authorities said. The Nissan Infiniti was registered to Miriam Carey, 34, of Stamford, Conn ...

http://www.freep.com/article/20131004/NEWS07/310040056/Mother-slain-after-car-chase-from-White-House-to-Capitol 
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Pelosi: Dem spending concessions ‘lost in the news’ on shutdown


By Jonathan Easley - 10/04/13 08:57 AM ET



House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on Friday dismissed the notion Democrats have been unwilling to negotiate with Republicans in the government shutdown fight, saying President Obama’s concessions have been “lost in the news.”


“The president of the United States has gone forward extending the hand of friendship over and over. I think that has been lost in the news,” Pelosi said on CBS’s This Morning. “But if you say to the president, we only will open the government if you eliminate the Affordable Care Act, that’s just a non-starter.”

Pelosi argued that the clean continuing resolution – one that doesn’t defund ObamaCare – was already at levels Democrats were unhappy with because it’s at sequester levels mandated after the 2011 debt ceiling fight. The Democratic leader said this was a point that had been lost on the media in the back and forth between the two parties.

“We don’t like the [spending] bill … it is not adequate to do the job we’re supposed to do for the American people, but we will accept that in order to go forward,” Pelosi said. “But [Republicans] do not have within their own ranks the ability to take yes for an answer.”

“We agreed to their number, which we don’t like,” she added. “We’ve always said to them 'We’ll help you procedurally, we’ll help you substantively.'”

The House minority leader said the only way out is for Republicans to “take their party back” from the Tea Party wing.

“It will take some coming together on the Republican side,” she said. “It’s very hard to negotiate with Republicans when they can’t negotiate with themselves.”

She added: “If you don’t believe in a government role, then it’s easy for you to say, in order to lift the debt ceiling we want to eliminate all [Environmental Protection Agency] rules for clean air, clean water and the rest.”

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.), a Tea Party favorite, helped initiate the government shutdown fight by demanding the president’s healthcare law not receive any appropriations in a continuing resolution. Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) took up the fight in the House, although Republicans have since pivoted away from the demand.

“Here’s what the president has said – the full faith and credit of the government is non-negotiable. Everything else in the budget is [negotiable],” Pelosi continued. “But they can’t say – our first premise is you have to overturn the Affordable Care Act.”
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Source: http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/326553-pelosi-obamas-concessions-lost-in-the-news#ixzz2glZT7dYe
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President Obama tweets that 'Tea Party extremists' caused government shutdown



See also
Government Topics
Government Shutdown
Barack Obama
TEA Party
Harry Reid
Nancy Pelosi


C-SPAN [Screenshot]





Renee NalTampa Conservative Examiner




October 3, 2013


On Thursday, President Obama tweeted that "Tea Party extremists" caused the government shutdown. The astonishing tweet is another symbol of the vitriol that has engulfed the Democratic party.

Is it any wonder that the Tea Party was singled out by the Internal Revenue Service, based on the level of hatred aimed at them by the Democrats in charge? A compilation of the recent remarks has been posted at Liberty Unyielding today, and include horrific name-calling by the highest levels of government. Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, and even President Obama's "spiritual advisor" have all resorted to pointing fingers at the Tea Party, using reckless and irresponsible language.


Tea Party extremists caused this #BoehnerShutdown. Tell @SpeakerBoehner to end it now: http://t.co/hLq6qOd2lM pic.twitter.com/WW4soKEibu

Barack Obama (@BarackObama) October 3, 2013

Despite the fear-mongering over the "government shutdown," it is actually more like a "slimdown" since the vast majority of federal employees are still working. Indeed, Josh Barro of Business Insider reported this week that "of about 4.1 million people who work for the federal government, about 80% will still be expected to show up for work."

It is clear that the loss has been greatly exaggerated for the purpose of politics. Today, many Democrats voted against funding for National Guard and Reserve Pay. It is likely that they want Americans to feel the burn as much as possible, as reported today by Joel Gehrke of the Washington Examiner who writes, "Senate Democrats blocked four resolutions to fund government programs..."

Justin Sink of The Hill wrote today that in criticizing a Republican who stood against the name-calling, Obama said,


“If you're being disrespected, its because of that attitude you've got...”

President Obama's tweet is shockingly unpresidential. It is as if the Democrats want the Tea Party conservatives, who believe in "limited government" as taught by the founding fathers, to be intimidated and silenced.
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Source
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Lawyers: Private parks should sue Obama administration for forcing them to close






4:22 PM 10/03/2013


Michael Bastasch

During the government shutdown, the Obama administration has forced the closure of privately owned parks, stoking calls from lawyers for park owners to take legal action against the federal government.

“As a lawyer who once worked for the government, I assume there is no legal authority for this because these private tourist attractions were not shut down in prior ‘government shutdowns,’ even under Bill Clinton, who understood how to play political hardball,” Hans Bader, senior attorney at the Competitive Enterprise Institute wrote in an email.

A lawyer with the conservative Heritage Foundation said that the Obama administration’s actions were likely illegal and that business owners forced to close shop should sue.

“They should immediately file a lawsuit and seek a temporary injunction against the government,” said Former Justice Department lawyer Hans Von Spakovsky.

Terry Pell, of the Center for Individual Rights and former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Education for Civil Rights, said that the government had only “a sliver of a justification in each case,” but that a judge could rule against the government under the Administrative Procedure Act.

Pell added that newspaper could sue under the Freedom of Information Act to get “WH [White House] emails to [the] park agency.”

It was reported that the parking lot of the privately-owned Mount Vernon, the home of George Washington, was blocked off by National Park Service officials, but the barricades were removed after numerous complaints.

Also, Virginia’s historic Claude Moore Colonial Farm was also closed by the National Park Service, despite not being financially supported by the Service or using any agency personnel. And despite the fact that the park remained open during the Clinton era government shutdown.

“For the first time in 40 years, the National Park Service (NPS) has finally succeeded in closing the Farm down to the public. In previous budget dramas, the Farm has always been exempted since the NPS provides no staff or resources to operate the Farm,” the farm’s managing director Anna Eberly said in an email to the park’s mailing list.

