BANK LENDING KEEPS DROPPING

EZEKIEL 3:17
17 Son of man, I have made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel: therefore hear the word at my mouth, and give them warning from me.

EZEKIEL 33:3
3 If when he seeth the sword come upon the land, he blow the trumpet, and warn the people;

ACTS 20:31
31 Therefore watch, and remember, that by the space of three years I ceased not to warn every one night and day with tears.

JACK VAN IMPE WARNING THE WORLD OF THE NEW WORLD ORDER.HIT ON APRIL 22,09 ON HIS SHOW SITE.
http://www.thegospel.com/pages/jvim.asp

HURRAY FOR CARRIE PREJEAN SAYING MARRIAGE IS BETWEEN A MAN AND A WOMAN NOT ADAM AND STEVE LIKE THE SODOMITE RAINBOW GROUP THINK.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OY-1cybT6p8&feature=player_embedded

AND ANOTHER VERY IMPORTANT AUDIO A RUSSIAN WOMAN WHO WENT THROUGH THE HOLOCAUST AND SURVIVED HER STORY IS SO BAD AGAINST ISRAELIS A MUST LISTEN BY ALL SO THAT THIS WILL NEVER HAPPEN TO ISRAELIS AGAIN.
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Radio/News.aspx/875

ILLEGEL BORDER CROSSING VIDEOS
http://www.infowars.com/video-evidence-illegal-border-crossings/

WeAreChange Brisbane - 60 minutes: Brute force - Public order and riot squad
WeAreChange.org April 22, 2009

PART ONE:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6NcYG-wBR64
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6NcYG-wBR64&feature=player_embedded
PART TWO:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6NcYG-wBR64
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YbgaEjsE4s0&feature=player_embedded

You can see why they’re called the Riot Squad. They’re damn tough and they don’t muck about. They patrol some of Australia’s most dangerous streets, determined to stamp out violence fuelled by booze and drugs.In some ways, this is the last resort, a radical response to increasing street crime. And, after spending a few weekends with the men and women of the squad, we can tell you it sure is full-on, aggressive policing. What’s more, they’re quite open about it, there’s nothing touchy-feely about these cops. No wonder they’ve raised a few eyebrows.Critics who claim they cause more trouble than they’re worth.
http://sixtyminutes.ninemsn.com.au/Blog.aspx?&blogentryid=394366&showcomments=true

HERE ARE NAMES WHO ARE POTENTIALS FOR THE EU WORLD DICTATOR GODLESS PRESIDENT WHEN THAT GODLESS SINNER TAKES HIS SEAT IN WORLD DICTATORSHIP FROM THE NUTCASE NEW WORLD ORDER NUTS AND THE NUTCASE NEW AGE MOVEMENT LUNATICS.

PEOPLE IN LINE FOR THE JOB INCLUDE JUAN CARLOS OF SPAIN,JOVIER SOLANA OF SPAIN,PRINCE CHARLES,NICOLOS SARKOZY,TONY BLAIR AND OF COURSE OBAMA IF HE WAS EVER ELECTED PRESIDENT OF THE EUROPEAN UNION. OBAMA I BELIEVE NEXT TO THE FUTURE DICTATOR IS THE BIGGEST LIAR GOING AND DECIEVING MILLIONS UPON MILLIONS OF AMERICANS AND WORLDS PEOPLES.

Israel marks annual Holocaust Remembrance Day By ARON HELLER, Associated Press Writer – Tue Apr 21, 12:10 pm ET
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Radio/News.aspx/875

JERUSALEM – Hanita Leshem's parents handed her over to a Christian family in Ukraine in 1941, when she was just a year old, to save her from the Nazi troops murdering the Jews there.Leshem, now a 69-year-old grandmother living in Jerusalem, never saw her mother and father again.On Tuesday, she stood among other child survivors as Israel marked its annual Holocaust Remembrance Day honoring the 6 million Jews who perished at the hands of the Nazis — including her parents.Leshem was raised by two Christian families and spent some time in a Polish orphanage before she moved at age 7 to what later became Israel, where she was adopted. For decades, she was unable to track down the names of her biological parents. But after exhaustive research and a trip to her hometown near Lvov, she finally learned in 1995 that she was born Isabela Waldbaum, the only child of Ella and Leopold.She recited her dead parents' names Tuesday at the main state ceremony of the day at Israel's Holocaust memorial, Yad Vashem.I feel like we have won. I am the evidence that we have overcome, despite everything, she said. We beat Hitler, and we will beat that Ahmadinejad, too, she said. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has suggested the Holocaust never occurred and repeatedly has called for Israel's annihilation.

At a high-profile U.N. conference on racism in Switzerland on Monday, Ahmadinejad accused Israel of being the most cruel and repressive racist regime and the West of using the Holocaust as a pretext for aggression against Palestinians. Dozens of European diplomats walked out of the hall in protest; 10 countries, including Israel and the U.S., had boycotted the conference altogether, expecting it to become a forum for Israel-bashing.At a ceremony opening Holocaust Remembrance Day on Monday night, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed that Israel would not allow the Holocaust deniers to carry out another Holocaust against the Jewish people.Frenetic Israel came to a standstill for two minutes on Tuesday morning as air-raid sirens sounded across the country in mournful tribute to the Holocaust dead. Cars came to a halt and people froze in their tracks, many with heads bowed.Throughout the entire day, television stations broadcast historical documentaries and movies, and radio stations played somber music and interviewed survivors. Schools held memorial services, places of entertainment were shut down and the Israeli flag was flown at half staff.This year's memorial event honored the 1.5 million children who died in the Holocaust. Many of the tens of thousands who survived, like Leshem, were taken in by Christians who risked their lives to protect Jews.

