Oil, Iran, Syria, China, Bad Parenting

Iran helps Syria sell $80,000,000 worth of oil to China - this is part of the "evil empire" spoken of by President George W. Bush. As the SHTF, don't be lousy parents and spouses!

Why the Reign of the Dollar as the World Reserve Currency is About to Come to an End

The U.S. dollar has probably been the closest thing to a true global currency that the world has ever seen.  For decades, the use of the U.S. dollar has been absolutely dominant in international trade.  This has had tremendous benefits for the U.S. financial system and for U.S. consumers, and it has given the U.S. government tremendous power and influence around the globe.  Today, more than 60 percent of all foreign currency reserves in the world are in U.S. dollars.  But there are big changes on the horizon.  The mainstream media in the United States has been strangely silent about this, but some of the biggest economies on earth have been making agreements with each other to move away from using the U.S. dollar in international trade.  There are also some oil producing nations which have begun selling oil in currencies other than the U.S. dollar, which is a major threat to the petrodollar systemwhich has been in place for nearly four decades.  And big international institutions such as the UN and the IMF have even been issuing official reports about the need to move away form the U.S. dollar and toward a new global reserve currency.  So the reign of the U.S. dollar as the world reserve currency is definitely being threatened, and the coming shift in international trade is going to have massive implications for the U.S. economy.

A lot of this is being fueled by China.  China has the second largest economy on the face of the earth, and the size of the Chinese economy is projected to pass the size of the U.S. economy by 2016.  In fact, one economist is even projecting that the Chinese economy will be three times larger than the U.S. economy by the year 2040.



continues here...

Russian President-elect Vladimir Putin to visit Israel in June

Russian President-elect Vladimir Putin wants to visit Israel in June, and has expressed interest in unveiling a monument in Netanya honoring Jewish Red Army soldiers who fought in World War II, a senior Israeli official told Haaretz on Monday.

There have been no talks about specific arrangements because Putin has yet to be inaugurated, the source said. After he is sworn in on May 7, Israel is expected to begin preparing for his visit, the date of which will be formally announced, the official said.

Israel is expected to be Putin's second foreign destination after he is inaugurated on May 7. Putin is due to travel to the United States on May 20 to attend the G8 summit, where he is slated to meet with U.S. President Barack Obama.

Since Putin was elected president earlier this month, senior Russian officials have made several requests to the Foreign Ministry regarding Putin's interest in visiting Israel.

Continues here

Hezbollah in the U.S. by the Hundreds

Congressman Peter King believes there may be hundreds of Iranian and Hezbollah terrorists already in the U.S. Former DEA COO Michael Braun suggests the possibility of a "nightmare scenario".

North Korea directs missiles towards Australia

NORTH KOREA'S forthcoming missile launch will be aimed towards South-East Asia and Australia for the first time, the US has warned.

The warning was delivered in person yesterday to the Foreign Affairs Minister, Bob Carr, by a senior official in the Obama Administration, Kurt Campbell, during a visit to Sydney.
North Korea, which claimed to have successfully tested a nuclear weapon in 2009, has for years worked to improve its long-range ballistic missile capability. Previous missile tests have been launched east, over Japan. But US intelligence suggests the launch announced for mid-April will be aimed south for the first time.

"If the missile test proceeds as North Korea has indicated, our judgment is that it will impact in an area roughly between Australia, Indonesia and the Philippines," Dr Campbell, the assistant secretary of state for East Asia and the Pacific, said yesterday.

"We have never seen this trajectory before. We have weighed into each of these countries and asked them to make clear that such a test is provocative and this plan should be discontinued."

After the meeting Mr Carr told the Herald: "The North Korean nuclear and long-range missile plans represent a real and credible threat to the security of the region and to Australia."

The launch would be "in clear violation of UN Security Council resolutions."
Mr Carr said he and Dr Campbell had "shared views on how both the US and Australia could engage our regional partners and allies to encourage North Korea to abandon its plans".

The US President, Barack Obama, will be among some 50 leaders, including Australia's Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, to meet in a summit in the South Korean capital of Seoul on Monday to discuss nuclear disarmament. North Korea's abrupt announcement last week of its missile test is expected to dominate discussion.
The announcement from Pyongyang startled observers because it came less than three weeks after it had sealed a new agreement with the US in return for food aid.


Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/national/north-korea-directs-missiles-towards-australia-20120323-1vpb7.html#ixzz1qAunfk3n

Jacob's Trouble - a Must Read!

Talking about my fiction book trilogy "The Wayfarers" and specifically the finale, titled "Jacob's Trouble." Though fiction, this series is a "must read" if you are watching the world today in 2012 and beyond.

Climate disarray: skipping spring and going straight to summer

March 23, 2012 – CHICAGO – The United States and parts of Canada have come out of winter to find a lingering ridge of high pressure inducing summer-like conditions. The map above shows surface temperature anomalies during March 13-19 compared to averages for those dates over the last 10 years. More than 1,054 locations set new daily high temperatures records and 627 saw new record lows. “Records are not only being broken across the country, they’re being broken in unusual ways,’ reports NASA’s Adam Voiland. “Chicago, for example, saw temperatures above 26.6° Celsius (80° Fahrenheit) every day between March 14-18, breaking records on all five days.

