Christian Zionist Calls the Temple Mount Conflict a Warning Sign

Recent events in Jerusalem are signs of coming conflict according to Christian Zionist Les Lawrence.

Sandpoint (PRWEB) November 17, 2009 -- When violent confrontation between Muslims and Jews in late October reignited on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, Les Lawrence of Elisha Vision (www.elishavision.com), called the incident “a warning sign of the end times.”

According to Robert Berger writing from Jerusalem (10/25/09), the conflict began when young Muslims, incited by senior members of the Islamic Movement, barricaded themselves inside the Al Aqsa Mosque in protest of Jews praying on the Temple Mount. Berger wrote that the “Israeli Police Commissioner Dudi Cohen blamed Islamic leaders in Israel for fomenting the violence.”

The Associated Press reported that Israeli police fired stun grenades in a face-off with “masked Palestinians hurling stones and chairs outside the Holy Land’s most volatile shrine.”

In all, 26 people were injured including 9 officers and 21 Palestinians were arrested.

“Virtually all Jews reject the concept that only Muslims can pray on the Mount because it is Holy to them,” Lawrence said in an interview. “For a Jew to be banned from praying on the site is like banning Catholics from praying at the Vatican.”

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Early Data Suggests Suicides Are Rising

Early signs suggest the number of suicides in the U.S. crept up during the worst recession in decades, according to a Wall Street Journal survey of states that account for about 40 percent of the U.S. population.

Available data, still incomplete, suggest that this recession, like past ones, coincided with an uptick in suicides. The data from 19 states find an increase in suicides in the recessionary year of 2008 from 2007. Those states historically account for about half of annual suicides in the U.S. Calls to suicide hotlines are rising. And suicides in the workplace and the military — a small sliver all of self-inflicted deaths — were up in 2008.

Official data on suicides in the U.S. lag, and a 2008 national tally isn't yet available. In 2007, there were 33,185 suicides, according to preliminary estimates from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, compared with an average of about 32,800 in the previous three years.

A Journal survey of the 33 largest states by population found 19 have data for 2008. In all, those 19 reported a total of 15,335 suicides in 2008, up about 2.3 percent from the previous year.

Thirteen states, accounting for 30 percent of the U.S. population, reported more suicides in 2008. In Florida, for instance, suicides were up 6 percent, in Georgia, up 2.3 percent, and in North Carolina, up 7.8 percent. In six smaller states, which account for about 9.5 percent of the population, the number of suicides fell.

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Cumbria flood areas braced for more rain

Flood-stricken parts of the UK are bracing themselves for more rain after England's wettest day on record swamped homes and brought down bridges.

Forecasters predict Saturday will bring 15mm (0.5in) to 40mm (1.6in) of rain to Cumbria, where police said 75 people spent the night in emergency shelters.

There are 22 flood warnings in force across Scotland, northern England, the Midlands and Wales. Four are "severe".

Gordon Brown, who is in Cumbria, said the country was proud of the rescuers.

During a visit to Cumbria police's headquarters in Penrith, the prime minister said: "What you've done in the last few days is tackle one of the greatest rainfalls we've seen in our country and you've done it with such superb organisation, that I want to tell you on behalf of the whole country how proud we are of you."

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Mixed response as top EU figures named

EU leaders have chosen the Belgian Prime Minister, Herman van Rompuy, to be the first permanent European Council President.

The other top job created by the Lisbon Treaty - foreign affairs supremo - has gone to the EU Trade Commissioner, Baroness Catherine Ashton from the UK.

Both are seen as consensual politicians with limited foreign policy experience.

Both had unanimous backing from the 27 EU leaders at the summit in Brussels, UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown said.

Earlier, the UK government had said it was no longer pushing for former PM Tony Blair to get the presidency post.

Mr Van Rompuy, 62, had crucial French and German support. He has a reputation as a coalition builder, having taken charge of the linguistically divided Belgian government and steered it out of a crisis.

Herman van Rompuy: Every country should emerge victorious from negotiations

"Every country should emerge victorious from negotiations," he told a news conference after his appointment.

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Buying and Selling in a RFID Chip for the FIRST TIME EVER - Positive ID

VERICHIP has now bought STEEL VAULT and has now changed their name once again to POSITIVE ID and for the FIRST TIME EVER now they will be combining MONEY & IDENTITY with a RFID CHIP!

Jews raise millions to be ready for coming of the Messiah

Yehuda Glick is a 44-year-old American-born Jew who spends most of every day preparing for the arrival of the Messiah in Jerusalem.

Since he became the executive director of the Temple Institute, Mr Glick's main task has been to supervise the manufacture of the utensils the high priests will need when the day arrives.

Crowns and other instruments made of solid gold fill glass cases in the Temple Institute museum in Jerusalem's Old City.

Other artefacts include an array of copper urns, trumpets made of silver and garments to be worn by the High Priest, woven from golden thread.

Musical instruments, including hand-made harps and lyres, lie ready to be brought to life upon the Messiah's appearance.

So, when can we expect this momentous event?

''That is a very good question,'' Mr Glick told the Herald.

''All that we know is that we are now living in the age of miracles and all of those miracles are predicted in the Book as happening on the eve of the end of days.

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MILLION HIT BY 'PLAGUE WORSE THAN SWINE FLU'

A cocktail of three flu viruses are reported to have mutated into a single pneumonic plague, which it is believed may be far more dangerous than swine flu. The death toll has reached 189 and more than 1 million people have been infected, most of them in the nine regions of Western Ukraine.

President of Ukraine Viktor Yushchenko has called in the World Health Organisation and a team of nine specialists are carrying out tests in Kiev and Lviv to identify the virus. Samples have been sent to London for analysis.

President Yushchenko said: “People are dying. The epidemic is killing doctors. This is absolutely inconceivable in the 21st Century.”

In a TV interview, the President added: “Unlike similar epidemics in other countries, three causes of serious viral infections came together simultaneously in Ukraine – two seasonal flus and the Californian flu

“Virologists conclude that this combination of infections may produce an even more aggressive new virus as a result of mutation.”

Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko has been touring hospitals where victims are being treated and presidential elections in January could be cancelled .

Four men and one woman have died from the flu in Lviv, said emergency hospital chief doctor Myron Borysevych. Two of the dead patients were in the 22-35 age group, with two others over 60. He diagnosed the disease as viral pneumonia.

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Worst storm of year as parts of Britain battered by 100mph winds

 Intense weather conditions in Wales and southern England brought an abrupt end to an usually mild autumn, with isolated flooding in south-western England and severe winds in coastal regions.

Drama was not confined to the south-west, however, with a fast rescue craft from an unnamed North Sea oil rig running aground at Britain’s most easterly point.

Three men were rescued unhurt from the vessel by Lowestoft lifeboat on Friday night after the craft became stuck on a disused jetty at Ness Point in Suffolk, an RNLI spokeswoman said.

The damaged vessel became grounded on rocks after being abandoned but was later salvaged.

At Newhaven in East Sussex, the impact of heavy seas saw waves tower over the harbour lighthouse.

The lighthouse at The Needles on the westernmost point of the Isle of Wight reported gusts of between 95mph and 100mph.

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New York 9/11 trial ignites row

Senior US Republicans have condemned the Obama administration's move to try alleged 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four others in New York.

Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said bringing the suspects from Guantanamo into the US would put "Americans unnecessarily at risk".

The five will be tried in a civilian court near Ground Zero. The prosecution says it will seek the death penalty.

Democrats hailed the decision, while families of 9/11 victims are divided.

The move is part of US President Barack Obama's efforts to close the Guantanamo detention centre for terror suspects.

"The Department of Justice will pursue prosecution in federal court of the five individuals accused of conspiring to commit the 9/11 attacks," US Attorney General Eric Holder told a news conference.

"I fully expect to direct prosecutors to seek the death penalty against each of the alleged 9/11 conspirators."

But Republican leaders immediately criticised the move.

Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell described it as "a step backwards for the security of our country" that "puts Americans unnecessarily at risk".

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Fresh hope of resumed peace talks

Israel and the international community signaled new optimism on Thursday that the deadlock that has prevented a resumption of negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority may soon be broken, after PA officials indicated that elections scheduled for January 24 would not go ahead.

Abbas had said he would not run in the elections, meaning he was coming to the end of his period in power. With the vote off, however, Abbas had become a viable partner again, Israeli and foreign officials said.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy phoned Abbas on Thursday to discuss conditions for the renewal of the diplomatic process. And while it is understood that the US does not anticipate substantive negotiations resuming in the next two weeks, there is renewed optimism that the path to new talks can be cleared.

The talks on Monday at the White House between President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu focused heavily on the Palestinian issue, with extensive discussion on the "practical steps" both Israel and the Palestinians could take to enable a renewed dialogue, and to boost the prospects of such a dialogue bearing fruit.