An official wreath-laying ceremony at Yad Vashem followed with Israeli leaders and Holocaust survivors in attendance. Later, ordinary Israelis flocked to the museum's Hall of Remembrance to recite names of victims. Other ceremonies, prayers and music performances took place at the parliament and throughout the country.An estimated 250,000 Holocaust survivors live in Israel, roughly half of those still alive worldwide.

The Nazis wiped out a third of world Jewry during World War II.

Demographer Sergio DellaPergola of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem projected that if the Holocaust had not happened, between 26 million and 32 million Jews would now be living worldwide, as opposed to just over 13 million today.Yad Vashem has recently upgraded its Web site to offer new research tools. Its latest entry is The Untold Stories,devoted to documenting the massacres of Jews in small- and medium-sized communities that had been lost to history.On the Net: http://www.yadvashem.org.il

Israel: Halt Iran to allow Mideast peace efforts By AMY TEIBEL, Associated Press Writer – Wed Apr 22, 11:55 am ET

JERUSALEM – Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon said Wednesday that Iran must be reined in if Israel and the Palestinians hope to move along the path to peace.

Ayalon made it clear, however, that this was not an Israeli condition for going ahead with peacemaking, though Israel charges that Iran is the main backer of the violent Islamic Hamas rulers of Gaza as well as Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon.We should continue on the path of peace with the Palestinians as if there is no Iran threat, Ayalon told The Associated Press in an interview Wednesday.Simultaneously, we should move forward on stopping Iran as if there was no Palestinian issue, added Ayalon, a former Israeli ambassador to the U.S.Tehran is working hard to derail any possibility of effective peacemaking through its backing of anti-Israel militants in the Gaza Strip, West Bank and Lebanon, he said.Realistically and effectively, if we want to go on the path without additional obstacles and dangers to the process, we have to rein in Iran because of its nuclear program, its dissemination of extremist ideology and its support of terrorism, Ayalon said.But this is not a condition for going ahead with the Palestinians,he said.Israel's new prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has refused to back Palestinian statehood, putting him at odds with the Obama administration. Netanyahu sees defusing the Iranian threat as Israel's top strategic priority.Israel has long considered Iran its chief threat because of its nuclear program and development of ballistic missiles that could reach Israel, possibly with a nuclear warhead. Israel does not believe Tehran's claims that its nuclear program is meant to produce energy, not weapons.

FROM WND'S JERUSALEM BUREAU Pentagon pick: Bush mindlessly supported Israel
New top adviser warns Obama may not give Jewish state blank checks April 21, 2009
9:44 pm Eastern By Aaron Klein 2009 WorldNetDaily

The Pentagon
JERUSALEM – While President Bush was blindly and mindlessly supportive of Israel, President Obama may be less willing to give the Jewish state blank checks, says Rosa Brooks, the Obama administration's new adviser to one of the most influential Pentagon officials. Brooks will advise Michelle Fluornoy, the undersecretary of defense for policy, a position that wields enormous power over drafting U.S. military doctrine in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iraq. Until accepting her position earlier this month, Brooks, who did work on behalf of George Soros' philanthropic foundation, also served as a columnist for the Los Angeles Times. A WND review of her opinion pieces in the newspaper finds trends that defenders of the Jewish state may view as anti-Israel, including distorting history to seemingly whitewash Palestinian terrorism. In a 2006 column, Brooks asserted Israel's actions in the Middle East were fueling anti-American resentment from the Arab world. The column largely focused on Israel's war that year against the Hezbollah terrorist group. The conflict broke out when Hezbollah built rocket arsenals along the Israeli border and then launched a major border raid in which Hezbollah killed Israeli troops, kidnapped two more soldiers and fired mortars and rockets into Jewish civilian population zones. Israeli policies are a major source of discord in the Islamic world, and anger at Israel usually spills over into anger at the U.S., Israel's biggest backer,Brooks wrote.

With resentment of Israeli policies fueling terrorism and instability both in the Middle East and around the globe, it's past time for Americans to have a serious national debate about how to bring a just peace to the Middle East,she recommends. But if criticism of Israel is out of bounds, that debate can't occur – and we'll all pay the price.In another piece, Brooks grossly distorts the historical record by claiming former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was to blame for the failure of U.S.-brokered Israeli-Palestinian negotiations that culminated in a summit at Camp David in 2000. The talks briefly continued into 2001 in Taba, Egypt, but broke down in late January after Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat refused an Israeli offer of a Palestinian state in the Gaza Strip, West Bank and eastern Jerusalem. Instead, Arafat launched the intifada or terrorist war, aimed at liberating Palestine through violence. Sharon, perceived as a defense hawk, was elected almost two weeks after the talks collapsed and on the heels of a major Palestinian terrorist campaign. President Bill Clinton largely blamed Arafat. The Palestinians claimed Israel's gestures, under Prime Minister Ehud Barak, didn't go far enough, but even the Palestinians did not finger Sharon's election as the cause of the collapse, since the talks imploded prior to the election. But according to Brooks, Israel and the Palestinian Authority came achingly close to a final settlement, but talks broke down after Likud's Ariel Sharon was elected prime minister on Feb. 6, 2001.Writing in a piece entitled, Israel can't bomb it's way to peace,Brooks continues, Sharon refused to meet with Yasser Arafat, and newly inaugurated President George W. Bush had no interest in pushing Israel toward peace.In the same oped, Brooks slammed Israel's 22-day military campaign against Hamas in the Gaza Strip that ended this past January. She claimed Israel has justified its bombardment of Gaza on the grounds that Hamas broke a fragile, temporary cease-fire ... but the timing of the Israeli military offensive has more to do with politics than anything else.Brooks wrote that the two sides were not on equal footing, claiming that as compared to Israel's military might Hamas is weak, and its weapons – terrorism, homemade rockets – are the weapons of the weak.