For context, the National Weather Service noted that Chicago typically averages only one day in the eighties each in April. And only once in 140 years of weather observations has April produced as many 80°Fahrenheit days as this March,” Volland wrote. “Meanwhile, Climate Central reported that in Rochester, Minnesota, the overnight low temperature on March 18 was 16.6° Celsius (62° Fahrenheit), a temperature so high it beat the record high of 15.5°Celsius (60° Fahrenheit) for the same date,” Volland added.

Source

Going Cashless Precursor to the Mark?

Sweden is going cashless, and so will the rest of the world; including the good ol' USA. Is this a precursor to the Mark of the Beast?

Does Christianity need to develop a NEW gospel adapted to today's world?

There is no modern substitute for the gospel. Thus the gospel is simply the good news that the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, has also become man, that He might die in atonement for the sins of man, and then, after His body was buried for three days, rise again from the grave, forever settling man's sin-debt before a holy God.

Men may talk about a “social gospel,” a “full gospel,” a “new gospel,” or some other gospel, but there is only one gospel, and that is the “everlasting gospel” (Revelation 14:6). No wonder Paul said:

"But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed" (Galatians 1:9).

The gospel is still the good news, and there will never be another.

Syria WMD report: ‘Country is a chemical powder keg ready to explode’

WASHINGTON — President Bashar Assad could order weapons of mass destruction attacks to save his regime, a report said. The James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies asserted that Assad
could employ Syria’s massive WMD arsenal against any rising Sunni revolt. In a report, the center warned that the Damascus regime could also fire biological or chemical weapons to stop any foreign military
intervention to save the rebels.

“Indeed, in this fluid environment and uncharted territory, everything is possible,” the report, titled “Assad’s Toxic Assets,” said. Authored by Chen Kane, Bilal Saab and Leonard Spector, the report outlined six scenarios in which Assad could employ WMD, which the opposition said already took place in the Syrian Army assault on Homs earlier this month. The report envisioned a decision by Assad or his younger brother, Maher, to fire CW or BW shells even at the risk of NATO intervention.
Another scenario was that Alawite generals order WMD strikes against the Sunni rebels. Assad has ordered deployment of elite army and special forces units to guard CW production facilities around such cities as Aleppo, Damascus, Hama, Homs and Latakia.


“Should armed rebellion flare up again in areas that host chemical weapons facilities and munitions storage sites including Dumayr, Khan Abu Shamat and Al Furqlus and government forces find themselves facing overwhelming opposition, the generals on the ground could decide, without Assad’s authorization, to use chemical weapons against their opponents,” the report, dated March 13, said. “They could also be tempted to act preemptively, ‘using them before losing them.’ ”

More here

The Message Bible: What is the Message?

The woman who coined the term New Age, occultist Alice Bailey, (believing that we were on the threshold of a new spiritual awakening) said that this new enlightened age would come, not around the Christian church, but rather through it. She said the outer layers would be initially kept intact (i.e., Christian terminology would still be used) but the changes would take place obscurely from the inside.1 Is this not what we are witnessing happening today through the NAR, (New Apostolic Reformation), Kingdom Dominion, Purpose Driven, contemplative, emerging, interfaith church?

“The goal of the New Age Movement has consistently been to bring in the Age of Aquarius when all will recognize ‘the God within themselves.’ A major step towards this in the words of the New Age prophetess Alice Bailey, is ‘the regeneration of the churches.’ Her vision was that… ‘The Christian church in its many branches can serve as a St. John the Baptist, as a voice crying in the wilderness, and as a nucleus through which world illumination may be accomplished.’  -Alice Bailey



Found this interesting post about The Message Bible. What is your experience with this popular translation? Does your local church use this? Check out the article:  The Message Bible pointing to One World Religion  The Message “Bible” is gaining popularity in leaps and bounds, deceiving readers and pointing them towards the new age and a one world religion.

The author of the Message Bible Eugene Peterson spreads falsehood supported by many.
The Message is being read across the world, a paraphrase of scripture in ‘contemporary’ language. This book uses vulgar language in attempts to be “hip” and in tune with the language of our culture

Continues here

NDRP-Martial Law?

Is the executive order National Defense Resource Preparedness a precursor to Martial law? As economy staggers and the Middle East continues to be on the verge of all-out war, we must remember that we can still be alright!

Effective World Government Will Be Needed to Stave Off Climate Catastrophe

Almost six years ago, I was the editor of a single-topic issue on energy for Scientific American that included an article by Princeton University’s Robert Socolow that set out a well-reasoned plan for how to keep atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations below a planet-livable threshold of 560 ppm. The issue came replete with technical solutions that ranged from a hydrogen economy to space-based solar.

If I had it to do over, I’d approach the issue planning differently, my fellow editors permitting. I would scale back on the nuclear fusion and clean coal, instead devoting at least half of the available space for feature articles on psychology, sociology, economics and political science. Since doing that issue, I’ve come to the conclusion that the technical details are the easy part. It’s the social engineering that’s the killer. Moon shots and Manhattan Projects are child’s play compared to needed changes in the way we behave.

A policy article authored by several dozen scientists appeared online March 15 in Science to acknowledge this point: “Human societies must now change course and steer away from critical tipping points in the Earth system that might lead to rapid and irreversible change. This requires fundamental reorientation and restructuring of national and international institutions toward more effective Earth system governance and planetary stewardship.”