“The first casualty of this arbitrary action was the McLean Chamber of Commerce who were having a large annual event at the Pavilion on Tuesday evening,” Eberly added. “The NPS sent the Park Police over to remove the Pavilion’s staff and Chamber volunteers from the property while they were trying to set up for their event. Fortunately, the Chamber has friends and they were able to move to another location and salvage what was left of their party. You do have to wonder about the wisdom of an organization that would use staff they don’t have the money to pay to evict visitors from a park site that operates without costing them any money.”

The Washington Times reports that privately operated businesses on federal lands outside of the Washington, DC area have also been forced to close their doors.

Arizona businessman Warren Meyer wrote to his congressman that the campground he runs on federal lands was ordered to close despite receiving no federal funding.

“Yesterday, as in all past government shutdowns, the Department of Agriculture and US Forest Service confirmed we would stay open during the government shutdown… However, today, we have been told by senior member of the US Forest Service and Department of Agriculture that people ‘above the department’, which I presume means the White House, plan to order the Forest Service to needlessly and illegally close all private operations,” Meyer wrote on Wednesday.

“In the ‘government shutdown,’ the government is apparently shutting down many privately-run facilities that have never been shut down in any previous government shut-down, just to inflict political pain — privately-run tourist operations that cost the government nothing to allow open, but cost a lot to shut down,” Bader wrote.

“Private tourist attractions that do not need to be shut down in any government shutdown (and generate tax revenue for the federal government, as well as jobs for the public). This is grotesque political theater,” he added.

Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.
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Source: http://dailycaller.com/2013/10/03/lawyers-private-parks-should-sue-obama-admin-for-forcing-them-to-close/#ixzz2glSsImhv
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Shut Down, Lock Down, and Shelter in Place...

Shelter in Place...
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Wednesday, October 02, 2013

Mother and Daughter (Governments) in fiscal trouble


Is this by design or just a fluke?

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Roman ruins

Italy’s government is on the brink of collapse—so what else is new?

By Jason Karaian @jkaraian October 1, 2013


Not going down without a fight. Reuters/Alessandro Bianchi




In Italy, the government is teetering. A credit ratings downgrade looms. Two of the country’s three largest banks are in turmoil, as is the main telecoms operator. Given the headlines, it’s surprising how subdued the market reaction has been; bond yields have barely budged and stocks are down by less than 1% so far this week. Has dysfunction in Italy’s parliament and boardrooms finally lost its capacity to surprise?


Uncertainty stalks the government…

Prime minister Enrico Letta faces a crucial test in the Italian parliament tomorrow (Oct. 2), when he will address both houses before facing a vote of confidence in his leadership. Silvio Berlusconi, convicted of tax fraud and facing expulsion from the Senate, called for his party’s ministers to quit Letta’s cabinet and force a new election. There are signs of dissent within the ranks of Berlusconi’s party, but even if Letta survives the confidence vote he will not be left with much of a mandate to pass meaningful reforms—including a crucial budget for 2014.

It took months to cobble together the current government after an election in February, with Letta’s center-left and Berlusconi’s center-right parties grudgingly agreeing to form a coalition (Italy’s 62nd government since the post-war republic was founded 67 years ago). The outcome of tomorrow’s showdown is difficult to predict, with think tank Open Europe walking through a few of the possible scenarios, none of them particularly encouraging for the fragile Italian economy.
…and companies are flailing…

Meanwhile, the head of Italy’s second-largest bank, Intesa Sanpaolo, quit over the weekend after a clash with the foundations that own a big chunk of the bank’s shares. The third-largest lender, Monte dei Paschi di Siena, is still struggling to convince the European Commission that its restructuring plan is tough enough to justify the billions of euros that the government has pumped into the bank. The CEO of Telecom Italia is also reportedly on the way out later this week, following his own run-in with key investors.
…but markets hope what Berlusconi breaks, Draghi can fix

In previous years, a shaky government and wobbly banks pushed Italy to the brink of an international bailout. As it happens, the relative calm that is greeting the latest ructions is thanks to another Italian: Mario Draghi. The president of the European Central Bank pledged to do “whatever it takes“ to preserve the euro zone during a particularly nasty bout of investor jitters last year. Although this pledge has never been tested, the markets seem to be taking Draghi at his word. Traders were further comforted by Draghi’s hints last week that the ECB might offer another round of emergency liquidity for banks, which would be especially welcome for hard-up Italian lenders.

If Italy soon slips back into a full-blown political crisis, it will be the sternest test yet of Draghi’s promise to ride to the rescue. Is the ECB president willing, quite literally, to put his money where his mouth is? Investors seem to think so, but this particular Italian drama is far from over.


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Related


Top lawmakers to meet Obama for US shutdown talks

(AFP) – 7 minutes ago



The White House is seen behind a stop sign in Washington on October 1, 2013 (AFP, Karen Bleier)


Washington — US President Barack Obama on Wednesday called congressional leaders to a White House meeting, providing a glimmer of hope for movement on day two of a crippling government shutdown.

The White House is squaring off with Republican rivals in Congress over how to fund federal agencies, many of which are now closed, leaving some 800,000 furloughed workers in the lurch and a fragile economy at risk.

Obama wants a straightforward temporary spending bill to end the first shutdown in 17 years, while Republicans have sought to tie the measure to a dismantling or delay of his signature health care law.

Neither side has blinked, and Americans are exasperated with the inability of their elected officials to break the impasse.

"Most of the time you can see an end game," Republican Senator Johnny Isakson told MSNBC. "Right now there's no end game in sight."

An hour after those comments aired, the White House announced an early evening meeting with Republican and Democratic congressional leaders to address the standoff.

The office of House Speaker John Boehner, Obama's primary political foe, said it represented a potential "start to serious talks between the two parties."

It was not immediately clear if the talks amounted to a possible breakthrough or were merely for appearances.

Meanwhile, furious tourists are locked out of Washington museums and monuments, as well as national parks and landmarks like the Statue of Liberty in New York. Cancer research and treatment at the world-class National Institutes of Health has ground to a halt.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, in scolding Republicans whom he blamed for the shutdown, said some 200 patients -- including 30 children mostly needing cancer treatment -- were denied access to NIH on Tuesday.

"They were turned away," Reid said.

The roiling political and fiscal drama threatens to affect the global economy as well, with European Central Bank chief Mario Draghi warning Wednesday that a US shutdown "is a risk if it is protracted."