Hamas' rocket-fire has devastated Israeli towns the past few years, killing Israelis and disrupting life for over 100,000 Jewish citizens. Hamas started launching the rocket attacks into Israel after the Jewish state unilaterally evacuated its citizens from the Gaza Strip, leaving the strategic territory to Palestinian control. Brooks went on to list the initial Gaza casualty count without differentiating between civilians and terrorists.The first day of the offensive, Israeli bombs killed at least 180 Palestinians. By Wednesday, the Palestinian death toll exceeded 390,she wrote.According to the Israel Defense Forces, two-thirds of the casualty numbers were Hamas members. Brooks urged: It's time for the United States to wake up from its long slumber and reengage – forcefully – with the Middle East peace process. Only the U.S. – Israel's primary supporter and main financial sponsor – can push it to make the hard choices.She pointed out that as long as Bush was in the White House, Israel could count on a U.S. administration that wasn't merely supportive of Israel but blindly, mindlessly so. Obama may be less willing to offer Israel blank checks.Brooks is also a law professor at the Georgetown University Law Center, where she serves as director of the law school's Human Rights Center. She previously served as special counsel to the president at Soros' Open Society Institute. She has consulted for Human Rights Watch and served as a board member of Amnesty International USA.

Yesterday, WND reported Brooks wrote that al-Qaida was an obscure group turned into a massive threat due to U.S. policies. She's also referred to Bush as our torturer in chief and a psychotic who need(s) treatment while comparing Bush's arguments for waging a war on terrorism to Adolf Hitler's use of political propaganda.

Internet piracy battle holds up EU telecoms bill
LEIGH PHILLIPS 22.04.2009 @ 10:10 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - The battle between internet pirates and copyright holders shifted to Strasbourg this week, with a move that threatens to hold up a major European Union telecoms bill and unravel France's flagship legislation on cutting off internet access for illegal downloaders.MEPs in the European Parliament's industry committee on Tuesday (21 April) passed an amendment to the telecoms bill requiring that internet cut-offs can only be put in place after a decision by judicial authorities.The bill itself is a much broader legislative initiative that aims to substantially reform the European telecoms sector, focusing on infrastructure rather than content, with both parliament and EU member states largely in agreement on the package.But last September, MEPs overwhelmingly backed a similar amendment that intended to put a stop to France's three strikes law, under which copyright scofflaws would see their internet stopped for up to a year.The euro-deputies were convinced that the French approach was a draconian method of dealing with the problem.In negotiations on the telecoms bill Tuesday between the parliament and member states, diplomats first agreed an internet cut-off can only be imposed after approval from a competent legal authority.But they wanted to put the language in the recital, or legislative preamble, which does not form part of the legal text itself.In the evening, the industry committee voted by 40 to four in favour of placing the amendment within the law proper.

The battle between euro-deputies and member states, which will delay passage of the overall telecoms bill for at least a month, highlights the growing importance of internet piracy as a political issue, particularly in France and Sweden.French President Nicholas Sarkozy has personally championed the three-strikes legislation in the face of fierce resistance from the opposition French Socialists. His diplomats have mounted a considerable lobbying offensive in Brussels to try to stop the European Parliament from including its amendment, as it would halt his own legislation in its tracks.On the other side of the barricades, internet freedom advocates have also campaigned heavily in the European capital, particularly in the last few days in the wake of a court decision in Sweden that sentenced four young men to a year in jail for internet piracy. The verdict has infuriated young Swedish voters. According to La Quadrature du Net, a French internet civil liberties pressure group backed by the Open Society Institute and the Electronic Frontier Foundation, it galvanised hundreds of their supporters to bombard MEPs with emails encouraging them to stand firm on the telecoms bill amendment. In Sweden, the court sentence has, perhaps temporarily, pushed the Pirate Party, a political party that campaigns on similar issues, to be the number one choice of young voters, with almost 50 percent of young men under 30 saying they intend to cast their ballot for them in the June 2009 elections to the European Parliament.Jeremie Zimmermann, of La Quadrature du Net hailed the MEPs move: The European citizens will remember this courageous stand. Members of the European Parliament honoured their mandates by standing courageously for citizens' rights and freedoms.It is a salute the deputies will welcome. Ahead of the June elections, the MEPs can smell a hot-button issue, and with turn-out expected to reach record lows, particularly amongst the young, they are keen to prove they are on the popular side.

N.Korea has world's largest artillery force: US
Apr 22 07:54 AM US/Eastern Breitbart.com

The top US commander in South Korea said on Wednesday that North Korea has the world's largest artillery force and could rain fire on Seoul should the communist state decide to provoke all-out conflict. General Walter Sharp's comments came amid rising tensions on the peninsula.Last Saturday the North's military reminded South Korea that its densely populated capital is only 50 km away from the border. Sharp, commander of some 28,500 US troops in South Korea, said the North has an old but very large military that is positioned in a very dangerous place, very close to South Korea.They have a very large special operating force. It has the world's largest artillery force that is positioned as far south as possible and that can rain on Seoul today,he told local business leaders. The North maintains 80,000 special forces and is believed to have some 13,000 artillery pieces deployed along the border, Sharp said.Cross-border relations are at their worst in a decade after South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak abandoned his predecessors' policy of providing almost unconditional aid to the North.Pyongyang is also angry at Seoul's announced intention to join a US-led initiative against shipments of weapons of mass destruction. It says any move by its neighbour to join the Proliferation Security Initiative would be seen as a declaration of war.Sharp said US and South Korean troops are prepared to fight and win at any moment, stressing they have operational plans prepared in order to be able to meet any contingencies.