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Is terror returning to America?

While displaying impressive intelligence and counter-terror capabilities, 2009 has been characterized by a significant rise in the quality and number of intentions to carry out attacks on American soil.


More than eight years have passed since the collapse of the Twin Towers, and the sense among many intelligence communities worldwide is that the al-Qaeda organization is unable to repeat the scope of “operational success” it achieved in that historic attack.

With the passage of years, Global Jihad groups targeted many countries across the globe, but it seems as though they “skipped over” the US. The sense that emerged is that the threat posed to America has minimized.

However, in September of this year authorities uncovered the most significant terror plot in the US since September 11th, when a coffee cart operator from south Manhattan who immigrated with his family from Afghanistan was detained after apparently operating on behalf of al-Qaeda’s global terror unit. His computer was found to contain information about potential countries in America.

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EU to choose first president on Nov 19

European leaders will hold a special summit next week to choose the future EU president and a foreign policy supremo, the Swedish EU presidency announced Wednesday.

"After an introductory round of consultations with his fellow heads of state and government, Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt has decided to convene an extra informal summit on 19 November," the EU presidency said in a statement.

hoped that the 27 European heads of state and government will reach agreement at the dinner summit on the key new posts created by the EU's reforming Lisbon Treaty, ratified this month.

"My prime minister is going to start a second round of consultations and hopefully we will be able to present the candidates next Thursday," Roberta Alenius, spokeswoman for Reinfeldt told AFP in Stockholm.



However, filling the two posts is proving more difficult than many had expected.

The Swedes wound up a first round of talks with no consensus for either post and many names swirling around, the spokeswoman said.

The British government still backs former premier Tony Blair, despite unpopularity in some European quarters over his support for the war in Iraq.

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Navies of two Koreas exchange fire; none hurt

The two Koreas briefly exchanged naval fire Tuesday along their disputed western sea border, with a North Korean ship suffering heavy damage before retreating, South Korean military officials said.

There were no South Korean casualties, the country's Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement, and it was not immediately clear if there were any casualties on the North Korean side. Each side blamed the other for violating the sea border.

"It's a regrettable incident," South Korean Commodore Lee Ki-sik told reporters in Seoul. "We are sternly protesting to North Korea and urging it to prevent the recurrence of similar incidents."

North Korea's military issued a statement blaming South Korea for the clash, saying its ships crossed into North Korean territory. North Korea demanded an apology, according to a statement carried on the official Korean Central News Agency.

South Korean President Lee Myung-bak, who convened an emergency security meeting, ordered his defense minister to strengthen military readiness.

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Chavez Says Venezuela to Prepare for War as Deterrent

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez told the military and civil militias today to prepare for war as a deterrent to a U.S.-led attack after American troops gained access to military bases in neighboring Colombia.

Chavez said a recently signed agreement that gives American troops access to seven Colombian bases is a direct threat to his oil-exporting country. Colombia has handed over its sovereignty to the U.S. with the deal, he said.

“Generals of the armed forces, the best way to avoid a war is to prepare for one,” Chavez said in comments on state television during his weekly “Alo Presidente” program. “Colombia handed over their country and is now another state of the union. Don’t make the mistake of attacking: Venezuela is willing to do anything.”

The U.S. agreement with Colombia is part of an effort to “strengthen and increase ties with countries in the region,” Robin Holzhauer, spokeswoman for the U.S. Embassy in Caracas, said by telephone. “We’ve done that with governments who want to have partnerships with us.” Colombia has said the agreement would help combat drug trafficking.

Ties between Venezuela and Colombia have deteriorated this year after President Alvaro Uribe accused Chavez of financing leftist Colombian rebels. Chavez, a self-proclaimed socialist revolutionary, said he would stop importing goods from Colombia due to the U.S. military pact. The two countries are each other’s second-largest trading partners after the U.S.

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Look Up Your Redemption Draweth Near

Luke 7-11, 25-28
7"Teacher," they asked, "when will these things happen? And what will be the sign that they are about to take place?"

8He replied: "Watch out that you are not deceived. For many will come in my name, claiming, 'I am he,' and, 'The time is near.' Do not follow them. 9When you hear of wars and revolutions, do not be frightened. These things must happen first, but the end will not come right away."

10Then he said to them: "Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. 11There will be great earthquakes, famines and pestilences in various places, and fearful events and great signs from heaven.

25"There will be signs in the sun, moon and stars. On the earth, nations will be in anguish and perplexity at the roaring and tossing of the sea. 26Men will faint from terror, apprehensive of what is coming on the world, for the heavenly bodies will be shaken. 27At that time they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. 28When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near."

Rare virus poses new threat to troops

U.S. military officials sent a medical team to a remote outpost in southern Afghanistan this week to take blood samples from members of an Army unit after a soldier in the unit died from an Ebola-like virus.

Dr. Jim Radike, an expert in internal medicine and infectious diseases at the Role 3 Trauma Hospital at Kandahar Air Field, told The Washington Times that Sgt. Robert David Gordon, 22, from River Falls, Ala., died Sept. 16 from what turned out to be Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever after he was bitten by a tick. The virus is transmitted by infected blood and can be carried by ticks, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The news comes as the Pentagon disclosed that it has sent 150,000 doses of vaccine for the H1N1 swine flu virus to Qatar for distribution to U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan - half of what U.S. Central Command has requested. More than a half dozen Afghans have died of the disease, which apparently was transmitted to the country by foreigners.

Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell told reporters Wednesday, "We're doing everything within our power to make sure our guys downrange get this [vaccine] as soon as possible."

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Troubling portrait emerges of Fort Hood suspect

His name appears on radical Internet postings. A fellow officer says he fought his deployment to Iraq and argued with soldiers who supported U.S. wars. He required counseling as a medical student because of problems with patients.

There are many unknowns about Nidal Malik Hasan, the man authorities say is responsible for the worst mass killing on a U.S. military base. Most of all, his motive. But details of his life and mindset, emerging from official sources and personal acquaintances, are troubling.

For six years before reporting for duty at Fort Hood, Texas, in July, the 39-year-old Army major worked at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center pursuing his career in psychiatry, as an intern, a resident and, last year, a fellow in disaster and preventive psychiatry. He received his medical degree from the military's Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, Md., in 2001.

While an intern at Walter Reed, Hasan had some "difficulties" that required counseling and extra supervision, said Dr. Thomas Grieger, who was the training director at the time.

Grieger said privacy laws prevented him from going into details but noted that the problems had to do with Hasan's interactions with patients. He recalled Hasan as a "mostly very quiet" person who never spoke ill of the military or his country.

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Transsexual Jesus sparks protests

About 300 protesters held a candlelit protest outside a Glasgow theatre over the staging of a play which portrays Jesus as a transsexual.

The protest was held outside the Tron Theatre, where Jesus, Queen of Heaven - in which Christ is a transsexual woman - is being staged.

It is part of the Glasgay! arts festival, a celebration of Scotland's gay, bi-sexual and transsexual culture.

Festival organisers said it had not intended to incite or offend anyone.

The Christian protesters gathered outside the theatre ahead of the opening night of the production on Tuesday.

Jesus, Queen of Heaven, which runs until Saturday, is written and performed by transsexual playwright Jo Clifford.

The demonstrators sang hymns and waved placards.

One read: "Jesus, King of Kings, Not Queen of Heaven."

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STIMULUS WATCH: Salary raise counted as saved job

President Barack Obama's economic recovery program saved 935 jobs at the Southwest Georgia Community Action Council, an impressive success story for the stimulus plan. Trouble is, only 508 people work there.

The Georgia nonprofit's inflated job count is among persisting errors in the government's latest effort to measure the effect of the $787 billion stimulus plan despite White House promises last week that the new data would undergo an "extensive review" to root out errors discovered in an earlier report.

About two-thirds of the 14,506 jobs claimed to be saved under one federal office, the Administration for Children and Families at Health and Human Services, actually weren't saved at all, according to a review of the latest data by The Associated Press. Instead, that figure includes more than 9,300 existing employees in hundreds of local agencies who received pay raises and benefits and whose jobs weren't saved.

That type of accounting was found in an earlier AP review of stimulus jobs, which the Obama administration said was misleading because most of the government's job-counting errors were being fixed in the new data.

The administration now acknowledges overcounting in the new numbers for the HHS program. Elizabeth Oxhorn, a spokeswoman for the White House recovery office, said the Obama administration was reviewing the Head Start data "to determine how and if it will be counted."

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Russia 'simulates' nuclear attack on Poland

The armed forces are said to have carried out "war games" in which nuclear missiles were fired and troops practised an amphibious landing on the country's coast.