"It would be a risk not only for the US, but also the world economy," Draghi said.

The fallout has already caused Obama to shorten his long-planned Asia trip, scrapping stops in Malaysia and the Philippines that were due to begin this weekend, so he could attend to the crisis at home.

The president's attendance at summits in Indonesia and Brunei was also in doubt.

Complicating the budget gridlock, Congress has just over two weeks to strike a deal on raising the country's debt ceiling and avoid a painful default.

US Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew has warned that US borrowing authority will reach its cap by October 17, and he informed Congress that Treasury "has begun using the final extraordinary measures" available to pay US bills.

Without a raising of the debt ceiling, Treasury's money ceases to flow, triggering a default.

With stakes critically high, Republican lawmakers were scrambling to at least get parts of government up and running.

The Republican-led House of Representatives was to vote Wednesday on five measures that would fund popular operations, including services for veterans, opening national parks and museums, and keeping key health research going.

Boehner insists they are good-faith efforts to keep crucial government operations running, but Democrats swatted them away as incremental funding bids ultimately aimed at leaving the health care law known as "Obamacare" high and dry.

"These piecemeal bills, they're not a way out," Reid said, sneering that Republicans were offering "one 'cockamamie' can't-pass idea after another."

"It's time for my Republican colleagues to do a gut check," Reid said.

Obama on Tuesday accused conservatives in the House of waging an "ideological crusade" by making government funding conditional on gutting his health care law.

Boehner has chosen to side with the renegade Tea Party faction of his party rather than risk his job by attempting to pass a straight funding resolution stripped of political poison pills.

Boehner's tactic has left him on precarious political ground.

A Quinnipiac University poll Tuesday found voters, by a margin of 72 percent to 22 percent, oppose the shutdown of government as a way to derail Obamacare.


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Did Kenyan Soldiers Loot Mall During Fight With Terrorists?


by Gregory Warner
October 02, 2013 3:27 AM

Listen to Story

7 min 48 sec




Bullet holes in the glass door of a shop in the Westgate Mall in Nairobi, Kenya. Rukmini Callimachi/AP

More than a week after Islamic militants stormed an upscale mall in Nairobi, Kenya, President Uhuru Kenyatta has vowed to set up a commission to look into lapses in intelligence and security. At least , which ended with dozens still unaccounted for.

Days after the attack, a man who manages a clothing store in the Westgate Mall sorts through damaged shoes, shirts and ties. He's visibly shaken from his trip back into the place he escaped under gunfire. Much of the damaged clothing is from bullet holes.

"These are all waste now," he says. "Even it if it is small hole, it is waste." He says there's no insurance for a terrorist attack, and some of the most expensive suits and shoes are missing.

Other shop owners reported Rolex watches, diamond jewelry and mobile phones looted, allegedly by Kenyan soldiers during the fight against the terrorists. The allegations have shaken people in Nairobi, who just a week ago were hailing the soldiers as heroes.

"We wish to affirm that government takes very seriously these allegations of looting," Interior Minister Joseph Ole Lenku said at a press conference.

Lenku was on the defensive, and not just about what his soldiers allegedly did during those four days in the mall, but what they did not do. A leaked intelligence report indicates that security chiefs and Cabinet ministers were warned about Westgate as an al-Shabab target. They were even warned of one likely mode of attack, where operatives "storm the buildings with guns and grenades."

Lenku's response: "With regard to the issue of our information or our intelligence, that is our business."

Probably the most sensitive questions still lingering in this shaken city are about how the fight was waged. Why did it take the Kenyan army four days to kill five militants? And what happened to the other five to 10 terrorists?

Kweya Obedi is the Nairobi county director of the Red Cross. He was leading a team of volunteers who rushed in on the afternoon of Sept. 21 to rescue people from where they hid inside shops. Even by that point, he says, some hours after the initial assault, the terrorists had been mostly pushed back by the special Israeli-trained unit of the police called the Recce group, experienced in hostage rescue.

"The police had better control of the situation," Obedi says.

But then a commander of the special unit was killed, reportedly by friendly fire, and the special police were sent out to guard the perimeter while the soldiers took over the operation. That, business owners say, is when they believe the looting took place.

It's still unclear why Kenya's poorly paid military took over the situation while the special police were sent outside, but several people familiar with the operation say that's when the pace of attack slowed. By 10:30 that night, the situation had gone from a full-court press on the gunmen to a siege or standoff that would stretch on for another three days.

"When the military came in there was no proper plan for takeover. That allowed the terrorists to regroup," says George Musamali, a retired officer who now runs a Kenyan security company.

Musamali criticized the military for allowing terrorists to regroup and rearm. He and others said the military declined to fight at night, which may have allowed the terrorists to hunt and kill more people in their hiding places.

Now, Kenya's president has declared a commission of inquiry to investigate the security lapses, but Musamali says that in Kenya, commissions are seen as ways to evade the problem.

"In Kenya we are used to these kind of inquiries," he says. "We never see the results."

The challenge for Kenya's controversial president, who next month goes on trial in The Hague for allegedly instigating tribal violence in the last election, is not to be seen to favor a military elite dominated by his own tribe.


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What is the TRUE HISTORY of Valentine's Day?

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Prophecy indicates that there will be laws enforcing Sunday observance


The dignitaries of church and state will unite to bribe, persuade, or compel all classes to honor the Sunday. The lack of divine authority will be supplied by oppressive enactments. Political corruption is destroying love of justice and regard for truth; and even in free America, rulers and legislators, in order to secure public favor, will yield to the popular demand for a law enforcing Sunday observance. Liberty of conscience, which has cost so great a sacrifice, will no longer be respected. In the soon-coming conflict we shall see exemplified the prophet's words: "The dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ." Revelation 12:17.


Great Controversy, p. 592.

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French Workers: 'Let Us Work Sundays!'


Mon, 09/30/2013 - 1:57pm

Jamey Keaten, Associated Press



PARIS (AP) -- When economic inequalities helped foment the French Revolution, the legendary cry from on high was, "Let them eat cake!" Now, as modern France struggles economically, the cry from below is, "Let us work!"

As France battles high unemployment, rising taxes and pinched pocketbooks, the Socialist government has said its main focus is job creation. Now, critics of a more-than-century-old law that prevents most stores from opening on Sundays say revising it would be a good step in that direction.

Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault appeared to respond to that call on Monday, ordering a review of the law that labor unions and Roman Catholic faithful cherish, but that consumers — and increasingly some workers — decry.

Under French law, Sunday is a mandatory day off to help ensure rest and the quality of life, although some retailers in tourist areas or special commercial zones can get exemptions. Critics say the protections go too far, crimping modern lifestyles and putting France at a competitive disadvantage.

A sporadic debate revived last week after a court, ruling on an unfair-competition lawsuit brought by a rival hardware vendor, ordered home improvement chains Leroy Merlin and Castorama to shut 14 Paris-area stores on Sundays. It threatened fines of 120,000 euros ($162,000) on each store that violated the rules.

The stores got temporary waivers, but their employees were growling — insisting that Sunday openings give them needed extra pay and suit customers who find it hard to shop during the work week bustle.

"We want to work Sunday! Let us work!" said Gerard Fillon, spokesman for an association of employees whose name translates as Sunday's Handymen, and a Leroy Merlin employee. At one store in Gennevilliers, some employees dressed in T-shirts with "Yes Week End" written on them.

Ayrault commissioned a panel to report on the complex issue by late November.

"The government notes that Sunday rest is an essential principle in terms of protecting workers and social cohesion" while recognizing that "the existence of Sunday work is a reality," his office said in a noncommittal statement.

The current debate stems from a 2009 move by then-President Nicolas Sarkozy's center-right government that eased back curbs on Sunday store openings. The efforts faced political opposition and resulted in a mish-mash of legal waivers, special-zone exemptions and other loopholes.

Most French consumers are used to the country's Sunday rhythm: Shopping is restricted to tourist areas or owner-operated stores. Restaurants are exempt, but even supermarkets only open a half-day — with some exceptions.

France, the world's most visited country, gets 7 percent of its gross domestic product from tourism. But France ranks only third in terms of tourist spending, and French tourism boosters say that is directly attributable to Sunday store closings.

Europe is far from uniform on the issue.

Many British stores open on Sundays. In Germany — Europe's economic engine — a 57-year-old law requires stores to close at 2 p.m. on Saturday until Monday, though some exemptions apply like at train or gasoline stations. Berlin allows stores to open 10 Sundays a year.

In Spain, the Madrid area has peeled back Sunday-closing restrictions in recent years, aiming to boost job creation and commerce to help lift the country out of economic crisis. Since then, consumers regularly flock to megastores like furniture and hardware retailers on Sundays.

Robert H. Reid in Berlin and Alan Clendenning in Madrid contributed to this report.


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Some French cry, 'We want to work Sunday!'
MassLive.com - ‎17 hours ago‎
Cashiers of a do-it-yourself store wear shirts to protest against last week's court decision to force shorter working hours on Sundays, in Gennevilliers, France, north of Paris, Sunday Sept. 29, 2013. Employees at two big home-improvement retailers are putting ...
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"He shall teach you all things"...



22 Judas saith unto him, not Iscariot, Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world?

23 Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.

24 He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings: and the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father's which sent me.

25 These things have I spoken unto you, being yet present with you.

26 But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.

27 Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

28 Ye have heard how I said unto you, I go away, and come again unto you. If ye loved me, ye would rejoice, because I said, I go unto the Father: for my Father is greater than I.


29 And now I have told you before it come to pass, that, when it is come to pass, ye might believe.

30 Hereafter I will not talk much with you: for the prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me.

31 But that the world may know that I love the Father; and as the Father gave me commandment, even so I do. Arise, let us go hence.

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Monday, September 30, 2013

Federal government appears headed for shutdown unless divided lawmakers can reach last-minute deal


The Senate voted 54-46 on Monday to table the House bill that links keeping the government running to delaying Obamacare for one year. If lawmakers don’t cobble together a short-term resolution before midnight, the federal government will shut down for the first time since 1996. 

By Dan Friedman AND Adam Edelman / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

Published: Monday, September 30, 2013, 12:31 PM
Updated: Monday, September 30, 2013, 4:58 PM




Win McNamee/Getty Images


Congress remained gridlocked Monday over legislation to continue funding the federal government. If both chambers fail to pass a resolution before midnight, the federal government will shut down.


Related Stories
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Government shutdown closer as House Republicans pass bill delaying key parts of Obamacare
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The 5 Moments of Congressional Recess That Matter So Far


With no negotiations or compromise in sight, the countdown to the first shutdown of the federal government in 17 years has begun.

Just hours after the Senate defeated a House bill that would have delayed "Obamacare" for a year as a condition for keeping the government running, Republican leaders came back with yet another proposal that Senate Democrats have promised to reject.

House Speaker John Boehner announced on Monday afternoon two new provisions the GOP wants attached to the stopgap funding bill - a one-year delay to the individual mandate to purchase health insurance and a measure that denies members of Congress health care benefits worth more than coverage available to the most basic plans available under the new law.

The new demands, the GOP’s third attempt in the past week to slip Obamacare-related amendments into the continuing resolution, appeared likely to fail as swiftly as the party’s prior attempt did.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has vowed that the upper chamber will reject any resolution to keep the government funded that includes changes to the President’s signature health care law.

“We’re not going to negotiate on this. We have done everything we can to be fair and reasonable,” Reid said Monday, shortly after the Senate voted on straight party lines to remove the House-passed amendments delaying Obamacare and repealing a medical device tax from a bill extending government funding.

That vote, shortly after 2 p.m., sent the “clean” bill, along with the onus for averting a shutdown, back to House Republicans, who have repeatedly pushed to link the bill with delaying the President's signature health care law.

"The fact that nobody knows what the rules are, employers are scared to death to hire new employees, cutting the hours many of their current employees, and for what reason?" House Majority Leader John Boehner said Monday. "This law is not ready for prime time."

Democrats, however, remained hopeful that the GOP's bravado would fade as the day wore on.

"Do we have to sacrifice the economy and help for millions of middle-class people?" New York Sen. Chuck Schumer, a Democrat, said Monday on MSNBC's "Morning Joe."

"It's real people with real lives at stake, and just to sacrifice them to the right-wing gods, for the sake of a day or two of showing 'Oh yes, we're serious,' is a very cynical operation," he added.