COLUMN-Killer robots and a revolution in warfare:Bernd Debusmann 22 Apr 2009 14:04:33 GMT Source: Reuters(Bernd Debusmann is a Reuters columnist. The opinions expressed are his own)By Bernd Debusmann

WASHINGTON, April 22 (Reuters) - They have no fear, they never tire, they are not upset when the soldier next to them gets blown to pieces. Their morale doesn't suffer by having to do, again and again, the jobs known in the military as the Three Ds - dull, dirty and dangerous.They are military robots and their rapidly increasing numbers and growing sophistication may herald the end of thousands of years of human monopoly on fighting war. Science fiction is moving to the battlefield. The future is upon us,as Brookings scholar Peter Singer put it to a conference of experts at the U.S. Army War College in Pennsylvania this month.Singer just published Wired For War -the Robotics Revolution and Conflict in the 21st Century, a book that traces the rise of the machines and predicts that in future wars they will not only play greater roles in executing missions but also in planning them.Numbers reflect the explosive growth of robotic systems. The U.S. forces that stormed into Iraq in 2003 had no robots on the ground. There were none in Afghanistan either. Now those two wars are fought with the help of an estimated 12,000 ground-based robots and 7,000 unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), the technical term for drone, or robotic aircraft.

Ground-based robots in Iraq have saved hundreds of lives in Iraq, defusing improvised explosive devices, which account for more than 40 percent of U.S. casualties. The first armed robot was deployed in Iraq in 2007 and it is as lethal as its acronym is long: Special Weapons Observation Remote Reconnaissance Direct Action System (SWORDS). Its mounted M249 machinegun can hit a target more than 3,000 feet away with pin-point precision.From the air, the best-known UAV, the Predator, has killed dozens of insurgent leaders - as well as scores of civilians whose death has prompted protests both from Afghanistan and Pakistan.The Predators are flown by operators sitting in front of television monitors in cubicles at Creech Air Force Base in Nevada, 8,000 miles from Afghanistan and Taliban sanctuaries on the Pakistani side of the border with Afghanistan. The cubicle pilots in Nevada run no physical risks whatever, a novelty for men engaged in war.

TECHNOLOGY RUNS AHEAD OF ETHICS

Reducing risk, and casualties, is at the heart of the drive for more and better robots. Ultimately, that means fully autonomous engagement without human intervention, according to an Army communication to robot designers. In other words, computer programs, not a remote human operator, would decide when to open fire. What worries some experts is that technology is running ahead of deliberations of ethical and legal questions.Robotics research and development in the U.S. received a big push from Congress in 2001, when it set two ambitious goals: by 2010, a third of the country's long-range attack aircraft should be unmanned; and by 2015 one third of America's ground combat vehicles. Neither goal is likely to be met but the deadline pushed non-technological considerations to the sidelines.A recent study prepared for the Office of Naval Research by a team from the California Polytechnic State University said that robot ethics had not received the attention it deserved because of a rush to market mentality and the common misconception that robots will do only what they have been programmed to do.Unfortunately, such a belief is sorely outdated, harking back to the time when computers were simpler and their programs could be written and understood by a single person,the study says.Now programs with millions of lines of code are written by teams of programmers, none of whom knows the entire program; hence, no individual can predict the effect of a given command with absolute certainty since portions of programs may interact in unexpected, untested ways.

That's what might have happened during an exercise in South Africa in 2007, when a robot anti-aircraft gun sprayed hundreds of rounds of cannon shell around its position, killing nine soldiers and injuring 14.Beyond isolated accidents, there are deeper problems that have yet to be solved. How do you get a robot to tell an insurgent from an innocent? Can you program the Laws of War and the Rules of Engagement into a robot? Can you imbue a robot with his country's culture? If something goes wrong, resulting in the death of civilians, who will be held responsible? The robot's manufacturer? The designers? Software programmers? The commanding officer in whose unit the robot operates? Or the U.S. president who in some cases authorises attacks? (Barack Obama has given the green light to a string of Predator strikes into Pakistan).While the United States has deployed more military robots - on land, in the air and at sea - than any other country, it is not alone in building them. More than 40 countries, including potential adversaries such as China, are working on robotics technology. Which leaves one to wonder how the ability to send large numbers of robots, and fewer soldiers, to war will affect political decisions on force versus diplomacy.You need to be an optimist to think that political leaders will opt for negotiation over war once combat casualties come home not in flag-decked coffins but in packing crates destined for the robot repair shop. (You can contact the author at Debusmann@Reuters.com) (Editing by Sean Maguire)

OBAMA LIES A MUST WATCH
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eAaQNACwaLw&feature=player_embedded

NLE 09: FEMA Takes Preparations for Martial Law to the Next Level
Kurt Nimmo Infowars April 21, 2009