The report summarized 10 years of research evaluating the capability of international institutions to deal with climate and other environmental issues, an assessment that found existing capabilities to effect change sorely lacking. The authors called for a “constitutional moment” at the upcoming 2012 U.N. Conference on Sustainable Development in Rio in June to reform world politics and government. Among the proposals: a call to replace the largely ineffective U.N. Commission on Sustainable Development with a council that reports to the U.N. General Assembly, at attempt to better handle emerging issues related to water, climate, energy and food security. The report advocates a similar revamping of other international environmental institutions.


Continues

Wisconsin town plagued by mysterious booming noises

CLINTONVILLE, Wis. –  Bemused curiosity is turning into worry and aggravation for families in a small Wisconsin town longing for peace and quiet after three nights of mysterious booming noises that have sent some residents into the streets -- sometimes still in their pajamas.

The strange disturbance sounds like distant thunder, fireworks or someone slamming a heavy door. At first, many people were amused. But after a third restless night Tuesday into Wednesday, exasperation is mounting. And some folks are considering leaving town until investigators determine the source of the racket.

"My husband thought it was cool, but I don't think so. This is not a joke," said Jolene Van Beek, who awoke early Sunday to a loud boom that shook her house. "I don't know what it is, but I just want it to stop."

The booming in Clintonville continued Monday and Tuesday nights and into Wednesday morning, eventually prompting Van Beek to take her three sons to her father's home, 10 minutes away, so they could get some uninterrupted sleep.

There have been no reports of injury, despite some residents saying they could feel the ground roll beneath their feet.

City officials say they have investigated every possible human cause. They checked water, sewer and gas lines, contacted the military about any exercises in the area, reviewed permits for mining explosives and inspected a dam next to City Hall. They even tested methane levels at the landfill in case the gas was spontaneously exploding.

"People in the area are certainly frustrated," City Administrator Lisa Kuss said.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/03/21/mysterious-booms-rattle-wisconsin-city/?test=latestnews#ixzz1pqX4nYvr

U.S. War Game Sees Perils of Israeli Strike Against Iran

WASHINGTON — A classified war simulation held this month to assess the repercussions of an Israeli attack on Iran forecasts that the strike would lead to a wider regional war, which could draw in the United States and leave hundreds of Americans dead, according to American officials.


The officials said the so-called war game was not designed as a rehearsal for American military action — and they emphasized that the exercise’s results were not the only possible outcome of a real-world conflict.

But the game has raised fears among top American planners that it may be impossible to preclude American involvement in any escalating confrontation with Iran, the officials said. In the debate among policy makers over the consequences of any Israeli attack, that reaction may give stronger voice to those in the White House, Pentagon and intelligence community who have warned that a strike could prove perilous for the United States.

The results of the war game were particularly troubling to Gen. James N. Mattis, who commands all American forces in the Middle East, Persian Gulf and Southwest Asia, according to officials who either participated in the Central Command exercise or who were briefed on the results and spoke on condition of anonymity because of its classified nature. When the exercise had concluded earlier this month, according to the officials, General Mattis told aides that an Israeli first strike would be likely to have dire consequences across the region and for United States forces there.

(Continues)

7.4 quake rocks southern Mexico, shakes capital

In Mexico City, a Los Angeles Times reporter writes that "there was an initial rocking, a pause and then a much stronger, sustained rocking motion that swayed buildings in many parts of the capital."

A BBC reporter estimated that the earth shook for about a minute, a virtual eternity to people experiencing a big quake. But that's nowhere near the longest shaking ever recorded. That record is held by the December 2004 quake off Sumatra, Indonesia. Scientists determined that the magnitude-9.1 rupture, which generated huge tsunamis and killed more than 283,000 people, shook for almost 10 minutes.

"Normally, a small earthquake might last less than a second; a moderate sized earthquake might last a few seconds. This earthquake lasted between 500 and 600 seconds," said Charles Ammon, associate professor of geosciences at Penn State University, according to a CNN report in 2005.

And though big at magnitude 7.4, today's quake does not crack the list of the largest. The March 2011 Tohoku earthquake in Japan registered at magnitude 9.


Continues 

Grand Mufti Announces “Destruction of All Churches" in Arabian Peninsula; Christians Enraged

Saudi Arabia's highest religious official announced Monday that Christianity will not be tolerated in the Arabian Peninsula, proclaiming it "necessary to destroy all the churches of the region," Bikyamasar reported.

Sheikh Abdul Aziz bin Abdullah, the grand mufti, based his statement on the Islamic belief which states that only Islam and no other religion should be followed in the region. The mufti's declaration was in response to Kuwait's call for a ban on construction of non-Muslim places of worship, the report said.






The mufti further added that the move should be followed by the Kuwaiti government as well, given that the country is a part of the peninsular region.

It's also been reported that Osama Al-Munawer, a Kuwaiti parliamentarian, will soon introduce legislation that would call for a ban on constructing new churches in the kingdom. Existing churches, he added, will be exempt from demolition.

The announcement has apparently prompted fury among Christians who make up around five percent of the population in the Middle East. Furthermore, the mufti's words may provoke the Muslim community to launch attacks on churches, thereby raising fears of religious violence.

 "What we see with this is the turn toward ultra conservatism in the region," Noha, an Egyptian Coptic Christian, said in a statement on the report. "What we need to do now is bring together people and show this mufti that us Christians and Muslims can live and share the same street. And that it is a right granted by Islam for others to pray in their own place."

Continues here

Why Are Millions Of Americans Preparing For Doomsday?

All over America, there are millions of Americans that are quietly preparing for doomsday.