As lawmakers squabbled, President Obama urged them instead to “act responsibly and do what’s right for the American people.”

Even some Republicans began criticizing their party's leadership as a shutdown became more likely.

"I disagree with the strategy of linking Obamacare with the continuing functioning of government — a strategy that cannot possibly work," Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) said Monday.

Americans, for the most part, appeared to agree.

A CNN poll released Monday morning showed that 46% of U.S. residents would blame Republicans for a federal government shutdown, whereas only 36% would blame Obama.

Another 13% said they would blame both Republicans and Obama, the poll showed.

If lawmakers do fail to achieve a resolution by midnight, large sections of the government would close, hundreds of thousands of workers would be furloughed without pay, and millions more would be asked to work for no pay, which would create new risks for the fragile economy.

U.S. markets appeared to react accordingly Monday, as the Dow Jones Industrial Average plummeted more than 150 points in the first minutes of trading.

The benchmark index ultimately closed down 128 points, or 0.8%.

With News Wire Services

ON A MOBILE DEVICE? CLICK HERE FOR VIDEO




Win McNamee/Getty Images
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) arrives at the Capitol Monday. The Senate voted Monday to defeat a House bill that links keeping the government funded to delaying 'Obamacare' for one year.



JONATHAN ERNST/REUTERS
House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), seen arriving with his security detail at the Capitol on Monday, remained adamant that "Obamacare" be delayed. "This law is not ready for prime time," he said.




 
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/federal-government-appears-headed-shutdown-divided-lawmakers-reach-last-minute-deal-article-1.1471738#ixzz2gPdP8WOa
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In aftermath of Kenya mall siege, shop owners suspect security troops in widespread thefts



By Jason Straziuso And Rukmini CallimacHi, The Associated Press
September 30, 2013 4:30 PM





Sonali Shah, right, fiance of 24 year old Rajan Lalitkumar Solanki, is consoled during a prayer ceremony at Arya Samaj Temple in Nairobi, Kenya, Sunday, Sept. 29, 2013. Solanki was killed in the Westgate Mall attack. Solanki was killed in the Westgate Mall attack. The masked gunmen who infiltrated Nairobi's Westgate mall arrived with a set of religious trivia questions: As terrified civilians hid, the assailants began a high-stakes game of 20 Questions to separate Muslims from those they consider infidels. (AP Photo/Sayyid Azim)


NAIROBI, Kenya - Jewelry cases smashed. Mobile phones ripped from displays. Cash registers emptied. Alcohol stocks plundered.

For the second time in two months, poorly paid Kenyan security forces that moved in to control an emergency are being accused of robbing the very property they were supposed to protect. First the troops were accused of looting during a huge fire in August at Nairobi's main airport.

Now shop owners at Westgate Mall are returning to their stores after last week's devastating terrorist attack to find displays ransacked and valuables stolen.

One witness told The Associated Press that he saw a Kenyan soldier take cigarettes out of a dead man's pocket.

Shopkeepers spent Monday carting merchandise and other valuables out of their stores and restaurants to prevent any more thefts. No one can say for sure who is responsible, but Kenya's security forces are strongly suspected.

Soon after the attack began on Sept. 21, Kenyan officials put a cordon around the mall, allowing only security forces and a few government personnel to pass through.

Since then, alcohol stocks from the restaurants have been depleted. One business owner at the mall said money and mobile phones were taken from bags and purses left behind in the mayhem. The owner insisted on anonymity to avoid retribution from Kenya's government.

Employees of a book shop on the mall's second floor returned to find registers yanked open and cash gone. The store's laptops were also stolen. All the shop's books remained in place, said owner Paku Tsavani.

Perhaps reluctant to blame Kenyan security forces, Tsavani said he doesn't know who took his goods.

"Obviously the terrorists wouldn't steal those things, so we just don't know," Tsavani said.

Sandeep Vidyarthi went into the mall Sunday to help a relative retrieve equipment from his dental practice. Inside he said he passed shop after shop that had been looted, including the Rado store that sells high-end Swiss watches.

As he was leaving the mall, Vidyarthi passed a jewelry shop near the front entrance. The owner, he said, was presenting security officials with a long list of missing precious stones and high-end necklaces.

"The jeweler had written down this very long list," he said.

It is ironic, said the management team of one Westgate business, that store owners must now make reports of stolen goods to the same security forces suspected of doing the thieving.

Interior Minister Joseph Ole Lenku confirmed the reports of theft Sunday in a news conference. The majority of the responders to the terrorist attack came from Kenya's military. A military spokesman did not answer repeated calls for comment.

"Those responsible for looting will be prosecuted," Lenku said.

The mall attack also saw good Samaritans. Paresh Shah, a volunteer who helped evacuate the injured and recover the dead during the first day, said he carried out the body of Aleem Jamal.

Shah frowned at the memory and said he saw a Kenyan soldier take Jamal's cigarettes while in the ambulance.

"I could never do that, take a dead man's cigarettes," Shah said.

Jamal's family retrieved the body at the morgue, where his wife, Taz Jamal, said her husband's wallet was missing.

A team of terrorists entered Westgate Mall shortly after noon on a busy Saturday, firing guns and throwing grenades. The attackers — the Somali extremist group al-Shabab claimed responsibility — held off Kenya's military and controlled at least parts of the mall for four days.

The attack killed at least 67 people. The mall now has a gaping three-story hole in it from the siege.

Almost a week after the attack ended, more than three dozen people remain unaccounted for, the head of the Kenyan Red Cross said Monday.

The government contends there are no remaining missing people.

"The only way to verify this is when the government declares the Westgate Mall 100 per cent cleared. Then we can resolve it," Red Cross head Abbas Gullet said.

A morgue worker told AP on Monday that six body parts have been found in the rubble. The worker, who insisted on anonymity because he was not authorized to speak about information not yet released, said it was not clear if the parts came from one or multiple bodies.

Five terrorists are believed to be under the rubble but no dead hostages, Interior Minister Lenku said Sunday. Government officials have said 10 to 15 terrorists attacked the mall. Lenku said some attackers might have escaped.

"We do not rule out the possibility that when we were evacuating people in the first stages of the operation, it is possible some could have slipped out," he said.