FEMA is preparing to take its martial law exercises to the next level this July. According to a factsheet buried on the FEMA website, the agency will host National Level Exercise 2009 (NLE 09) on July 27 through July 31, 2009.Previous TOPOFF exercises concentrated on natural disasters and bio-attacks.NLE 09 will be the first major exercise conducted by the United States government that will focus exclusively on terrorism prevention and protection, as opposed to incident response and recovery, the factsheet states. It is designated as a Tier I National Level Exercise, or TOPOFF, which are exercises conducted annually in accordance with the National Exercise Program (NEP), which serves as the nation’s overarching exercise program for planning, organizing, conducting and evaluating national level exercises,according to FEMA.NLE 09 will focus on intelligence and information sharing among intelligence and law enforcement communities, and between international, federal, regional, state, tribal, local and private sector participants in the aftermath of a notional terrorist event outside of the United States.So-called exercise play will concentrate on preventing subsequent efforts by the terrorists to enter the United States and carry out additional attacks.Such a large and coordinated exercise seems inappropriate, considering the fact there has not been a terrorist attack on the United States since September 11, 2001. In 2007, the neocon-connected Jamestown Foundation chalked this lack of threat up to stepped-up counter-terrorist efforts after 9/11 and possibly the simple luck enjoyed by government authorities.

As the Washington Post noted in 2005, the government has a poor record when it comes to apprehending and prosecuting terrorists within the United States. Except for a small number of well-known cases — such as truck driver Iyman Faris, who sought to take down the Brooklyn Bridge — few of those arrested appear to have been involved in active plots inside the United States.In fact, as recently leaked Department of Homeland Security, FBI, and local law enforcement (in particular, the Missouri State Police) documents reveal, the real target is not al-Qaeda or Muslim terrorists, but rather rightwing extremists who support the Second Amendment and states’ rights and oppose abortion and open borders. The liberal corporate media has worked tirelessly with the government to demonize activists and supporters of these movements. It has orchestrated a disinformation campaign against the Tea Party movement and has attempted to link the alleged white supremacist cop killer Richard Poplawski to Alex Jones and others erroneously classified as rightwing extremists.The FEMA factsheet states NLE 09 will focus on intelligence and information sharing among intelligence and law enforcement communities, and between international, federal, regional, state, tribal, local and private sector participants.In other words, the exercise will concentrate on surveillance and counter-intelligence targeted at terrorists (rightwing extremists) who will – according to the NLE scenario – carry out attacks following a vaguely defined international terrorist event. A FEMA bullet point underscores the need for counter-terror investigation and law enforcement. Local law enforcement, through relationships previously established by DHS, the FBI and the CIA, will be on the front lines of this surveillance effort. The FBI in particular has experience in surveilling Americans. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, for instance, the FBI kept a list – dubbed the ADEX list – of over 100,000 persons to be rounded up as subversive. More recently, the Inspector General of the Justice Department reported that the Terrorist Screening Center (the FBI-administered organization that consolidates terrorist watch list information in the United States) had over 700,000 names in its database as of April 2007. The list was growing by an average of over 20,000 records per month, according to the ACLU. The list now totals well over a million entries. Although not specifically mentioned in the FEMA factsheet, NLE 09 will also include exercises designed to round-up and intern suspected terrorists. Under REX 84 and other operations, FEMA, in association with 34 other federal civil departments and agencies, trained to detain large numbers of American citizens.

During Hurricane Katrina, FEMA performed a dry-run of this unconstitutional power in New Orleans, not only rounding up refugees and relocating them in camps, but also testing its ability to confiscate firearms from law-abiding citizens. Blackwater USA, a private mercenary outfit, participated in this illegal confiscation. InfraGard, the FBI organized public-private partnership (classical fascism as defined by Mussolini), will participate in NLE 09, as they have in past TOPOFF exercises. As Matthew Rothschild documented last March, there are more than 23,000 representatives of private industry working quietly with the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security. InfraGard may be closer to a corporate TIPS program, turning private-sector corporations – some of which may be in a position to observe the activities of millions of individual customers – into surrogate eyes and ears for the FBI, Rothschild explains, citing the ACLU. The FBI has given the private organization the ability to use lethal force against suspected terrorists.FEMA’s National Level Exercise 2009 represents the next phase of preparations to implement martial law in America under the guise of fighting loosely defined terrorists. As the DHS, FBI, and MIAC reports indicate, the government now defines terrorists as rightwing extremists and indicates the threat is not from fanatics with beards in caves half way around the world, but from law-abiding Americans who are opposed to government policies. The FEMA camps corporate media shill Glenn Beck insists do not exist but are documented to in fact exist around the country are not for Muslims, but the real threat to government – increasing numbers of Americans determined to return the nagtion to a constitutionally limited republic.

DOCTOR DOCTORIAN FROM ANGEL OF GOD
then the angel said, Financial crisis will come to Asia. I will shake the world.

JAMES 5:1-3
1 Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you.
2 Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten.
3 Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days.

REVELATION 18:10,17,19
10 Standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come.
17 For in one hour so great riches is come to nought. And every shipmaster, and all the company in ships, and sailors, and as many as trade by sea, stood afar off,
19 And they cast dust on their heads, and cried, weeping and wailing, saying, Alas, alas that great city, wherein were made rich all that had ships in the sea by reason of her costliness! for in one hour is she made desolate.

EZEKIEL 7:19
19 They shall cast their silver in the streets, and their gold shall be removed: their silver and their gold shall not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the LORD: they shall not satisfy their souls, neither fill their bowels: because it is the stumblingblock of their iniquity.