Documents obtained by Wprost, one of Poland's leading news magazines, said the exercise was carried out in conjunction with soldiers from Belarus.

The manoeuvres are thought to have been held in September and involved about 13,000 Russian and Belarusian troops.

Poland, which has strained relations with both countries, was cast as the "potential aggressor".

The documents state the exercises, code-named "West", were officially classified as "defensive" but many of the operations appeared to have an offensive nature.



The Russian air force practised using weapons from its nuclear arsenal, while in the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad, which neighbours Poland, Red Army forces stormed a "Polish" beach and attacked a gas pipeline.

The operation also involved the simulated suppression of an uprising by a national minority in Belarus – the country has a significant Polish population which has a strained relationship with authoritarian government of Belarus.

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CIT Group files for US bankruptcy

The US lender, CIT Group, has filed for bankruptcy protection, after a debt-exchange offer to bondholders failed.

However, the majority of bondholders have agreed a reorganisation plan that will reduce CIT's debt by $10bn (£6bn) while allowing it to go on operating.

The group's operating subsidiaries, including CIT Bank, were not included in the bankruptcy filing in New York.

CIT Group suffered as the credit crisis left it unable to fund itself, and the recession exposed it to many bad loans.

Under the reorganisation plan which has been approved by bondholders, creditors will end up owning the company.

Many observers predict that if CIT is able to continue in business after emerging from bankruptcy protection, it will not be able to make anything like the same number of loans to small businesses.

That could mean that thousands of companies which are looking to raise money for investment will struggle to find the cash, they warn.

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4th typhoon in month lashes Philippines; 7 killed

A typhoon battered the Philippine capital and surrounding provinces still reeling from recent flooding, sending residents of one town clambering onto rooftops Saturday to escape rising waters. Seven people died and at least five were missing.

Typhoon Mirinae was the fourth storm to lash the northern Philippines since late September and brought new hardship to areas still struggling in the wake of the previous disasters. Nearly 95,000 people who fled during two prior storms were still living in temporary shelters when Mirinae struck, the national disaster agency said.

Saturday's storm headed out to sea in the afternoon and weakened into a tropical storm. It appeared to be heading toward Vietnam.

As Mirinae slammed into Quezon province northeast of Manila around midnight Friday, Philippine authorities evacuated more than 115,000 people in nine provinces east and south of the capital in the storm's path on main Luzon island, the National Disaster Coordinating Council reported. At its height, its winds were blowing 93 miles per hour (150 kilometers per hour) and gusting up to 115 mph (185 kph).

One river in Laguna province, south of Manila, overflowed, washing away a bridge and flooding most of lakeside Santa Cruz town. Residents clambered onto roofs to escape the waters, said Mayor Ariel Magcalas..

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Asteroid explosion over Indonesia raises fears about Earth's defences

 On 8 October, the rock crashed into the atmosphere above South Sulawesi Indonesia. The blast was heard by monitoring stations 10,000 miles away, according to a report by scientists at  the University of Western Ontario.

Scientists are concerned that it was not spotted by any telescopes, and that had it been larger it could have caused a disaster.

The asteroid, estimated to have been around 10 metres (30ft) across, hit the atmosphere at an estimated 45,000mph. The sudden deceleration caused it to heat up rapidly and explode with the force of 50,000 tons of TNT.

Luckily, due to the height of the explosion – estimated at between 15 and 20 km (nine to 12 miles) above sea level – no damage was caused on the ground.

However, if the object had been slightly larger – 20 to 30 metres (60 to 90ft) across – it could easily have caused extensive damage and loss of life, say researchers.

Very few objects smaller than 100 meters (300ft) across have been spotted and catalogued by astronomers.

Continues here

GALLOPING GLOBALISM

By Jan Markell

www.olivetreeviews.org

I think that most of us who have wondered why America is not prominent in the Bible in the last days now have our answer. Of course America did not exist in Bible times for anyone to write about. But surely the most powerful nation ever would have some veiled reference to it in the Bible. The answer is that we have a president trying to make America equal to every banana republic in the world. Galloping globalism, in fact, has almost every world leader acknowledging that all nations must be equal and play on a level field. There can be no superpowers.

 I am conservative when it comes to throwing out conspiratorial words and phrases. I have little patience with those who e-mail me items trying to convince me that George W. Bush and his administration looked the other way so that 9/11 could happen. Such nonsense does not need to be cluttering our minds. I even reacted when President George H.W. Bush threw out the term “new world order” years ago. But only those ignorant of God’s prophetic word—and particularly in the book of Revelation—would deny that there is coming a new world system: A one-world government, one-world religion, one-world currency, and one-world leader.

So I was not surprised when a Fox News headline online stated, “Obama to Usher in New World Order at G-20.” Even ten years ago few thought that within a decade America would be tanking as it is now, due heavily to men and women in Washington who have little regard for our Constitution and who are power-hungry. While we have always had ardent communists and socialists in America, few thought they would rise to some of the highest positions in the country.

The English version of the Russian Daily, Pravda, wrote on April 27, 2009, “American capitalism gone without a whimper.” Quite shocking, isn’t it, since all of this happened almost overnight? The author, Stanislav Mishin, goes on to say, “It must be like the breaking of a great dam, the American descent into Marxism happening with breathtaking speed.”

Many in leadership in America feel the government must save us from ourselves. We are too foolish to make the right decisions, and government, which has become god, must make them for us with policies that are just plain evil. Some of our nation’s leaders want to micromanage everything we do and buy from cradle to grave. America has become Orwellian in just a few months.

A few months ago Barack Obama said to the U.N. General Assembly, “We have learned to be citizens of the world, members of the human community.” Let’s clarify that statement as Obama is saying that America is just another country with no moral basis for world leadership. Further, in his America-bashing around the world in just less than a year, he has implied or stated firmly that American is flawed, so inherently sinful, that it cannot be trusted with, and does not merit the possession of overarching world power.

Furthering this road map to the one-world system be aware that in mid-December the “2009 United Nations’ Climate Change Conference will be held in Copenhagen.” Many who have read the treaty to be signed at that meeting suggest that the purpose of it is really global government. Global warming and climate change will just be the vehicles used and most every nation, including America represented by Barack Obama will sign it. It advocates transferring the wealth from rich countries to the poor.

 As astounding as it may sound, this treaty will trump our Constitution! Because of that, if America is really to participate, the U.S. Senate must ratify it. The current Senate is a lackey to every left-wing cause in America and the world.

 We do not yet know how this will play out. As this is written, Obama says he may not go to Copenhagen at all. Whether he is there or not, the purpose of Copenhagen will remain: Rush global government. I can only encourage you to continue to pray without ceasing for our great nation. The powers of darkness are trying to consume America. Many on the Left are in favor of this. Only the righteous can turn things around—if there is yet time to do so. We must never give up hope, for without hope, the heart grows sick.

H1N1 Closes Hundreds of Schools Across the U.S.

The number of students staying home sick with the flu is multiplying nationwide and normally quiet school nurses' offices suddenly look like big city emergency rooms, packed with students too ill to finish the day.

The federal government has urged schools to close because of the swine flu only as a last resort. But schools are closing by the dozens as officials say they are being hit so hard and so fast by the H1N1 virus that they feel shutting down for a few days is the only feasible option.

"There was nothing else we could do," said Michael Frechette, the superintendent of Connecticut's Middletown Public Schools where a middle school closed for the rest of the week after 120 students stayed home sick Monday and another 25 were sent home by noon. "The only way to stop that transmittal was to keep the kids home for the rest of the week."

At least 351 schools were closed last week alone — affecting 126,000 students in 19 states, according to the U.S. Education Department. So far this school year, about 600 schools have temporarily shut their doors.

The number of closures this year appears on target to surpass the roughly 700 schools closed last spring when the swine flu outbreak first hit.

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Clinton due in Israel on ME tour to push talks

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is expected in Israel Saturday night for her third visit since taking office, on her way to a meeting in Morocco that will include a number of Arab foreign ministers. 

US Middle East envoy George Mitchell, who is scheduled to come to Israel shortly before Clinton, is expected to join her in Morocco.

The US administration has been trying, with little success until now, to get the Arab world - particularly Saudi Arabia - to make some normalization gestures toward Israel.

Clinton's visit, which aims to push forward the discussions with Israel and the Palestinians about agreeing to a framework for negotiations, will come a week before Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu travels to Washington to attend the United Jewish Communities annual General Assembly. 

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Florida Man Says Home Depot Fired Him for Wearing "One Nation Under God" Pin

A Florida man says he was fired from his job at The Home Depot for wearing an American flag pin that said "One nation under God, indivisible."Trevor Keezer, 20, said he had worn the button ever since he started working at the home improvement retailer 19 months ago. He said it was his way of supporting U.S. troops, the Florida Sun-Sentinel reported.