FBI agents, along with investigators from Britain, Canada and Germany, are participating in the investigation into the attack and are aiding Kenyan forensic experts. Results are not expected until later this week at the earliest.

Kenyan authorities have used anti-terrorism laws to detain a total of 12 people in connection with the attack, including one on Sunday. Three have been set free, including a British man with a bruised face who was reportedly arrested last week as he tried to board a flight from Nairobi to Turkey while acting suspiciously, the British Foreign Office confirmed Monday.

Ndung'u Githinji, chairman of parliament's foreign relations committee, said officials will "rethink" Kenya's hospitality in supporting refugee camps, a reference to Dadaab, a refugee camp near Somalia filled with more than 400,000 Somalis. Security officials say some elements in the camp support and facilitate terror attacks.

___

Associated Press writers Tom Odula and David Rising contributed to this report.


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Bankruptcy of Church and State: When Clergy Is Blind and Justice Isn’t


1:00PM EDT 5/30/2013 | Dan Cummins
Originally published at Charisma News




Dan Cummins is the pastor of Bridlewood Church in
Bullard, Texas.




America’s political and religious establishments are broken. Washington fails to provide the answers needed to solve the economic and political crises facing us at home and abroad. The church fails to exhibit the moral guidance necessary to hold a collapsing culture together. The nation is rapidly losing faith in both institutions, evidenced by declining approval ratings.

The political process in Washington is overheating in partisan gridlock while our churches are becoming increasingly ineffective and indifferently cold to the ongoing culture wars. Both institutions are insolvent to the fiscal and spiritual indebtedness they have incurred upon the nation. Neither can produce the economic capital or spiritual stimulus to jumpstart the economy or usher in revival.

Legislative issues are taking on greater moral ramifications. What were once considered moral issues discussed from the pulpit are now being politicized and aggressively commandeered by special interest groups with their radical social agendas. Civil rights are being sacrificed in the name of social justice upon the altar of special rights. Justice may be blind, but social justice has 20/20 vision. Equality before the law is becoming persecution under the law. The new persecution of the church will be in the form of prosecution of the church.

All the while, there seems to be little pushback from the clergy to preserve their institution’s voice as the spiritual leaders and moral guides for the nation. Complicity and compromise, on the other hand, seem to have replaced the spiritual backbone of America’s preachers. The clergy in America are, in most part, blind to the prophetic times in which we live and clueless to the spiritual solutions that will solve the troubles confronting a despondent nation. America’s sheep are being scattered due to the incompetence of hirelings who run at the first sign of political or cultural confrontation.

When government attempts to legislate morality apart from a spiritual relationship with God, moral rebellion will be the law of the land. When the church pontificates truth without exemplifying reality, her institutions will be rejected as charlatans. They both will soon be tossed aside, leaving the nation ripe for rebellion and anarchy. When the church loses its vision, where is the light to penetrate the moral and political abyss? When complicity robes the clergy, political leaders line their pockets in greed as the nation drifts aimlessly in a vacuum of ethical relativism.

This lesson is oft repeated but seldom learned. Unchecked principles by nature tend to run their own course. Thus history repeats itself. The first 11 chapters of 1 Samuel are but one of many such instances. Four hundred years out of Egyptian bondage, the nation of Israel faced a fundamental transformation in its government—from a godly theocracy overseen by holy priests to a humanistic monarchy dictated by a self-serving king, Saul.

Israel experienced redistribution of its wealth; there was a cry for globalism to become like all the other nations. A morally bankrupt but politically correct clergy produced a climate of judicial legislation. As the menorah slowly flickered out in the tabernacle, the Ark of God’s presence was whisked from the nation. The Ark of the Covenant that preceded the nation into the Promised Land—on the shoulders of holy anointed priests—was now suddenly snatched from her midst by the hands of uncircumcised Philistines. It was Israel’s darkest hour.

Inside the Ark were the Ten Commandments—the spiritual, civil and economic foundations of the nation. The Ten Commandments were no longer found in her schools, in her courthouses, in the town square or in her churches.

Sound familiar? How could the glory of God have departed the nation in this manner?

The glory of the Lord departed the nation because the priesthood was compromised. Eli, the high priest, became fat, lazy and blind. As he lost his vision, so went his usefulness to the nation. His uncircumcised (not in covenant) sons, Hophni (strong) and Phineas (mouth of a serpent), stole from the tabernacle offerings and committed adultery with the women who assembled at the outer gate. A complicit clergy cannot reproduce covenanted sons.

America has weak spiritual sons who cannot lead another awakening as our founding spiritual fathers once did because we’ve had a generation of complicity by the clergy with governmental intrusion into the church. Four hundred years ago, America’s forefathers left the political slavery and religious oppression of Europe for a new promised land—400 years ago! Now America, like Israel, has followed the same principled path to the same self-destructive destination. Will we make the same self-centered mistakes as they did or choose repentance over rebellion?

The Bankruptcy of America Begins

In July 1954, the spiritual bankruptcy of America’s clergy set in as the U.S. Senate passed an unconstitutional amendment to a tax overhaul bill. It was the Johnson Amendment, introduced by then Senator Lyndon B. Johnson who was angry at two wealthy Texas businessmen who used their 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization to campaign against him.

Without a minute of senatorial debate regarding its constitutionality, a simple amendment that stated, “501(c)(3) organizations are absolutely prohibited from directly or indirectly participating in, or intervening in, any political campaign on behalf of (or in opposition to) any candidate for elective public office,” opened the floodgates of hell upon an unsuspecting church whose organizations were delineated under the 501(c)(3) category by the IRS. Johnson’s legal aide later admitted the amendment was only intended to silence two wealthy businessmen not churches, but the damage was done.

The IRS soon picked up on it and began a 50-year Gestapo-style reign of intimidation and fear upon America’s churches and clergy. In exchange for their political silence in the pulpits, America’s clergy were sold a bill of goods labeled “tax emption” by the IRS—something already granted the church constitutionally.

Fortunately, under the leadership of Alan Sears, founder of Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) in Scottsdale, Ariz., last year over 1650 pastors in all 50 states continued a five-year national campaign, called Pulpit Freedom Sunday, to overturn the Johnson Amendment, challenging its constitutionality by recording a politically motivated sermon and sending it to the IRS. So far, not one pastor has been audited. Thank God for these courageous pastors and the 2,200 allied attorneys of ADF.