REVELATION 13:16-18
16 And he(FALSE POPE) causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:(CHIP IMPLANT)
17 And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
18 Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.(6-6-6) A NUMBER SYSTEM

WORLD MARKET RESULTS
http://money.cnn.com/data/world_markets/

HALF HOUR DOW RESULTS THU APR 23,2009

09:30 AM +11.63
10:00 AM -25.89
10:30 AM -3.82
11:00 AM -36.40
11:30 AM -56.23
12:00 PM -69.38
12:30 PM -41.32
01:00 PM -14.50
01:30 PM +13.22
02:00 PM +42.73
02:30 PM +6.61
03:00 PM +21.10
03:30 PM +2.31
04:00 PM +70.49 7957.06

S&P 500 851.92 +8.37

NASDAQ 1652.21 +6.09

GOLD 907.40 +14.90

OIL 49.41 +0.56

TSE 300 9409.50 +130.35

CDNX 987.94 +8.82

S&P/TSX/60 571.00 +8.23

MORNING,NEWS,STATS

YEAR TO DATE PERFORMANCE
Dow -10.14%
S&P -6.61%
Nasdaq +4.38%
TSX Advances 916,declines 586,unchanged 269,Volume 2,158,268,750.
TSX Venture Exchange Advances 360,Declines 352,Unchanged 348,Volume 220,323,480.

Dow +20 points at 4 minutes of trading today.
Dow -27 points at low today.
Dow +23 points at high today so far.
GOLD opens at $894.10.OIL opens at $49.45 today.

AFTERNOON,NEWS,STATS
Dow -82 points at low today so far.
Dow +60 points at high today so far.

DAY TODAY PERFORMANCE - 12:30PM STATS
NYSE Advances 1,447,declines 1,969,unchanged 99,New Highs 2,New Lows 36.
Volume 2,675,289,157.
NASDAQ Advances 787,declines 1,685,unchanged 117,New highs 9,New Lows 8.
Volume 878,749,126.
TSX Advances 691,declines 507,unchanged 246,Volume 993,408,814.
TSX Venture Exchange Advances 278,Declines 191,Unchanged 258,Volume 105,351,123.

WRAPUP,NEWS,STATS
Dow -82 points at low today.
Dow +93 points at high today.
Dow +0.89% today Volume 327,239,969.
Nasdaq +0.37% today Volume 2,147,483,648.
S&P 500 +0.99% today Volume N/A

RECORD LOWS DOW
-Sept 30,1996 5,882.17
-Oct 30,1996 5,993.23
-Nov 6,1996 6,177.71
-Dec 16,1996 6,268.35
-Apr 15,1997 6,587.16
-Apr 21,1997 6,660.21
-Apr 28,1997 6,783.02
-May 1,1997 6,976.48
-May 7,1997 7,085.65

RECORD LOWS S&P 500
-Sept 5,1996 649.44
-Sept 6,1996 655.68
-Sept 11,1996 667.28
-Sept 12,1996 671.13
-Oct 1,1996 689.08
-Oct 28,1996 697.26
-Nov 4,1996 706.73
-Nov 5,1996 714.14
-Dec 17,1996 726.04

LIKE LINDSEY WILLIAMS SAID THIS IS THE NEW WORLD ORDER NUTCASES BREAKING THE ARAB NATIONS SO THE NUTCASE NEW WORLD ORDER CAN ROB AND PILAGE THE WORLD THROUGH THE BANKS OF THE WORLD.

IMF: Mideast under strain despite oil wealth By TAREK EL-TABLAWY, AP Business Writer – Wed Apr 22, 9:06 am ET

CAIRO – The world's worst economic recession in about six decades is hammering the nations of the Middle East, with falling commodity prices severely straining economies and wealthy oil producers digging deep into savings to sustain spending.

The IMF's latest World Economic Outlook, released Wednesday, offers another unwelcome reality check for the volatile region, where officials from the United Arab Emirates to Egypt, Iran to Lebanon have tried to cast a rosy glow on growth prospects.Mideast officials have pointed to prudent fiscal policies and stringent bank lending practices as key safeguards leaving them less exposed than other nations to the U.S. meltdown that sparked the current recession.To a degree, the assurances were sound. Several regional central banks have been proactive, cutting interest rates and injecting liquidity into the financial sector as governments drafted stimulus packages or offered bailouts.Overall, Mideast nations are poised to see growth rates of about 2.5 percent this year, down from 6 percent in 2008, the IMF said. That level is still higher than overall global estimates, with the IMF projecting that world output would decline by 1.3 percent this year.But the Middle East faces other challenges, including slumping oil prices, plus declining tourism revenues, exports and tightening liquidity and access to credit.An over 60 percent fall in world oil prices since mid-July has siphoned off a key revenue source. That is despite the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries' efforts to engineer a price rebound.The best the group has achieved is a tentative price floor of between $45 to $50 per barrel as demand continues to decline.Saudi Arabia and most other Gulf Arab nations have been able to stave off the worst of the collapse by tapping into cash surpluses from years past to sustain government spending. Even so, the IMF says the kingdom's real gross domestic product growth is expected to drop from 4.6 percent in 2008 to -0.9 percent this year before rebounding to 2.9 percent.

For Iran, the decline in oil prices has presented a serious challenge.

Analysts say Iran has spent heavily from the revenues accrued during crude's surge, mostly on populist projects aimed at bolstering support for President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. But with oil accounting for 80 percent of its foreign income, the economic strain could present a major challenge for the hardline president who faces re-election in June.

Iraq faces a similar challenge from slumping oil prices.