They are turning spare rooms into long-term food storage pantries, they are planting survival gardens, they are converting their homes over to alternative sources of energy, they are taking self-defense courses and they are stocking up on just about anything you can imagine.

They are called "preppers", and their numbers have absolutely exploded in recent years.

In fact, you might be living next door to one and never even realize it.

According to a recent Daily Mail article, there are approximately 3 million preppers in the United States today.

Others believe that the true number is significantly higher than that.

This movement has become so popular that there are now even television shows being done about preppers.

The most popular is probably "Doomsday Preppers" on the National Geographic Channel.

This movement is still growing and is not going to go away any time soon. In fact, as the world continues to become even more unstable it is likely that a lot more Americans will find themselves becoming preppers in the years ahead.

So what exactly are all these people so concerned about? Exactly why are there millions of Americans that are feverishly preparing for doomsday?

Well, the truth is that you will never find two preppers that are exactly alike.

Some are deeply concerned about the potential for natural disasters and believe that we are now entering into a time when there will be catastrophic earth changes. Other preppers believe that terrorism is the most significant threat to our way of life.

Killer pandemics, an EMP attack, World War III, martial law, solar megastorms, asteroid strikes and societal chaos are some of the other things that some preppers are worried about.

Of course an economic collapse is one of the biggest concerns for preppers, and without a doubt the U.S. economy is deeply troubled. A collapse of the financial system would change all of our lives permanently.

But it isn't just preppers that are concerned about these things.

Continues here

Weird weather: heat, twisters, 250K tons of snow

WASHINGTON (AP) - America's weather is stuck on extreme.
Nearly 11 feet of snow has fallen on Anchorage, Alaska, this winter. That's almost a record, and it's forcing the city to haul away at least 250,000 tons of snow. Yet not much snow has dropped on the Lower 48 this year.

The first three months of 2012 have seen twice the normal number of tornadoes. And 36 states set daily high temperature records Thursday. So far this month, the U.S. has set 1,757 daily high temperature records. That's similar to the number during last summer's heat wave, said Jake Crouch, a climate scientist for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Six rare, but not unprecedented, March tornadoes struck Thursday in Michigan, which also set 26 heat records. Temperatures were in the 80s in some parts of the state.

Nationwide, there have been 132 tornadoes confirmed in January and February, with preliminary reports of more than 150 already in March.

Two different weather phenomena - La Nina and its northern cousin the Arctic Oscillation - shift storm and temperature patterns through the world, meteorologists say. Scientists say you cannot link a single weather event to global warming.

However, climate scientist Andrew Weaver of the University of Victoria says: "When you start to see the extreme events become more common, that's when you can say that it is a consequence of global warming."


Source

Turkey threatens military action as refugees pour in Calls for a safe area to protect civilians from massacres

Turkey threatened to launch a military incursion into northern Syria Thursday after refugees fleeing alleged massacres by pro-Assad forces poured across its frontiers.

The warning came as the Arab Red Crescent predicted that as many as 500,000 Syrian civilians could seek refuge in Turkey as government forces widened its recent offensive in the border province of Idlib, a stronghold of the rebel Free Syrian Army.

Turkey has said in the past that a fresh surge of refugees would make it necessary to create a safe area within Syrian territory to protect civilians. Besir Atalay, Turkey's deputy prime minister, said the move, which was considered but rejected last year, was again being contemplated.

Giving impetus to renewed calls for some kind of limited military intervention, Syrian human rights activists claimed that 23 mutilated corpses had been discovered near the city of Idlib, which fell to President Bashar Assad's forces earlier this week.

The victims, who had been blindfolded and handcuffed before being shot, bore the marks of "extreme torture," the U.K.-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

The killings were the latest in a series of alleged atrocities that have seen dozens of civilians, often from the same families, executed in recent days. Opposition activists say the practice is part of a new strategy of government terror aimed at emptying towns and villages known to have harboured rebels in the past.



Read more: http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Turkey+threatens+military+action+refugees+pour/6311777/story.html#ixzz1pJboWq5j

Secret Societies and Sheeple

Stormy Times Ahead: Impact of Solar Coronal Mass Ejection on Geomagnetic Field Detected by USArray

On Wednesday, March 7, a large solar flare ejected a massive stream of charged particles from the solar atmosphere. This “coronal mass ejection”, or CME, was unusually strong, causing an increase in the background stream of particles emitted from the sun, known as the solar wind. By the following day, the trajectory of the CME brought it past the ACE (Advanced Composition Explorer) spacecraft, which detected the shock from the CME at 10:45 (Universal Time, or UT). The CME then came into contact with the Earth’s magnetic field, where it set up a series of intense electric currents above the outer reaches of the atmosphere. These electric currents, whose intensity changes rapidly with time, induced electric currents to flow in the Earth and ocean. Researchers making use of EarthScope’s USArray Magnetotelluric Observatory take advantage of these high altitude electric currents as a signal source.

For the first time investigators will be able to determine the 3D variations in the electrical conductivity of the crust and mantle on a truly continental scale. The conductivity of geologic formations is strongly related to the presence of fluids, including magma and brines, the composition and type of rock, its temperature, and the presence of minerals. The EarthScope Magnetotelluric Observatory, through a subcontract from IRIS to Oregon State University, and with the collaboration of investigators across the US, maintains seven permanent stations (installed in Oregon, California, Montana, New Mexico, Missouri, Minnesota and Virginia) and operates a movable array of temporary stations that are systematically mapping out the electrical conductivity structure of the crust and mantle across the continental US on a 70-km spaced grid of observation stations.