With the clergy’s complicity and silence secured in 1954, Satan’s propaganda machine began running wide open and unchecked. In 1963, prayer and Bible reading were taken out of public schools. The pulpits remained silent—it was a political issue. In 1973, the Supreme Court decided that unborn Americans had no civil rights and upheld a woman’s special right to have an abortion. The pulpit remained silent—it was a political issue. Fifty-five million abortions later, in June the Supreme Court will decide if God knew what He was doing when He created the institution of marriage to be exclusively between one man and one woman. So far, the pulpit has remained silent—it’s a political issue. We will need more than 1650 pastors out of 300,000 churches in America if we are going to turn the tide and see revival.

What is America’s solution? The same as it was for Israel in Eli’s day: There was one barren woman who knew how to pray a prayer of desperation. Her name was Hannah—which means the grace of God. Not only did Hannah grab the horns of the altar, she touched the heart of God. Her prayer—one woman’s prayer—saved the nation and brought the greatest revival in Israel’s history. In the midst of all the political and spiritual unrest of Israel, God answered one woman’s prayer. He gave her a son, a man child, named Samuel who would later anoint David as king. As his first act as king of Israel, David restored the Ark to its rightful place and brought the greatest spiritual awakening in their history—the tabernacle of David.

Second Chronicles 7:14 says, “If my people,” not “if my preachers,” or “if my politicians”! It says, “If my people … will humble themselves and pray.” The answer to America’s problems is the same answer it has always been throughout history: “If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.”

I believe the greatest opportunity for America to experience another Great Awakening is here. But we must meet the four requirements for revival: humble ourselves, pray, seek the face of God and repent of our wicked ways.

Posted 11th August by America the Battlefield

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The King of the North Embracing World Religions - Walter Veith



278 The King of the North Embracing World Religions




MrTaelti


Published on Jul 24, 2013

Learn about the greatest apostasy in the history of Christianity. A gospel of brass can be easily molded to the requirements of interreligious dialogue. Sacrificing principle and even the very essence of salvation enables people to embrace all religions irrespective as to whether the religions themselves acknowledge or negate the supremacy of Christ. The deity of Christ in particular has to be sacrificed on the altar of expediency in order to embrace the non-Christian religions and bring them into the fold of the anti-typical Babylon. In this lecture, we look at the statements and pictorial evidence of the greatest apostasy in the history of Christianity. Moreover, we lay the foundation for a study of the inroads of the king of the north into the very heart of antitypical Jerusalem.

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Internet Rumors Spark Fear of Mid-Atlantic Disaster



Reported by: Brandon Stover

Web Producer: Brandon Stover
Reported: Sep. 27, 2013 9:24 PM EDT
Updated: Sep. 27, 2013 10:45 PM EDT


Charleston , Kanawha County , West Virginia

Some people are preparing for a major disaster in the mid-Atlantic. doing after rumors started circulating that a big event was coming. But is there any truth to those fears?

One of the websites, knowthelies.com, that has caused some concern lately for West Virginians. It suggests that a major disaster of some sort may occur in FEMA Region 3, which includes West Virginia and other mid-Atlantic states. But is it true?

According to a retired state senator, Sheldon R. Songstad of South Dakota, who claims he followed the bread crumb trail of FEMA orders, it is.

However, FEMA issued the following statement, and said nothing was unusual:


FEMA is aware of the speculations surrounding procurement of materials throughout the United States, particularly in the mid-Atlantic region. There is no specific threat, catalyst or alert within FEMA to purchase additional supplies, throughout the year, FEMA routinely purchases material and stockpiles warehouses throughout the country in anticipation of disasters and to have supplies pre-positioned throughout the United States. No unusual or inordinate purchases are being made.

This certainly does not scream concern and, in a world of texting and the Internet, rumors can turn into monsters overnight.

Local residents offered their thoughts on the matter.

"A lot of things you hear on the internet are not true, but some things are," Ernest Chapman, of Montgomery said.

"You can't believe anything on the Internet anyway, so I would take that as a ‘no,’" Whitney Kidd, of Charleston, said.

Regardless of when the next disaster occurs, it's always better to be safe than sorry.


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Syria: Why Did God Step In?








Speak to the mountain: Have you ever tried speaking to a mountain? It’s not easy, is it, but that’s precisely what Je-sus commands – if we want results!

“Verily I say unto you, If ye have faith, and doubt not, ye shall not only do this which is done to the fig tree, but also if ye shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; it shall be done. And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.”

Matthew 21:21, 22.


Didn’t David practice this as he ran toward Goliath? Didn’t he speak to the mountain? And didn’t he get results?


“This day will the Lord deliver thee into mine hand; and I will smite thee, and take thine head from thee; and I will give the carcases of the host of the Philistines this day unto the fowls of the air, and to the wild beasts of the earth; that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel.”

I Samuel 17:46.


What you’re about to read are this author’s efforts at speaking to the mountain. In saying things as if they already are, we honor God. We exercise faith – especially when the things spoken are outwardly impossible. “Them that honour me,” the Lord declares, “I will honour.” 1 Samuel 2:30. So let’s get to it. Let’s speak to the mountain.





The Sounds of War. Why did God hold back the winds of strife in Syria last week? Many reasons, no doubt, not the least of which is to save and preserve life. In the midst of these, however, is this (I’m speaking to the mountain now): what’s at stake in the entire Middle East is the greatest sea change in religious thinking in the history of our planet. Though they don’t know it, Moslems by the millions are about to make decisions for Christ. And Israel? After almost 2,000 years of denial, she’s finally about to acknowledge her Messiah.


“ For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in. And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob.”

Romans 11:25 – 26.


[CLICK HERE FOR COMPLETE ARTICLE]







Sermons for the Dome. What could possibly bring this sea change about? What could possibly bring millions of Moslems and Jews to see Jesus as Messiah at the same time? There’s only one power on the face of the earth that can: i.e. the word of the living God!


"For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do."

Hebrews 4:12 – 13.


It was Luther who wrote:


“I put forward God’s word; I preached and wrote—this was all I did. And yet while I was asleep ... the word that I had preached overthrew popery, so that neither prince nor emperor has done it so much harm. And yet I did nothing; the word alone did all.”