Keezer, whose brother Army Spc. Steven Keezer Jr. is set to return to Iraq in December, said none of his supervisors had anything negative to say about the pin until last month when he began bringing his bible to work, the paper reported."That's when I was told it had to come off, or I would be sent home," Keezer told WPTV last week."So they sent me home for six straight days without pay. And then today they terminated me."

Home Depot spokesman Craig Fishel said he could not comment specifically on Keezer's termination but said, “The company’s dress code policy states that we do not allow non-company buttons, regardless of their message or content.”Fishel said The Home Depot has its own sanctioned patriotic pins that employees have the option to wear.

Keezer said he opted to wear his own pin instead because none of the company's pins mentioned God.

"You can't have country without God," said Keezer, the Sentinel reported.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,...est=latestnews

The Four Horsemen of The Apocalypse

The "The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse " is a term used to describe four horsemen that appear in the Christian Bible in chapter six of the Book of Revelation. The four horsemen are named after what they bring violence, famine, conquest, and disease.

The white horse symbolizes conquest. Many believe or interpret the white horse to be the anti-christ.Revelation 6:1 - 6:2 - "...When the Lamb had opened the first of the seven seals, I heard the first of the four beasts say with a thundering voice, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo a white horse; and he that sat on him had a bow: and there was given unto him a crown, and he departed as conqueror and to conquest."

The rider of the second horse or the red horse is believed to represent war. Revelation 6:4 - "And there went out another horse that was red: and power was given to him that sat thereon to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another: and there was given unto him a great sword."

The third horseman or the black rider is believed to represent famine. Revelation 6:5 - 6:6 - “And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand. And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine.’”

The fourth horseman represents death and is pale in color. The pale color could represent sickness, death, or fear. Revelation 6:7 - 6:8 - “And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the fourth beast say, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo a pale green horse; and he that sat on him was called Death, and Hades followed with him. And power was given to them over a fourth of the earth, and that they(the four horsemen) should kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth.”

For those that study Bible prophecy and know the lateness of the hour, you can hear the hoofbeats approaching in the distance.

An Award!

I just found out that I received a very nice award yesterday from Whole Lotta Mama!

Here are the rules: 1) Present this award to 7 others whose blogs I find brilliant in content and/or design, or those who have encouraged me. 2) Tell those 7 people they've been awarded HONEST SCRAP and inform them of these guidelines in receiving the award. 3) Share "10 Honest Things" about myself. Here are "10 Honest Things" about myself:

1. I like football-the Philadelphia Egales are my favorite team.

2. I have scoliosis.

3. I'm very shy.

4. I am a mom to three great kids-two have left the nest.

5. I've been a Christian for 19 years.

6. I am a native of Colorado.

7. I work at home.

8. I have two doggies. A german shepphard and a cocker spaniel.

9. I hate eggs.

10. I'm nerdy and pretty boring lol I had a hard time thinking of 10 things to share about me!

I had a hard time picking 7 blogs because I love so many of them, but here is my list:

AsTheCrackerheadCrumbles

Bible Examples

Sound of a Soft Breath

December Sun

Footsteps To God

Did I Miss Something?

My Christian Diary

President Obama declares H1N1 flu a national emergency

President Obama Saturday declared the H1N1 flu a national emergency, clearing the way for legal waivers to allow hospitals and doctors offices to better handle a surge of new patients.

The proclamation will grant Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius the power to authorize the waivers as individual medical facilities request them, officials said.

It says that Obama does "hereby find and proclaim that, given that the rapid increase in illness across the Nation may overburden health care resources and that the temporary waiver of certain standard Federal requirements may be warranted in order to enable U.S. health care facilities to implement emergency operations plans, the 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic in the United States constitutes a national emergency."

White House officials played down the dramatic-sounding language, saying the president's action was not prompted by a new assessment of the dangers posed to the public by the flu. 

Link

US Muslim Terrorist Who Planned ‘Mall Murders’ Was a Teacher

The arrest of a Massachusetts teacher of religion in a Muslim school for planning mass murders at malls and targeting American soldiers overseas has caused shock throughout the US. The suspect, an Egyptian-American named Tarek Mehanna, was arraigned in court Wednesday.

He was arrested and charged last year for lying about his ties with Daniel Maldonado, a Muslim convert who wanted to join al-Qaeda in Somalia. Prosecutors said that Mehanna also intended to kill, maim or kidnap two senior executives in the White House, both of whom no longer are in office. No other details of the targets were released except that they never were in any danger.
 

One of his co-conspirators is an American now living in Syria.
 

Disclosure of his plans follows by one month the arrest in Texas of a Jordanian teenager who plotted to blow up a Dallas skyscraper. An American court recently indicted an American resident of Afghan descent for planning a chemical bomb attack. 

Continues here

Ethiopia asks for urgent food aid

The Ethiopian government has asked the international community for emergency food aid for 6.2 million people.

The request came at a meeting of donors to discuss the impact of a prolonged drought affecting parts of East Africa.

The UN's World Food Programme says $285m (£173m) will be needed in the next six months. Some aid officials say the numbers of hungry could rise.

Aid agency Oxfam has called for a new approach to tackling the risk of disaster in the country.

 In a report marking 25 years since the famine that killed around one million Ethiopians, Oxfam said that imported food aid saves lives in the short term but did little to help communities withstand the next shock.

The report, named Band Aids and Beyond, called on international donors to adopt a new approach focused on preparing communities to prevent and deal with disasters before they strike.

"Drought does not need to mean hunger and destitution," said Penny Lawrence, Oxfam's international director, who has just returned from Ethiopia.

Continues here

Is Obama Poised to Cede US Sovereignty?

On October 14, Lord Christopher Monckton gave a presentation in St. Paul, MN on the subject of global warming. In this 4-minute excerpt from his speech, he issues a dire warning to all Americans...

Author: Globalism an authentic threat to U.S.

A scholar and New York Times best-selling author hopes Americans will wake up and take the necessary steps to stop a globalist agenda that he believes threatens U.S. sovereignty.
 

Dr. Jerome Corsi's new book is called America for Sale: Fighting the New World Order, Surviving a Global Depression, and Preserving U.S.A. Sovereignty. The best-selling author says the globalism that Americans are currently witnessing is destructive to the American way of life.

"The deficits that we're running are unsustainable," he emphasizes. "Right now we're running the United States government on borrowed money from China and other foreign countries [that are] ready and willing to buy our debt."
 
He believes it is going to take grassroots effort by the American people to bring to a halt the rush to globalism. He cites the efforts of "21st-century American patriots" who have been participating at "Tea Party" rallies around the country in the past several months.
 
"I want to get more information and more strategy to [those types of] people who want to stop this move toward globalism and preserve U.S.A. sovereignty and get us back to limited constitutional government," he states.

Continues here

Russia ready to abandon dollar in oil, gas trade with China

Russia is ready to consider using the Russian and Chinese national currencies instead of the dollar in bilateral oil and gas dealings, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday.

The premier, currently on a visit to Beijing, said a final decision on the issue can only be made after a thorough expert analysis.

"Yesterday, energy companies, in particular Gazprom, raised the question of using the national currency. We are ready to examine the possibility of selling energy resources for rubles, but our Chinese partners need rubles for that. We are also ready to sell for yuans," Putin said.

He stressed that "there should be a balance here."

On Tuesday, Russia and China agreed terms for Russian gas deliveries at a level of up to 70 billion cubic meters a year. China also imports oil from Russia.

The Russian prime minister said the issue would be addressed among others at a meeting of Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) finance ministers, who are to convene before the end of the year in Kazakhstan.

Britain's Independent newspaper reported last Tuesday that Russian officials had held "secret meetings" with Arab states, China and France on ending the use of the U.S. dollar in international oil trade.

Link

Moscow Mayor Promises a Winter Without Snow

Pigs still can't fly, but this winter, the mayor of Moscow promises to keep it from snowing. For just a few million dollars, the mayor's office will hire the Russian Air Force to spray a fine chemical mist over the clouds before they reach the capital, forcing them to dump their snow outside the city. Authorities say this will be a boon for Moscow, which is typically covered with a blanket of snow from November to March. Road crews won't need to constantly clear the streets, and traffic - and quality of life - will undoubtedly improve.

The idea came from Mayor Yury Luzhkov, who is no stranger to playing God. In 2002, he spearheaded a project to reverse the flow of the vast River Ob through Siberia to help irrigate the country's parched Central Asian neighbors. Although that idea hasn't exactly turned out as planned - scientists have said it's not feasible - this time, Luzhkov says, there's no way he can fail. (See TIME's photo-essay "Vladimir Putin: Action Figure.")