Continues here

Supercell thunderstorms with three inch hail and tornadic signatures hit Hawaii

(TheWeatherSpace.com) - An event so rare is happening in Hawaii now that it has to be documented. A true Supercell thunderstorm bringing three inch hail to Eastern Oahu Island in Hawaii formed on Friday morning.

Usually when you think of supercells you think of the Great Plains of the United States, where cold / dry Canadian air meets with warm / moist air off the Gulf of Mexico. This setup produces supercells; with violent tornadoes, if ingredients are right.

"This is very rare for Hawaii to have this type of supercell," said Martin. "This has a classic hook echo and even rotation with a possible tornado touchdown with it. The ingredients came together perfectly as an upper level low to the west of the Islands provided the cold mid-level atmosphere over the tropical warm low level layer. This combined with strong upper level divergence to set thunderstorms off. A strong mid-level jet was not present, but some low level jet dynamics coming into surface low to the south of Hawaii did and created the low level rotation."

Hawaii is a blind spot for severe weather forecasts due to the lack of atmospheric modeling done in the area. Events like this are rare.

Continues

Doomsday Preppers - Are We Fully Prepared?

We should all be preppers, but in that we cannot forget the most crucial piece of preparation. No matter how much in the way of food, water, supplies, and weapons we have stocked in our storehouses...there is one most important piece of preparation that means life or death...

Is Germany Actually Preparing To Leave The Euro?

For a long time, most analysts have believed that if someone was going to leave the euro, it would be a weak nation such as Greece or Portugal.  But the truth is that financially troubled nations such as Greece and Portugal don't want to leave the euro.  The leaders of those nations understand that if they leave the euro their economies will totally collapse and nobody will be there to bail them out.  And at this point there really is not a formal mechanism which would enable other members of the eurozone to kick financially troubled nations such as Greece or Portugal out of the euro.

 But there is one possibility that is becoming increasingly likely that could actually cause the break up of the euro.  Germany could leave the euro.  Yes, it might actually happen.  Germany is faced with a very difficult problem right now.  It is looking at a future where it will be essentially forced to bail out most of the rest of the nations in the eurozone for many years to come, and those bailouts will be extremely expensive.

Meanwhile, the mood in much of the rest of Europe is becoming decidedly anti-German.  In Greece, Angela Merkel and the German government are being openly portrayed as Nazis.  Financially troubled nations such as Greece want German bailout money, but they are getting sick and tired of the requirements that Germany is imposing upon them in order to get that money.  Increasingly, other nations in Europe are simply ignoring what Germany is asking them to do or are openly defying Germany.  In the end, Germany will need to decide whether it is worth it to continue to pour billions upon billions of euros into countries that don't appreciate it and that are not doing what Germany has asked them to do.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union party recently approved a resolution that would allow a country to leave the euro without leaving the European Union.

Continues here

IRAN WAR ‘DOOMSDAY CLOCK’ SET TO 10-MINUTES-TO-MIDNIGHT AS NETANYAHU HINTS CONFLICT COULD OCCUR WITHIN MONTHS

On the heels of President Barack Obama’s meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last week, diplomats and pundits continue to try to answer the perplexing question: Will Israel and/or the U.S. launch a military strike on Iran?

Now, one publication is throwing some science into the mix. Or at least political science. Modeled on the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists’ Doomsday Clock showing “how close humanity is to catastrophic destruction,” The Atlantic has assembled a group of former policymakers, journalists and academics to provide their private opinions, which are then combined into a collective prediction.

The clock is presently set at 10 minutes to midnight, or a 48 percent chance of war.

More from The Atlantic:

War or peace in the Middle East amounts to a coin toss. The probability that the United States or Israel will strike Iran in the next year is 48 percent according to a new project that predicts the chances of conflict–the Iran War Clock. And as a result, the clock is set to 10 minutes to midnight.
The magazine explains how it works:

Each panelist makes an individual estimate about the percentage chance of war and we report the average score. Based on this number, we adjust the Iran War Clock so that the hand moves closer to, or further away from, midnight.

If there is a zero percent chance of war, the clock hand is at 20 minutes to midnight. Each extra 5 percent chance of war moves the hand one minute closer to midnight. So, for instance, a 10 percent chance of war would set the clock at 18 minutes to midnight, and a 75 percent chance of war would set the clock at 5 minutes to midnight. We round up and down, so 48 percent is rounded up to 10 minutes to midnight.

More here

Annan to hold 2nd meeting with Syrian president

BEIRUT -- United Nations envoy Kofi Annan will hold a second meeting with the country's President Bashar Assad on Sunday to discuss proposals for stopping violence and starting a political dialogue, a U.N. official in Damascus said.

In his talks with Assad on Saturday, Annan made several proposals towards ending the country's yearlong political crisis. He was rebuffed by the president who rejected any immediate negotiations with the opposition, striking a further blow to already staggering international efforts for talks to end the conflict.

Assad told Annan that a political solution is impossible as long as "terrorist groups" threaten the country.

The opposition's political leadership has also rejected dialogue, saying talk is impossible after a crackdown that the U.N. estimates has killed more than 7,500 people. That makes it likely that the conflict will continue to edge toward civil war.