The (New, Illustrated) Great Controversy, page 190.
David had faith – plus five stones!
Luther had faith – plus one poster!
We’ve got faith – plus stones and poster.


That poster, our sling, is set to let fly seven living stones, launched first from New York City’s subways. Before these the gates of hell will come tumbling down – I’m sure of it. Evoking the legacy of the angel Gabriel, whom the Moslems call Jibril, the first two challenge. These, in combination with the remaining five (which likewise revolve around prophecy) will bring about that sea change. But we’re not content with them, as though there can be no improvement here. God can easily give you some thought, some gem that can help make them better. If you’ve got the time, please read them. We’d appreciate any comments or insights you might have.


“(For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.”

2 Corinthians 10:4, 5.


[CLICK HERE FOR SERMONS]




David Mould.


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Navy Yard Shooter- Mind Control False Flag or Plain Insanity?






kytekutter

Published on Sep 25, 2013


(September 26, 2013) The Navy Yard shooter thought he was being controlled by low-frequency radio waves. Does this have any credibility or just fall into the realm of conspiracy theories.

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How Government Security Clearances Are Granted


Listen


Transcript


Thursday, September 19, 2013 - 10:06 a.m.



(AP Photo/David Zalubowski)


After the shooting spree at Washington's Navy Yard, President Barack Obama ordered a review of security clearance policies across the government. Yesterday, Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel reiterated the president's directive for a broad review. Hagel said in hindsight there were red flags in the background of Aaron Alexis, the man who killed 12 people at the Navy Yard. Critics say the tragedy might have been prevented if more stringent security clearance procedures had been in place. Others argue the procedures are sound, but not always followed as closely as they should be. Diane and her guests discuss new concerns about background checks and security clearances.

Guests

Michael Greenberger
founder and director at the University of Maryland Center for Health and Homeland Security and professor at the University of Maryland Carey School of Law.

John Fitzpatrick
director, the Information Security Oversight Office at the National Archives Records Administration; from 2006-2011 he was the intelligence community's leader in the Bush and Obama administrations' efforts to transform security clearance processes across the U.S. government.

Carol Leonnig
national staff writer, The Washington Post.

Sheldon Cohen
security clearance attorney.


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French stores rebel against Sunday trading ban in bitter row

Agence France-Presse

September 29, 2013 14:22


Braving a court ban, 14 home improvement stores in France opened to the public Sunday in an increasingly bitter tug of war with the government over a law prohibiting trading on the traditional day of rest.

The move comes amid intense debate over France's labour practices. The government is seeking to continue a long tradition ruling out Sunday and late-night work, but at a time of record high unemployment, many employees regard the ban as antiquated.

Last week, both Leroy Merlin and Castorama, two home improvement chains, were ordered by a court to stop opening their stores in the Paris area on Sundays or face a fine of 120,000 euros ($162,000) per shop and per day.

But on Sunday, they opened anyway amid anger among employees and customers.

"I'm outraged by the court decision: All of a sudden, I risk ending up without a salary, which threatens my studies," said Eleanor Leloup, a 24-year-old chiropractic student who works every weekend at one of the affected Leroy Merlin stores in Ivry-sur-Seine, next to Paris.

Smahene, another employee at the store, wore a T-shirt blazoned with the words "Yes week-end", in a nudge to the "Yes we can" slogan used by US President Barack Obama in his 2008 campaign.

Spokespeople for both chains denounced a confusing ban that allows some stores to open in certain cases.

Under French law, retailers can only open on a Sunday under very specific conditions -- if they are located in a tourist area, for instance. Any shop selling food, such as a butcher, can also trade until 1 pm.

"Some stores can open on Sundays without a problem and others must ask for special dispensations. It would be good if everyone received equal treatment," a Castorama spokeswoman told AFP.

Leroy Merlin, meanwhile, blasted a "staggering imbroglio" when it came to permits given to some stores to open, and not to others.

Some ministers have acknowledged that changes need to be made, and early Sunday evening, the government announced a special meeting would take place on Monday morning "to make things evolve".

Marisol Touraine, the minister for social affairs and health, said that Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault would meet the ministers concerned.

"The prime minister will meet the ministers tomorrow to see how things may evolve," she told French television. "Clearly the status quo is not tenable."

The French government spokeswoman, Najat Vallaud-Belkacem, said the PM would meet a "number of ministers that can engage in a discussion on this issue but keep in mind the interest of employees is to preserve the right to Sunday rest".

Expected to be among those at the meeting are the labour and employment minister Michel Sapin, Pierre Moscovici, the finance minister, and Sylvia Pinel, minister for commerce and the crafts industry.

In an interview with Sunday's Journal du Dimanche newspaper, Pinel acknowledged that there was "a complexity in the law" that demanded clarification.

And Bruno Le Roux, head of the ruling Socialists' lower house National Assembly faction, said on Radio J that retailers should be given the "possibility" of working Sundays.

But other politicians have rebuked the two home improvement chains.

Benoit Hamon, Consumer Affairs Minister, said Saturday it was "unacceptable that a brand does not implement a judicial decision".

Justice Minister Christiane Taubira, meanwhile, said rules must be respected as "we are a state ruled by law".

'People are not being allowed to work'

By-and-large, customers who visited the DIY stores on Sunday said they supported the decision to remain open.

"I'm ashamed, I think it's outrageous that in this country, people are not being allowed to work. And then people are surprised that there is unemployment," said Elisabeth Armani, a Parisian DIY lover shopping at the Ivry Leroy Merlin store.

"Where's the petition? I came here on purpose to encourage these young people who want to work Sundays, we support you," Philippe Dafit, another customer, told employees who were distributing leaflets at the entrance to the store.

The Sunday controversy comes on top of another similar debate that emerged last week in France -- this time over a law banning late-night work.

A court ruled Monday that cosmetics retailer Sephora must close its flagship Paris store by 9 pm after it had been keeping it open until midnight on weekdays and up to 1 am on Fridays and Saturdays, to capitalise on demand for late-night shopping.

Employees of the store have since blasted the unions that brought the case for preventing them from opting to work longer hours for extra pay, at a time when unemployment stands at a record 10.9 percent.

The retailer has said it will appeal the court order.

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