Controlling the weather in Moscow is nothing new, he says. Ahead of the two main holidays celebrated in the city each year - Victory Day in May and City Day in September - the often cash-strapped air force is paid to make sure that it doesn't, well, rain on the parades. With a city budget of $40 billion a year (larger than New York City's budget), Moscow can easily afford the $2-3 million price tag to keep the skies blue as spectators watch the tanks and rocket launchers roll along Red Square. Now there's a new challenge for the air force: Moscow's notorious blizzards.

Link

US swine flu vaccines 'delayed'

US officials have warned of delays in the delivery of swine flu vaccines just as deaths from the H1N1 virus climb above epidemic level in some states.

Only 28-30 million doses would be available by the end of the month, said Anne Schuchat of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

That was down from an earlier estimate of 40 million.

Swine flu has had an especially strong impact on children, 86 of whom have died this year, Ms Schuchat said.

The number of children who have died so far this year from the H1N1 virus was greater than the number that normally die in an entire flu season, Ms Schuchat said.

Forty-three children are reported to have died from flu since 30 August, with 38 of those confirmed to have been caused by the H1N1 virus.

Half of those deaths were in children aged between 12 and 17.

"These are very sobering statistics," Ms Schuchat said. "Some of these children have been totally healthy."

Link

Israel rejects "unjust" UN Humans Rights Council resolution

 Jerusalem - Israel rejected Friday the United Nations Human Rights Council ratification of Judge Richard Goldstone's report on the fighting in and around the Gaza Strip at the turn of the year, and called on other countries to reject the council decision as well.

'The adoption of this resolution by the UNHRC impairs both the effort to protect human rights in accordance with international law, and the effort to promote peace in Middle East,' a Foreign Ministry statement issued Friday afternoon said.

Calling the UNHRC resolution 'unjust, the statement said it 'provides encouragement for terrorist organizations worldwide and undermines global peace.'

Some 25 states in the 47-member Human Rights Council voted in Geneva to accept the report and 11 delegates abstained. Six nations, including the United States and some European Union nations voted against the resolution.

The report, written by Goldstone, a South African war crimes prosecutor, and three other international experts, concluded that both Israel and the Hamas movement likely committed war crimes and possibly crimes against humanity during their three weeks of fighting. 

 

Continues here

And Gog says to Magog: How about a little Armageddon at Megiddo?

Talk about a biblical reference. Greenpeace and World March activists staged a "die-in" to protest nuclear weapons at Mount Megiddo on Wednesday.

Megiddo, according to Judeo-Christian sources, will be the place where good and evil slug it out at the end of days. The term Armageddon is derived from the place name.

The protest came just days after US President Barack Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize in part for declaring his intentions to rid the world of nuclear weapons.

According to Greenpeace, there are 23,000 nuclear warheads in the world, and just 500 detonated at once would cause an Ice Age for 10 years.

During the "die-in," activists displayed a banner measuring eight meters by three meters which read "Disarmament or Armageddon."

Sharon Dolev, peace and disarmament campaigner for Greenpeace Tel Aviv, warned of the extreme danger of nuclear weapons, but also of the simplicity of their removal.

"The biggest threat to all of us is also the easiest to abolish. It is time that we all understand. The bomb represents the biggest threat. It is the opposite of security and therefore it is time our leaders stop playing with numbers and set a date to begin universal negotiations leading to a step-by-step mutual disarmament," he said in a statement.

Link

Hal Lindsey - The Bible Warns of These Days

Senate panel passes health bill

A Senate committee has approved a bill to reform US healthcare, a key step in President Barack Obama's attempt to overhaul the system.

Senators voted by 14 votes to nine to pass the bill, with one Republican joining Democrats on the Senate Finance Committee in voting in favour.

Senator Olympia Snowe became the first Republican to back the proposals.

The reforms, intended to cut costs and make insurance more affordable, are Mr Obama's top domestic priority.

The president welcomed the committee's decision, calling it a "critical milestone".

"We are closer than ever before to passing healthcare reform but we are not there yet," he said. "Now is not the time to pat ourselves on the back... It is time to dig in further and get this done."

Link

Preparing for Service in the Rebuilt Temple

Jews in the town of Mitzpe Yericho are taking practical steps to prepare for the rebuilding of the Temple in Jerusalem, by preparing descendents of Cohanim (priests) and Levites for service. At the Mitzpe Yericho school, Temple priest hopefuls learn exactly how to conduct the daily Temple service and offer the required sacrifices.

"Today is really a historical event for the Jewish people,” organizer Levi Chazan said as another part of the school was completed. “It is the beginning of the work for the Third Temple.”

The school will include an exact replica of the Temple. The latest addition to the replica was the area in which priests offered wine and water libations. The water offering was traditionally given on the Sukkot holiday, which was celebrated last week.

Festivities accompanied the completion of another step in the school's construction. Among those present was Baruch Marzel, long-time Land of Israel activist and parliamentary aide to MK Michael Ben-Ari. The timing of the work on the school is particularly appropriate due to recent Muslim riots against Jewish visits to the Temple Mount, Marzel said.

Link

What Happened to Global Warming?

For the last 11 years we have not observed any increase in global temperatures.

And our climate models did not forecast it, even though man-made carbon dioxide, the gas thought to be responsible for warming our planet, has continued to rise.

So what on Earth is going on?

Climate change sceptics, who passionately and consistently argue that man's influence on our climate is overstated, say they saw it coming.

They argue that there are natural cycles, over which we have no control, that dictate how warm the planet is. But what is the evidence for this?

During the last few decades of the 20th Century, our planet did warm quickly.VSceptics argue that the warming we observed was down to the energy from the Sun increasing. After all 98% of the Earth's warmth comes from the Sun.

More here

Israel on alert as Abbas pressed on 'third intifada'

Israel has been placed on alert for the prospect of widespread Palestinian violence throughout the West Bank.

Officials said Israel's military, police and intelligence services were ordered on high alert after the military has assessed that the ruling Fatah movement, in cooperation with elements within the Palestinian Authority, were organizing civil unrest as well as ambushes on Israeli soldiers and civilians.

Officials said PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas has been pressed by senior members of Fatah to approve what was termed a "third intifada," or uprising.

"Abbas doesn't have to actually approve anything," the official said. "He just has to remain silent as PA officers and others are recruited to attack us."

"We know there has been strenuous efforts to expand the current unrest in Jerusalem to the West Bank," an official said.

On Oct. 8, Fatah called for a Palestinian general strike throughout Jerusalem and the West Bank. The movement ordered the shutdown to begin on the following day.

Link

House Approves Hate-Crimes Measure as Part of Defense Funding

By Ben Pershing
Legislation to punish hate crimes became a flashpoint on Capitol Hill on Thursday, as a measure expanding the definition of such crimes was attached to the bill outlining the Defense Department budget and approved by the House over the strong objections of Republicans.

House and Senate negotiators agreed earlier this week to attach the hate-crimes provision to the conference report for the $680 billion Defense Department authorization bill. The combined bill passed the House on Thursday, 281 to 146, with 131 Republicans and 15 Democrats in opposition. The measure must pass the Senate, in a vote that could come as early as next week, before it can head to President Obama's desk for his signature.

Congressional Republicans complained that appending the hate crimes provision to a bill laying out the Pentagon's budget for the coming year was an abuse of the legislative process and made U.S. troops "political pawns" in an unrelated social debate.

The provision would broaden the current definition of federal hate crimes to include attacks based on gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or disability. It would also create a new federal crime to cover attacks against U.S. military personnel because of their service.

"This is radical social policy that ... is being put on the defense authorization bill, on the backs of our soldiers, because they probably can't pass it on its own," said House Minority Leader John A. Boehner (R-Ohio).

Link

US spacecraft set for Moon crash

Nasa is set to crash two unmanned spacecraft into the Moon in a bid to detect the presence of water-ice.

A 2,200kg rocket stage will be first to collide, hurling debris high above the lunar surface.

A second spacecraft packed with science instruments will analyse the contents of this dusty cloud before meeting a similar fate.

The identification of water-ice in the impact plume would be a major discovery, scientists say.

Not least because a supply of water on the Moon would be a vital resource for future human exploration.

Nasa is set to crash two unmanned spacecraft into the Moon in a bid to detect the presence of water-ice.

A 2,200kg rocket stage will be first to collide, hurling debris high above the lunar surface.

A second spacecraft packed with science instruments will analyse the contents of this dusty cloud before meeting a similar fate.

The identification of water-ice in the impact plume would be a major discovery, scientists say.

Not least because a supply of water on the Moon would be a vital resource for future human exploration.

Link

Amid the global economic crisis, China rises

The auto-parts maker Delphi Corp. is headquartered in Troy, Mich., in the heart of the region that made the United States the car capital of the world. It's a place where the phrase "buy American" is right at home.