Victims of Syrian Violence

The official said Annan is scheduled to meet with the country's grand mufti, who is a senior cleric, and again with Assad Sunday before heading to the Gulf state of Qatar. He spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations.

Meanwhile, activists said fresh violence erupted again in Syria's northern Idlib province, where troops launched Saturday a long-anticipated assault to crush the opposition, bombarding its main city with tank shells from all sides and clashing with rebel fighters struggling to hold back an invasion.
Syrian forces had been building up for days around Idlib, the capital of a hilly, agricultural province along the Syria-Turkey border that has been a hotbed of protests against Assad's regime.

Read more here: http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/2012/03/10/1966740/russia-to-critics-were-not-protecting.html#storylink=cpy

Alert level raised for Alaska volcano

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) - Increased earthquake activity has prompted scientists to raise the alert level for an Alaska volcano.

The Alaska Volcano Observatory on Friday elevated the alert status for Iliamna (ill-ee-AHM'-nuh) Volcano, located on the west side of Cook Inlet, about 135 miles southwest of Anchorage.

Officials in a release say earthquake activity has been increasing at the volcano over the last three months and is above background level.

While a significant change, they say it's not certain if the earthquake activity is because of magna movement.

This doesn't mean an eruption is imminent, and could be similar to earthquake activity from September 1996 to February 1997 that didn't result in an eruption.

The observatory this week said there was a small eruption at Cleveland Volcano, located about 940 miles southwest of Anchorage.


Source

Israel asks U.S. for arms that could aid Iran strike

(Reuters) - Israel has asked the United States for advanced "bunker-buster" bombs and refueling planes that could improve its ability to attack Iran's underground nuclear sites, an Israeli official said on Thursday.

"Such a request was made" around the time of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's visit to Washington this week, the official said, confirming media reports.

But the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity given the sensitivity of the issue, played down as "unrealistic" Israeli reports that the United States would condition supplying the hardware on Israel promising not to attack Iran this year.

White House spokesman Jay Carney, asked whether the Israelis had made such a request to U.S. officials during the visit, said "there was no such agreement proposed or reached" in President Barack Obama's meetings with Netanyahu or his aides.

But when asked if the matter was raised with Defense Secretary Leon Panetta or other U.S. officials, Carney told reporters he had no information on that. "I would refer you to other officials," he said.

A U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed that military capabilities came up in discussions between Netanyahu and Panetta but did not elaborate. No deals were struck during those talks, the official added.

Netanyahu made clear to Obama at a White House meeting on Monday that Israel had not yet decided on military action against Iran, the White House has said.

Read more here

Hate Groups Not Just Player Haters

The Southern Poverty Law Center has released a report that hate groups are on the rise. There is much frustration, distress and tension in these United States, and as conditions deteriorate we must be careful, prayerful, and prepared.

Iran's nuclear program: the riddle, the enigma and the mystery

(CNN) -- There are "red lines," a "window of opportunity," the risk of a "zone of immunity," and plenty of other cryptic terms about Iran's nuclear program. What does it involve? Where is it leading? How and when should it be stopped or restrained?

Ordinary mortals can't know where those red lines lie; when the "weaponization" of Iran's nuclear material might be imminent; even what Iran's real intentions are. Experts and policy-makers differ about the time Iran would need to develop a nuclear weapon, the space for diplomacy, whether Iran wants a nuclear weapon as an instrument of deterrence or would use it pre-emptively. Or even whether it really is hell-bent on acquiring one.

James Clapper, the U.S. Director of National Intelligence, told the Senate Intelligence Committee in January that Iran was "keeping open the option to develop nuclear weapons...We do not know, however, if Iran will eventually build nuclear weapons."

Israel's Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has no doubt. He told an audience in Washington this week: "Amazingly, some people refuse to acknowledge that Iran's goal is to develop nuclear weapons.....This duck is a nuclear duck and it's time the world started calling a duck a duck," he said.

Continues here

Sun fires off 2 huge solar flares, could impact weather on Earth

A giant blast of plasma spat from the sun at as much as 4 million miles per hour Tuesday -- by some measures the largest solar event since late 2006 -- and it could lead to serious issues on Earth, forcing some planes to reroute, knocking out power grids, and blacking out radios.
The sun unleashed the cosmic double whammy late March 6, erupting with two major flares to cap a busy day of powerful solar storms, Space.com reported. One of the flares is the most powerful solar eruption so far this year.

“Super Tuesday? You bet!” joked Joseph Kunches, a space weather scientist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

Both of the huge flares ranked as X-class storms, the strongest type of solar flares the sun can have. They followed several weaker, but still powerful, sun storms on Tuesday and came just days after another major solar flare on Sunday night.


Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2012/03/07/sun-fires-off-2-huge-solar-flares-could-impact-weather-on-earth/?intcmp=features#ixzz1oSJj3l00

The End of the World by Jim Yackel

Some will follow the Mayan calendar indicating the end of the world in 2012, but they will not believe the truth, which is the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  No, the Rapture is not the end of the world but will instead guarantee that there will be at least seven more years of this world; depending on how quickly after the trumpet blast the Anti-Christ signs the false peace treaty with Israel and her Arab neighbors which will kick off the seven year Great Tribulation or "Jacob's Trouble."