It needs the money to rebuild after the U.S.-led war to topple Saddam Hussein's regime. But security concerns have largely kept foreign firms out of the country, undercutting a push to boost production.The IMF said that among the oil producers, the UAE is expected to see the sharpest slowdown.Dubai, one of the seven semiautonomous sheikdoms of the UAE, has turned from Arab boomtown to debt-saddled city-state during the crisis.It now faces delays or cancellations of glitzy projects like skyscrapers, plus layoffs in its overwhelmingly expatriate work force. Investors have fled and property prices slumped amid strains on its financial sector. The federal government has stepped in with a bailout.The IMF projects that the UAE's overall growth is expected to drop from 7.4 percent in 2008 to -0.6 in 2009 before rebounding slightly to 1.6 percent next year.Among other Mideast nations, Qatar stood out boasting the strongest growth — 18 percent — because of expanding natural gas production. Lebanon, however, is expected to experience the steepest slowdown because of the cost of servicing debt and a fall in remittances from workers in the Gulf, the report said. Egypt, which lacks significant oil wealth, faces a triple challenge of slumping revenues from tourism, the Suez Canal and worker remittances. The IMF projects the key U.S ally will see growth halved from 2008 levels of 7.2 percent.

Even if Mideast countries weather the crisis this year, significant risks remain, the IMF cautions.A prolonged period of global economic turmoil could prompt oil exporters to reassess their long-term oil price expectations and, consequently, curtail their infrastructure spending plans and oil production field investment, which would cloud growth prospects for the entire region,the report said.

Europe facing €900bn in writedowns, warns IMF
ANDREW WILLIS 22.04.2009 @ 09:27 CET

The International Monetary Fund has warned that governments must take decisive action to deal with deteriorating banking assets and that global writedowns for the financial crisis could total €3,170 billion ($4,100bn) by the end of 2010.In its Global Financial Stability Report published on Tuesday (21 April), the multilateral lender predicts European writedowns will total over €900 billion as deteriorating economic activity leaves individuals and companies increasingly unable to pay back borrowings.Banks are expected to suffer roughly two-thirds of these losses, with other financial institutions such as hedge funds, pension funds and insurances companies also badly effected by the fall in global asset prices. The report says US banks have taken more radical action in tackling the crisis, writing down about half of their anticipated losses compared to eurozone banks that have so far only written down about 17 percent. The current inability to attract private money suggests the crisis has deepened to the point where governments need to take bolder steps, says the report, adding that temporary bank nationalisations should be used where necessary. Once banks have been stabilised the fund suggests: A government should aim to ensure that banks can return to private ownership as expeditiously as possible.

Ireland, UK face expensive clean-up

The bill to help banks rebuild capital as a result of credit losses is likely to be expensive however, especially in the United States, United Kingdom and Ireland, says the IMF.Of the 19 developed countries listed in the report, Ireland will have to pay the highest amount as a proportion of its economic output to stabilise its banks. The western European island economy that has suffered a housing bubble in recent years will need €24 billion or 13.9 percent of its estimated GDP of €171 billion to deal with its banks, says the fund. As a proportion of GDP, the UK bill will reach a slightly lower 13.4 percent, with the US coming third on 12.1 percent. The United States, United Kingdom and Ireland face some of the largest potential costs of financial stabilisation (12 to 13 percent of GDP) given the scale of mortgage defaults, said the biannual report.Both the UK and Ireland have large financial sectors relative to the size of their economies. The fund estimated that equity requirements for banks in the United States by the end of 2010 will be about €212 billion, compared to €290 billion for the euro area.Meanwhile, new figures produced by the European statistics office, Eurostat, to be released on Wednesday will show the extent of government budget deficits in the EU.Greece is expected to reach 4.8 percent of GDP for 2008, compared to previous figures released by Athens of 3.7 percent.Numerous eurozone member states are set to breach rules underpinning the common currency area this year that allows a maximum budget deficit of 3 percent, highlighting the strain being placed on government coffers by the crisis.

Latvia's government said on Tuesday it will run a 7 percent budget deficit in 2009, even after large spending cuts are made. The IMF, which agreed a €7.5 billion lending package for the east European state last year, is pushing for a maximum 5 percent deficit. Last week Spain's central bank governor Miguel Angel Fernandez Ordonez warned that the country's social security system could run into deficit within a year and urged the government to control public spending.

G7 may say global economy not out of trouble: Canada Wed Apr 22, 2:01 pm ET

OTTAWA (Reuters) – The Group of Seven leading industrialized nations will signal at a meeting in Washington this weekend that there are glimmers of economic hope but that the global economy is not out of the woods yet, a senior Canadian finance official said on Wednesday.The official, briefing reporters on condition of anonymity, said people have been frustrated at how long it has taken to isolate toxic assets held by banks around the world -- seen as a precondition for economic recovery.However, the United States is making some progress in this area and U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner will likely update his G7 colleagues on bank stress-testing, the official said.Canada also expects to hear more from European countries on their efforts to stabilize banks.The Bank of Canada sounded frustrated on Tuesday when it said measures to stabilize the global financial system have taken longer than expected to enact,prompting it to mark down its forecasts Canadian economic growth.