Now the 3,000 employees of Delphi's brake and suspension unit are getting a new boss. Battered by weak sales, Delphi is selling the unit to investors led by a company named Shougang Corp.



Shougang is a steel maker owned by the government of China — a government that calls itself communist but espouses a "socialist market economy" as it marches down globalization's road toward a capitalistic future.

"Everyone's so desperate for cash that the Chinese show up with a checkbook and people say, `Yes, please'," says Arthur Kroeber, managing director of Dragonomics, a Beijing research firm.

Explosive growth in China and India, coupled with Japan's clout as the world's No. 2 economy, has long been expected to shift economic power from the United States to Asia as this century progresses. The financial crisis and resulting Great Recession are accelerating that process.

Link

Strong earthquakes rock South Pacific

Two major earthquakes struck 15 minutes apart Thursday morning near the Solomon Islands in the Pacific Ocean, the U.S. Geological Survey said.

The first quake, with a magnitude of 7.8, struck at 9:03 a.m. (6:03 p.m. ET) at a depth of 35 km (22 miles) and an epicenter 295 km (180 miles) north-northwest of Luganville, Espiritue Santo, Vanuatu.

The second quake, with a magnitude of 7.3, struck at 9:15 a.m. (6:18 p.m. ET) at the same depth and an epicenter of 590 km (365 miles) northwest of Port-Vilia, Efate, Vanuatu.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center issued an expanding regional tsunami warning and watch for parts of the Pacific near the first earthquake's epicenter.

The center also issued a tsunami advisory, meaning the possibility of a tsunami exists, for Hawaii and said further evaluation of the event could see the threat alert elevated.

Link

Hal Lindsey - The Global Delusion

Hal talks about the fundemental changes happening around the world, all of which are signs of the coming of Jesus Christ for His true Church (The Rapture) - signs we were instructed to watch for in Matthew 24.

UN calls for new reserve currency

The United Nations called on Tuesday for a new global reserve currency to end dollar supremacy which has allowed the United States the "privilege" of building a huge trade deficit.

"Important progress in managing imbalances can be made by reducing the reserve currency country?s 'privilege' to run external deficits in order to provide international liquidity," UN undersecretary-general for economic and social affairs, Sha Zukang, said.

Speaking at the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank in Istanbul, he said: "It is timely to emphasise that such a system also creates a more equitable method of sharing the seigniorage derived from providing global liquidity."

He said: "Greater use of a truly global reserve currency, such as the IMF?s special drawing rights (SDRs), enables the seigniorage gained to be deployed for development purposes," he said.

The SDRs are the asset used in IMF transactions and are based on a basket of four currencies -- the dollar, euro, yen and pound -- which is calculated daily. 

Link

The demise of the dollar

In a graphic illustration of the new world order, Arab states have launched secret moves with China, Russia and France to stop using the US currency for oil trading

By Robert Fisk

In the most profound financial change in recent Middle East history, Gulf Arabs are planning – along with China, Russia, Japan and France – to end dollar dealings for oil, moving instead to a basket of currencies including the Japanese yen and Chinese yuan, the euro, gold and a new, unified currency planned for nations in the Gulf Co-operation Council, including Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi, Kuwait and Qatar.

Secret meetings have already been held by finance ministers and central bank governors in Russia, China, Japan and Brazil to work on the scheme, which will mean that oil will no longer be priced in dollars.

The plans, confirmed to The Independent by both Gulf Arab and Chinese banking sources in Hong Kong, may help to explain the sudden rise in gold prices, but it also augurs an extraordinary transition from dollar markets within nine years. 

Story here

World Bank could 'run out of money' within 12 months

By Edmund Conway, Economics Editor in Istanbul

The Bank, whose job it is to support low-income countries, has had to hand out so much cash in the wake of the financial crisis that it faces a shortfall in what it can spare for new projects within 12 months.

“By the middle of next year we will face serious constraints,” said its president Robert Zoellick, as he launched a major campaign to persuade rich nations to pour more money into the Washington-based institution.

He conceded that such a task was likely to be extremely difficult, given the difficulties facing countries in the wake of the developed world’s biggest recession since the Second World War.

Although the Bank has enough cash to fund existing projects and its day-to-day operations, the demands thrown up by the global recession have meant it may need extra capital contributions from rich nations to bolster its balance sheet if it is to satisfy such needs.

Mr Zoellick, speaking at the opening of the IMF and World Bank annual meetings in Istanbul, said the Bank needed a capital increase of $3bn-$5bn, though others suspect the eventual need could be higher still.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/f...12-months.html

The great drought: Disaster looms in East Africa

On the plains of Marsabit the heat is so intense the bush seems to shiver. The leafless scrub, bleached white by the sun, looks like a forest of fake Christmas trees. Carcasses of cattle and camels are strewn about the burnt red dirt in every direction. Siridwa Baseli walks out of the haze along a path of the dead and dying. He passes a skeletal cow that has given up and collapsed under a thorn tree. A nomad from the Rendille people, he is driving his herd in search of water.


He marks time in seasons but knows that it has not rained for three years: "Since it is not raining there is no pasture," he says. Only 40 of his herd of sheep and goats that once numbered 200 have survived. Those that remain are dying at a rate of 10 every day.

Already a herder before Kenya's independence he has never seen a drought like this.

"If I was young I would go to look for cash work. I am old. I may just die with my animals."

Across East Africa an extraordinary drought is drying up rivers, and grasslands, scorching crops and threatening millions of people with starvation. In Kenya, the biggest and most robust economy in the region, the rivers that feed its great game reserves have run dry and since the country relies on hydropower, electricity is now rationed in the cities.

And yet, it is in the semi-desert on the southern fringe of the Sahel zone where the most dramatic changes are being felt. Droughts are nothing new here and the nomadic way of life where herders follow patchy rains across the seasons developed centuries ago as a response to precarious natural resources. The herds of cattle, sheep, goats and camels – which are venerated by the nomads – were built up in the good years to pad the margins of life when the rains failed. But this way of life is being overwhelmed, even the camels are dying of thirst.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/wo...a-1797003.html

Bible verses banned from Ga. school football field

 The Warriors of Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe High took the field on Friday night without any Bible verses written on the cheerleaders' banner.

Instead, the football team ran through a banner that read "This is Big Red Country" before each bent on a knee to pray on the field of Tommy Cash Stadium.

The spirited display comes after the school district banned the banners last week over concerns they were unconstitutional and could provoke a lawsuit, angering many in the deeply religious north Georgia town of Fort Oglethorpe.

"I'm just kind of unnerved about it," said 18-year-old Cassandra Cooksey, a recent graduate who often prayed with her fellow marching band members before football games. "It seems like the majority of people in our community want this and they don't have a problem with it, so I think they should be allowed to have the signs if they want to."

The move has galvanized the community. Hundreds of people attended a rally this week supporting the signs, which included messages such as: "Commit to the Lord, whatever you do, and your plans will succeed." Many students attended class Friday wearing shirts with Bible verses and painted their cars with messages that read: "Warriors for Christ."

During the game, several other messages were visible in the packed stadium. Some people stood with signs that read "You Can't Silence Us" and some young men had Bible verses painted on their chests.

Link

Philippines braces for new storm

The Philippines has ordered the evacuation of thousands of people from areas in the path of a second powerful typhoon to hit the country in a week.

Typhoon Parma is expected to hit the main island of Luzon north of the capital Manila early on Saturday.

Officials fear a second disaster after Typhoon Ketsana caused the worst floods in the Philippines in decades.

Ketsana caused nearly 300 deaths in the Philippines, as well as more than 100 in Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos.

Parts of the Philippines near Manila remain flooded after Ketsana dropped a month's worth of rain in 12 hours last Saturday.

Link

2nd quake shakes Indonesia after temblor kills 531

 Rescue workers used excavators Thursday to pull out victims, some screaming in pain, from the heavy rubble of buildings felled by a powerful earthquake that killed at least 531 people. The death toll was expected to rise.
The brunt of Wednesday's 7.6-magnitude earthquake, which originated in the sea off Sumatra island, appeared to have been borne by Padang town where 376 people were killed. Four other districts accounted for the remaining deaths.

The region was jolted by another powerful earthquake Thursday morning, causing damage but no reported fatalities.

More than 500 buildings including hotels, schools, hospitals and a mall were destroyed or damaged in Padang. Thousands of people were believed to be trapped in the rubble.

"Oh God, help me! help me!" Friska Yuniwati, a 30-year-old woman, screamed in pain, as she was carried to an ambulance in downtown Padang. She had been pulled out minutes earlier from the rubble of a house, her face covered in bruises and eyes shut.