Satan has selected an Anti-Christ candidate. He has always had an A-CC on-deck in the batter's circle, ready to rise quickly into world prominence when those pesky Jesus Freaks are finally removed from the scene. Should the candidate die, another is selected to replace him. Satan does not know the date of the "Harpazo" - but he too as a watcher knows that we are in the season and in his arrogance must be experiencing equal parts glee and anxiety. He is excited that his time to shine is arriving and in that there is the pressure to wreak havoc and create whatever mayhem that he can get away with - as that "time to shine" is relatively short. The outcast angel and his demonic hoardes are stalking about the earth, tampering with the lives of so many of us who follow Jesus - knowing that while distress can be caused and attacks can be and are being successfully waged; he cannot have our souls as they are saved. We have been washed in the blood of the Lamb that was slain, and at such a high cost we were purchased.

Jesus is the Son of God and likewise fully God; and yet Satan is this day discouraging millions from coming to faith in the only One who can save. He has been busy about his nefarious deeds ever since Adam and Eve walked in the garden, but now in January, 2011, there is serious time pressure. Indeed, this writer does not know the day nor the hour, but as a Watcher on the Wall, I do see that we are in the season; and so does the devil who watches as well. The evil one no longer has thousands of years left to deceive, manipulate, possess, and kill. Through false religions, through popular culture, through all media, through politics, through the American and the world financial systems and through the depraved hearts of many of those in positions of power and even through Joe Public down the street at the sports pub; the devil has racheted-up his campaign of deception, oppression, manipulation, possession, and murder. How's that for a run-on sentence?

It is my hope that the shofar will sound this very day - sounding like a trumpet. It is my hope that my clothes and my backpack will be left in a pile along the towpath that I am wayfaring along; never to be worn again. My precious hope and my redeemer will meet me and millions more in the sky and take us to a glorious wedding feast. My daughter will be headed to the same feast, as will the woman that I love who is walking this towpath with me, her daughter, and many of my friends. Some of my family will be attending, but regrettably, if we are taken today, many more family members will likely be left behind. And while millions will be headed through the sky to that great and glorious feast as Christ's bride, even more millions will be left here on this orb, not knowing at first what has taken place; and in that I am heartbroken for them. But, to be sure, the devil in his deceiving ways will create a false scenario that so very many will swallow and believe. It is a scenario that may involve flying saucers, mysterious military moves, or some other tall tale that those who failed to believe in the Gospel of Jesus Christ will believe without a second thought.

There is a storm brewing on this earth. If the Lord should tarry for some months yet, the storm here will intensify. Many will believe the Storm to be the Tribulation that comes after Harpazo - the calling up - but that seven year Tribulation will be even worse as God's judgments will be opened and poured out, as the Rapture or "Harpazo" will end the Age of Grace.

I have dreamed of and envisioned great tragedy coming upon these United States. I have advised stocking up on non-perishable foods and all manner of general supplies which would include but not be specific to medicines, matches, batteries, a battery-powered AM/FM/Shortwave radio, and if you are able to safely handle it, a rifle and plenty of ammunition. But, I will always encourage you to love your neighbor as Christ has commanded you to, and be willing to help those who may be less prepared and in need. Should He tarry a few more months or more as the Storm moves from the Supernatural into the Natural, please be His Hands, His feet, and His heart here wherever you may be in this land.

North Korea threatens to turn Seoul into a 'sea of flames'

North Korea threatened "sacred war" against the South, just days after it agreed with the US to suspend major parts of its nuclear programme and allow back international nuclear inspectors. North Korean television KRT showed what appeared to be artillery pointing towards South Korea's Paekryong Island, as well as live-firing exercises.


North Korean television KRT showed what appeared to be artillery pointing towards South Korea's Paekryong Island, as well as live-firing exercises.

Deputy commander Li Gum-chol threatened: "We will turn Seoul into a sea of flames by our strong and cruel artillery firepower, which cannot be compared to our artillery shelling on Yeonpyeong Island. We are training hard, concentrating on revenge to shock [South Korea president] Lee Myung-bak's traitorous group and the military warmongers in South Korea."

North Korean artillery shelled South Korea's Yeonpyeong Island in November 2010, killing four people including two civilians.



Continues Here

Netanyahu, Obama, and Iran - 03/05/12

Benjamin Netanyahu met with Barack Obama at the White House on 03/05/2012 to discuss the Iranian nuke situation and the threat against Israel. Obama told Netanyahu that he has his back. Netanyahu says that Israel must remain the master of its own fate...

Blast it or paint it: Asteroid to threaten Earth in 2013

To avert a possible catastrophe – this time set for February 2013 – scientists suggest confronting asteroid 2012 DA14 with either paint or big guns. The stickler is that time has long run out to build a spaceship to carry out the operation. ­NASA's data shows the 60-meter asteroid, spotted by Spanish stargazers in February, will whistle by Earth in 11 months. Its trajectory will bring it within a hair’s breadth of our planet, raising fears of a possible collision.

Read story here

The Man Named Fear by Jim Yackel

Without trepidation we carry forward along this path, out-pacing the man named Fear. We will not entertain fear as he is an ungracious guest who carries in his backpack cockroaches that will infest the
cupboards and piping of our deepest thoughts and of our spirit. No, we cannot allow him to follow us home!

This man named Fear lurks in the bushes and as he pants we can see the mist of his breath in the cold, fading daylight. He can masquerade as a wolf to maximize the fright factor, or he can pitter-patter around our feet as the pusillanimous black rat in order to revile us. Indeed, this man named Fear is a master of disguise and the embodiment of all lies.

He will tell us everything we want to hear, but we cannot listen to the ting of the pearls dropping from his silver tongue. Indeed my new friend, he will soften you up with flattering words and deceptive religiosity that convinces you that YOU are a god, and once you have swallowed the bait he will swallow you whole like the Venus Flytrap swallows the unthinking fly.

The stones of the railroad bed crunch under our feet as we look over our shoulders and see the distant headlight of the approaching CSX freight. We've walked along the tracks and over the bridges that carry us over creeks filled with Bass, Trout, Suckers and Freshwater Drum; but as much as we love trains we know that we must veer left and go back to the path - knowing that the man named Fear lurks amongst the thistles, sumac, and blackberry bushes. The way back to the path means trekking through swamp and burdock, but it must be done as it is the only way home.

Still, we must contend with the man named Fear...

He is a wolf and then at once a rat. He is the cockroach and the wasp. He is bat and he is man, but he is not the Caped Crusader. No, children, he is the father of lies. He is none other than the man named Fear.

The Word is your only hope. In the beginning was the Word; before there was the man named Fear. You can choose the way you walk, and bowing to the man of fear may lead to gold today but I must warn you it is but fool's gold!

The briars, brambles, and swamp that lay between the railroad bed and the dirt and gravel path will cut you and make you bleed, but remember my love that the Word bled first...

The only thing that the man named Fear is frightened of is blood...the crimson, purifying blood that is the Word. It is this word that will force the man named Fear to lurk in the bushes and not on the pathway home.

Assad Threatens Israel With Missiles if Syria is Attacked

Syrian President Bashar Assad has ordered the heads of his military to hit Israel with a barrage of missiles should there be any foreign intervention in Syria, a Jordanian news website reported on Saturday.

According to the site, Our Country’s News, Assad gave the order in a secret meeting with the heads of the Syrian army last Thursday, in light of his fear of a U.S. military strike in Syria.

The report said that Assad ordered that if any military action is started against Syria, the Syrian army should respond by firing missiles in Israel, with a particular emphasis on Israeli military airports.

The report added that an operations room has been opened in Damascus and that it is continuously manned by officers from Syria and Iran, as well as by Hizbullah terrorists, all of whom coordinate their military operations in the event of external military intervention in Syria.

A similar operations room has been opened in Tehran, said the report, and is manned by Iranian as well as by Hizbullah terrorists.

Hizbullah has also opened a similar operations room in Lebanon, said the Jordanian website, and Iran and Hizbullah have promised Syria to launch missiles at Israel from their territories as well.

Defense Minister Ehud Barak recently warned that sophisticated weapons could be transferred from Syria to Lebanon and to Hizbullah should Assad fall.

Major General Yair Golan, head of the Northern Command, has also warned that Assad’s fall will result in Hizbullah’s taking over his arsenal of advanced missiles.

“There is a very real danger that if Assad’s regime falls apart, his arsenal of advanced weapons, including ground-to-sea missiles and aerial defense systems, will fall into the hands of Hizbullah and other radical groups,” the senior general said in a recent interview.

Source

HOPE IN CHRIST ALONE

Does it seem like everything is going wrong? Do you feel like life's chew toy?


Remember, there is hope in Jesus Christ. He will never leave you nor forsake you. HE offers you hope in the midst of your pain, He loves you.


You can come to Him just as you are and He will accept you and love you.

Tornadoes ravage the South and Midwest - wiping entire Indiana town off the map and claiming at least 28 lives

Tornadoes have ravaged the South and Midwest, destroying homes, claiming lives, tearing roofs from schools, damaging a maximum security prison and wiping one Indiana town entirely off the map.
Authorities reported a total of 28 deaths, including 14 in Indiana, where the town Henryville suffered extensive damage including felled trees, wrecked homes and a destroyed high school.
The nearby town of Marysville - home to 1,900 residents - is 'completely gone', according to Clark County Sheriff’s Department Major Chuck Adams, and multiple injuries have been reported.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2109540/Tornado-wipes-Marysville-Indiana-map.html#ixzz1o3H2qn00

Pakistan Battles Militants, in Worst Fighting in Months

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Gunfights, military airstrikes and a large suicide bombing on Friday killed as many as 70 people in the tribal agencies bordering Peshawar, the provincial capital of northwestern Pakistan, in some of the worst violence in months in a strategic corner of the country.




In Khyber Agency, along the border with Afghanistan, a suicide bomber set off an explosion at the gates of a militant base, killing 23 people and wounding at least three others, said the local administrator, Mutahirzeb Khan. Many of those killed belonged to Lashkar-e-Islam, a local militant group that has imposed Taliban-style strictures on the local population.

Lashkar-e-Islam itself had been on the offensive only hours earlier, with a pre-dawn assault by dozens of fighters on a Pakistani military post, Mr. Khan said. That attack killed ten soldiers and wounded three, he said.


A senior security official, speaking on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly, said that 23 militants were also killed in the fighting, but that could not be independently confirmed.


Fighting also raged in the Orakzai tribal agency, to the west of Peshawar, where military fighter jets attacked two suspected bases of the main Pakistani Taliban group. The security official said 15 militants died in the attack.


Some of the violence follows Pakistani military operations in the tribal areas adjacent to Peshawar. In recent weeks the army has initiated major operations in both Khyber and Orakzai Agencies. The army has been quiet in South and North Waziristan, to the west, where most American drone strikes are carried out.


Read more here