Link

Jesus is Coming Soon! We are living on borrowed time. by Dr. David R. Reagan

Jesus is Coming Soon!
We are living on borrowed time.
by Dr. David R. Reagan

Jesus is Coming Soon!

Many people believe there is nothing that can be known about the timing of the Lord's return because Jesus said He would return like a "thief in the night" (Matthew 24:42-44).

But Paul makes it clear in 1 Thessalonians 5:1-6 that Jesus' statement does not apply to believers: "But you, brethren, are not in darkness, that the day should overtake you like a thief..." He then proceeds to explain why: "for you are all sons of light and sons of day. We are not of night nor of darkness; so then let us not sleep as others do, but let us be alert and sober." Paul is referring, of course, to the light of the Holy Spirit who indwells all true believers and who can enlighten us through our study of Scripture to know the season of the Lord's return (1 John 2:27).
God's Attitude

As a matter of fact, God is obligated by His character to warn the world of the imminent return of His Son. The reason is that Jesus is returning in great wrath to "judge and wage war" (Revelation 19:11), and God never pours out His wrath without warning.

God does not wish that any should perish, but that all should be brought to repentance (2 Peter 3:9). Therefore, God always warns before He executes His wrath. He warned the world through Noah for 120 years. He warned Sodom and Gomorrah through Abraham. He sent Jonah to warn the pagan city of Ninevah, and He sent Nahum to the same city 150 years later.

Likewise, God is warning the world today that His Son is about to return. He is calling the world to repentance. The message of the hour to unbelievers can be summed up in these words: "Flee from the wrath that is to come by fleeing into the loving arms of Jesus now." Jesus came the first time as an expression of God's love; He came to die for the sins of Mankind. But when He returns, He will come in vengeance to pour out the wrath of God on those who have rejected God's love and grace.

The soon return of Jesus also carries with it a message for believers. Lukewarm Christians and carnal Christians are being called to commit their lives to holiness: "The night is almost gone, and the day is at hand. Let us therefore lay aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us behave properly as in the day, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual promiscuity and sensuality, not in strife and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts" (Romans 13:12-14).
God's Method of Warning

God is alerting believers of the soon return of His Son through what are called "signs of the times." These are prophecies concerning world events that we are told to watch for, prophecies that will identify the season of the Lord's return.

The Bible is full of these signs. There are about 500 prophecies in the Old Testament that relate to the Second Coming of the Messiah. In the New Testament, one out of every 25 verses is concerned with the return of Jesus.

In fact, there are so many signs that it is difficult to grasp all of them. The best way I have found to do this is to put them in categories:

1) The Signs of Nature — We are told to watch for earthquakes, famine, pestilence, and signs in the heavens (see Matthew 24:7 and Luke 21:11).



more here : http://www.lamblion.com/articles/articles_second8.php

N.Y. Health Care Workers Revolt Over H1N1 Vaccine

They're upset over an ultimatum from the health department.

Workers are being told to either get the swine flu vaccine or lose their jobs.

New York is the first state in the country to mandate flu vaccinations for its health care workers. The first doses of swine flu vaccine will be available beginning next week. Much of it is reserved for state health care workers, but there is growing opposition to required innoculations.

Health care workers in Hauppauge screamed "No forced shots!" as they rallied Tuesday against the state regulation requiring them to roll up their sleeves.

"I don't even tend to the sick. I am in the nutrition field. They are telling me I must get the shot because I work in a health clinic setting," said Paula Small, a Women, Infants and Children health care worker.

Story Link

MASSIVE EARTHQUAKE STRIKES OFF AMERICAN SAMOA.

A massive earthquake struck the South Pacific on Wednesday morning, according to officials, generating a possible destructive tsunami. Tsunami warnings are in effect, but there was no immediate word on possible damage or casualties.

The earthquake, which had a preliminary magnitude of 8.3, struck 127 miles south-southwest of Apia, Samoa and about 139 miles southwest of Pago Pago on American Samoa. The tremor, which struck at 6.45 a.m. local time, had a depth of about 30 miles, making it a fairly shallow earthquake. Shallow earthquakes often tend to cause more damage, and increase the risk of a destructive earthquake.

Tsunami warnings were immediately issued for American Samoa, Samoa, Niue, Wallis-Futuna, Tokelau, Cook Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, Kiribati, Kermadec Islands, Fiji, Howland-Baker, Jarvis Island, New Zealand, French Polynesia and Palmyra Island. Later, tsunami warnings were also issued for Palmyra Island, Vanuatu, Nauru, Marshall Island and the Solomon Islands.

A tsunami watch is also in effect for Johnston Island, New Caledonia, Kosrae, Papua New Guinea, Pohnpei, Wake Island, Pitcairn, Midway Island, Chuuk and Australia.

A spokeswoman for the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center told BNO News that a 10 foot (3 meter) tsunami had hit the harbor of Pago Pago on American Samoa, but said she had no information about possible casualties.

"Based on all available data a tsunami may have been generated by this earthquake that could be destructive on coastal areas even far from the epicenter. An investigation is underway to determine if there is a tsunami threat to Hawaii," a bulletin from the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center read.

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Philippine flood death toll rises

The Philippines government says 240 people are now known to have died in severe flooding caused when Tropical Storm Ketsana struck on Saturday.

The country has appealed for foreign aid to deal with the disaster, which has displaced 450,000 people and left 380,000 living in makeshift shelters.

Public buildings including schools, universities and the presidential palace have become relief centres.

The storm has now hit Vietnam, where at least 22 people are said to have died.

The Vietnamese government earlier ordered the evacuation of more than 170,000 people as strong winds of up to 150km/h (93mph) and heavy rain began to affect the country's central coast.

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World Bank says don't take dollar's place for granted

 World Bank President Robert Zoellick said the United States should not take the dollar's status as the world's key reserve currency for granted because other options are emerging.

In excerpts released on Sunday from a speech that he is to deliver on Monday, Zoellick said global economic forces were shifting and it was time now to prepare for the fact that growth will come from multiple sources.

"The United States would be mistaken to take for granted the dollar's place as the world's predominant reserve currency," he said. "Looking forward, there will increasingly be other options."

Zoellick said that a meeting of Group of 20 rich and developing countries in Pittsburgh on Thursday and Friday had made "a good start" toward increased global cooperation but they will have accept global monitoring of their activities.

"Peer review will need to be peer pressure," he said.

Zoellick said that the G20, as the new chief forum for international economic cooperation, also must not forget the 160 countries left outside its structure and should try to open opportunity for them.

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Iran to hold missile exercise on Yom Kippur 9/27/09

Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards will hold missile defense exercises on the upcoming Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur, Iranian media reported on Saturday.

The announcement of the war games coincided with increased tension in Iran's nuclear dispute with the West, after the Islamic Republic disclosed that it is building a second uranium enrichment plant.

The reports did not say what kind of missiles would be used in the war games, which will start on Sunday, the eve of Yom Kippur. In May, Iran said it had tested a missile that defense analysts said could hit Israel and U.S. bases in the Gulf.

A statement quoted by Iranian news agencies said the goal of the exercises by the Revolutionary Guards' air force, was "to raise the deterrence capability of the Iranian armed forces."

On Yom Kippur in 1973, a coalition of Arab states launched a surprise attack on Israel. The ensuing conflict, the Yom Kippur War, was particularly costly and traumatic for Israel.

General Hossein Salami, head of the Guards' air force, said that the drill would include simultaneous firings of missiles at targets. The exercises, which will begin Sunday, will last several days and take place in various locations.

Israeli leaders have repeatedly expressed alarm over Iran's nuclear ambitions and refused to rule out pre-emptive military action to stop Iran developing an atomic weapon.

Israel considers Iran a strategic threat due to its nuclear program, missile development and repeated references by Ahmadinejad to Israel's destruction.

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Terror plot focus was 9/11 anniversary

Claims that an Afghan immigrant was on the verge of unleashing a terrorist attack on New York City on the anniversary of the Sept. 11 are missing a key element: explosives or the chemicals allegedly used to make them, the man's attorney said.

FBI agents have yet to find those elements and connect them to Najibullah Zazi, charged with conspiring to use weapons of mass destruction in a plot authorities say was aimed at commuter trains, attorney Arthur Folsom told a federal judge in Denver Friday.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Craig Shaffer ultimately ordered Zazi's transfer to New York, and Zazi was taken there by federal marshals.

"No traces of any kind of chemical was found in his vehicle," Folsom said of an FBI search of Zazi's car.

A federal prosecutor argued that Zazi was planning an attack to coincide with the 9/11 anniversary.

"The evidence suggests a chilling, disturbing sequence of events showing the defendant was intent on making a bomb and being in New York on 9/11, for purposes of perhaps using such items," prosecutor Tim Neff told Shaffer.

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Today's Global Headlines

'Iran has revealed existence of second enrichment plant'
Iran has revealed the existence of a secret uranium-enrichment plant, officials told The Associated Press Friday, a development that could heighten fears about Iran's ability to produce a nuclear weapon and escalate its diplomatic confrontation with the West. The New York Times reported that US President Barack Obama and the leaders of France and Britain had been planning to charge Iran with constructing the facility in an announcement in Pittsburgh before the opening of the G-20 economic summit.  

US May Face 'Armageddon' If China, Japan Don't Buy Debt
The US is too dependent on Japan and China buying up the country's debt and could face severe economic problems if that stops, Tiger Management founder and chairman Julian Robertson told CNBC.

SNAP ANALYSIS: New world economic order takes shape at G20
The Group of 20 is set to become the premier coordinating body on global economic issues, reflecting a new world economic order in which emerging market countries like China are much more relevant, according to a draft communique.

Israel feeling abandoned by U.S.?

The head of a messianic Jewish ministry says he senses a real uneasiness among the Israeli people since Barack Obama became president of the United States.

Last week U.S. Mideast envoy George Mitchell met behind closed doors with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and later conferred with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in the West Bank. Mitchell was trying to pave the way for a meeting between the two sides, but Abbas has ruled out talks with Israel until it halts construction in West Bank settlements.

David Brickner, executive director of Jews for Jesus, visited Israel this summer. He says the Israelis are concerned about what direction the Obama administration is taking with regards to the Jewish state.

"What struck me is the unease in Israel now that a new administration in the United States is putting enormous pressure on them, that they feel very much alone, that the arm-twisting to halt the expansion of existing settlements in the West Bank is hugely problematic," he contends.

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Wild Weather

Severe U.S. flooding kills 7 in Georgia
Governor Sonny Perdue asked President Barack Obama on Tuesday to declare a state of emergency for Georgia because of the flooding, which a state climatologist said was the worst in 100 years.

Australia reels from wild weather
Australia's biggest city was shrouded in an eerie blanket of red dust on Wednesday as bushfires, earthquakes, wild winds and massive hail stones caused havoc in the country.

Population growth driving climate change, poverty: experts

Unchecked population growth is speeding climate change, damaging life-nurturing ecosystems and dooming many countries to poverty, experts concluded in a conference report released Monday.

Unless birth rates are lowered sharply through voluntary family-planning programmes and easy access to contraceptives, the tally of humans on Earth could swell to an unsustainable 11 billion by 2050, they warned. 

 The UN currently projects that global population will rise from 6.8 billion today to between 8.0 and 10.5 billion by mid-century.

The researchers said that with one and a half million more humans climbing aboard the planet every week, a recipe is looming for ecological overload, famine and broken states.

"Continued rapid population growth in many of the least developed countries could lead to hunger, a failure of education and conflict," said Malcolm Potts at the University of California in Berkeley, which hosted the conference in February. 

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Quake kills at least 11 in Bhutan, shakes India

A 6.3-magnitude earthquake shook the remote mountain nation of Bhutan on Monday, killing at least 11 people, damaging an ancient monastery and forcing hundreds to flee, officials said. At least 15 people were also injured.

The afternoon earthquake was initially reported in Gauhati, the capital of India's northeastern Assam state, but it was centered in a little-populated eastern region of the tiny nation of Bhutan.

Much of Bhutan, a Himalayan nation sandwiched between India and China, is sparsely populated, reachable only by walking paths and without electricity or telephones.

"We're trying to piece together information to assess the damage," Ugyen Tenzing, the country's director of disaster management said from Thimphu, Bhutan's capital.

He said at least seven people were killed when their houses collapsed in the eastern districts of Munggar and Trashigang, and rescuers were searching for survivors under the debris of other buildings. Most buildings in that region are small farmhouses made by hand from mud and stone.

Four Indian highway workers were also killed in Bhutan's Samdrup Jhongkar district, near the border with India, when the road they were working on collapsed, Tenzing said, adding that at least 15 people had been injured across the earthquake zone.

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Obama to hold tripartite meeting

US President Barack Obama will host a meeting Tuesday with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, in an effort to lay the groundwork for renewed peace negotiations, the White House announced Saturday night.

White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said the three-way meeting would take place after Obama meets separately with each of the two leaders.

"These meetings will continue the efforts of President Obama, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and Special Envoy George Mitchell to lay the groundwork for the relaunch of negotiations, and to create a positive context for those negotiations so that they can succeed," the statement said.



However, the Prime Minister's Office said Sunday that the meeting will not serve as a preparation for negotiations and not constitute renewal of negotiations where they were left off, but rather be a preliminary meeting to lay the groundwork for further meetings.

Netanyahu, the statement continued, never set any preconditions for meeting the Palestinian leadership and was ready to travel anywhere in the world and meet any leader so long as the meeting would advance peace.

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Today's Global Headlines

Kenya's pain: famine, drought, gov't ambivalence cripples once stable nation
Children are starving, cattle are dropping dead, crops are withered, lakes are empty, and still the rains haven't come. Kenya is on the verge of a catastrophe of Biblical proportions. Estimates put the number of hungry around 3.8 million - 1 in 10 Kenyans, so far. However the Minister of Environment said that the number is more likely over 10 million. -The fear is that Kenya represents the state of things to come in the face of climate change, overpopulation, political corruption, food shortages, and unsustainable resource use.


Obama promised Jewish homes to Palestinians?
President Obama is "fed up" with Israel while his administration has given the Palestinians guarantees they will eventually take over Jewish homes and buildings throughout most of the West Bank, a top Palestinian Authority official claimed to WND. "We heard from the U.S. that no matter what Israel is building in the West Bank, it will not affect a final status agreement to create a Palestinian state," said the PA official, who spoke on condition his name be withheld.

More than 50,000 displaced in Khartoum's "worst" floods -IFRC
More than 50,000 people have been uprooted by what aid agencies have described as the worst flooding in years in Sudan's Khartoum State, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) said on Friday.-With more torrential rains expected in the coming months, IFRC warned that problems with displacement and disease were likely to worsen. With poor drainage systems and submerged pit latrines, IFRC said an outbreak of water borne diseases could have dire consequences.


Dismay in Europe as Obama ditches missile defence
President Obama dismayed America's allies in Europe and angered his political opponents at home today when he formally ditched plans to set up a missile defence shield in Poland and the Czech Republic. ...it clearly prompted some dismay in Central and Eastern Europe, where the Bush plan had been seen as an effective guarantor of US support for the fledgling democracies of the old Soviet empire. It will also send a chill through Russia's neighbours.

Nuke agency says Iran can make bomb

Iran experts at the U.N.'s nuclear monitoring agency believe that Tehran has the ability to make a nuclear bomb and worked on developing a missile system that can carry an atomic warhead, according to a confidential report seen by The Associated Press.

The document drafted by senior officials at the International Atomic Energy Agency is the clearest indication yet that those officials share Washington's views on Iran's weapon-making capabilities and missile technology — even if they have not made those views public.

The document, titled "Possible Military Dimension of Iran's Nuclear Program," appeared to be the so-called IAEA "secret annex" on Iran's alleged nuclear arms program that the U.S., France, Israel and other IAEA members say is being withheld by agency chief Mohamed ElBaradei — claims the nuclear watchdog denies.

It is a record of IAEA findings since the agency began probing Iran's nuclear program in 2007 and has been continuously updated.

Calls to the Iranian mission at the United Nations were not immediately returned.

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Will Obama greet Muslims on Capitol Hill?

A political activist and former GOP presidential candidate says he wonders whether President Barack Obama -- who essentially spurned Christians on the National Day of Prayer -- will give a special greeting to a Muslim gathering scheduled later this month on Capitol Hill.



The event, called "Islam on Capitol Hill 2009," will take place on Friday, September 25. It is being promoted as a day of Islamic unity "to express and illustrate the wonderful diversity of Islam." The organizers also say they intend to "inspire a new generation of Muslims to work for the greater good of all people...regardless of race, religion, or national origin." The event's website says 50,000 people are expected to attend.

Gary Bauer, chairman of American Values, says he would like to see those who come to the event take a realistic look at radical Islamic terrorism.

"I certainly hope that those Muslims who are there will denounce Islamic fascism -- the kind of extremism and regular violence we see around the world to kill Americans and kill others," he says. "If they do that, then there would be something positive that would come out of the event."

The conservative spokesman is curious how President Obama will treat the event. "Whether there's any kind of special greetings or whatever," says Bauer. "Most of us remember President Obama refused to do an event at the White House to mark the National Day of Prayer [in May], which was deeply disappointing and certainly put him in a category by himself in refusing to do that."

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