But Finance Minister Jim Flaherty issued a hopeful message on Wednesday, saying he detected numerous small signs of encouragement in the global economy.The Americans are proceeding with their stress testing of their banking system. That's going to be a major step forward during the month of May. So these are encouraging signs.He noted expected economic growth in India of 6 percent and resilience in the Chinese economy as other positive signs.The G7 and G20 finance ministers and central bank chiefs will gather in Washington this week for the spring meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank.Finance ministers and central bankers from the G7 rich nations will meet on Friday, followed by a meeting of the Group of 20, which includes major emerging powerhouses such as China and India.Debate has emerged over the usefulness of having separate meetings for the G7 and G20. Flaherty said policies to fix the cracks in the financial system were better handled by policymakers in the core G7 countries responsible for the crisis - the United States, Canada, Britain, Germany, France, Italy and Japan.There are some discussions, particularly about banking systems and the integrity of financial systems, that directly involve G7 countries in particular, so there's an advantage to a smaller discussion group on those issues, he said.There will certainly be a G7 communique. There may not be a G20 communique, since we just met in London with the leaders.The meetings will give countries a chance to follow up on their commitments at the G20 summit in early April to reform financial regulations, inject stimulus into the economy and bolster funding for poor countries through the IMF and other institutions.(Reporting by Louise Egan and Randall Palmer; editing by Peter Galloway)

World economy in severe recession, IMF says By Lesley Wroughton – Wed Apr 22, 5:31 pm ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The International Monetary Fund on Wednesday slashed growth forecasts for every major country and urged governments to take forceful action to ensure the world economy's recovery from a severe recession.In its latest World Economic Outlook, the IMF said the global economy would likely contract 1.3 percent this year in the deepest post-World War Two recession by far.Growth is set to re-emerge at a sluggish 1.9 percent next year but the pick-up depends on aggressive measures to repair a poorly functioning financial system.The longer this goes on, the longer and the deeper will be the recession,IMF chief economist Olivier Blanchard told a news conference.Just three months ago, the IMF had projected global growth of 0.5 percent, although last month it warned of a deep recession.The Washington-based institution said it revised its forecasts downward because financial markets appear likely to take longer to stabilize than it had thought earlier.A key concern is that policies may be insufficient to arrest the negative feedback between deteriorating financial conditions and weakening economies in the face of limited public support for policy actions,the IMF said.The IMF said on Tuesday that banks and other financial institutions around the world faced losses which could amount to $4.1 trillion. It said banks would likely need to raise $875 billion in fresh capital.

In offering new economic projections, the IMF said government measures to battle recession should be sustained, if not increased, in 2010, warning that premature withdrawal of stimulus could set back a recovery.It said interest rates in major advanced economies are likely to be lowered to or remain near zero, and said authorities should move quickly to cut interest rates where there was room for further easing.Blanchard said emerging markets were dealing with a sharp drop in capital flows and a collapse in global trade. While, growth is expected to pick up in emerging nations, including China and India, a recovery to previous healthy levels will depend on a pick-up in advanced economies.

EPICENTER OF CRISIS

The IMF said the United States remains at the epicenter of the crisis, and it said it now expected the U.S. economy to contract 2.8 percent this year.It said while there were signs the U.S. recession might be easing, a recovery was unlikely to take hold until next year, which would leave 2010 gross domestic product flat.There has been some improvement in business confidence, some signs of bottoming out in the housing market, but these are early days and we should not expect a return to growth any time soon, IMF economist Charles Collyns said.IMF economist Jorg Decressin said, however, a recovery in the United States was likely to occur before a pick-up in the euro area, where fiscal and monetary stimulus kicked in later.The IMF forecast the euro zone economy will shrink by 4.2 percent this year and fall a further 0.4 percent in 2010 and it criticized the currency bloc for a weak policy response.Among euro area countries, Ireland will suffer the sharpest contraction. Its economy is likely to shrink by 8 percent this year and by 3 percent next year, the IMF said. The IMF said it was especially important for European Union countries to coordinate financial policy as bank loan books deteriorate due to a heavy exposure to a slumping emerging Europe.In Asia, where countries are being harder hit by a drop in global trade than by troubles in the financial sector, the IMF said Japan's recession would be far deeper than previously thought, while China's economy will grow at a much slower pace.

Bank Lending Keeps Dropping Oxdown Gazette April 22, 2009
http://www.infowars.com/bank-lending-keeps-dropping/

This Wall Street Journal article confirms a milestone of what Krugman, Galbraith, Stiglitz, Prins and many others have been predicting. The TWELVE TRILLION that is being floated to insolvent US banks is essentially being looted in the paper economy. As Hugh has pointed out so often, it is not getting into the real economy and it will not be there when the paltry $787 billion in stimulus runs out in 2010.For Wall Street Journal subscribers, the article contains a very helpful spread sheet sortable by TARP recipient. Bank Lending Keeps Dropping: Analysis of Treasury Data Paints Starker Picture Than Official Government Snapshots.Lending at the biggest U.S. banks has fallen more sharply than realized, despite government efforts to pump billions of dollars into the financial sector.According to a Wall Street Journal analysis of Treasury Department data, the biggest recipients of taxpayer aid made or refinanced 23% less in new loans in February, the latest available data, than in October, the month the Treasury kicked off the Troubled Asset Relief Program.The total dollar amount of new loans declined in three of the four months the government has reported this data. All but three of the 19 largest TARP recipients with comparable data originated fewer loans in February than they did at the time they received federal infusions.On a related matter, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has done a nice piece on Elizabeth Warren’s visit to Milwaukee on April 29. Is rescue of banks stabilizing economy? Panel seeks local input on U.S. fiscal efforts.[...]The panel often criticizes TARP’s lack of transparency. Its chair, Harvard University law professor Elizabeth Warren, complains that the Treasury often blocks requests for information. It is difficult for Congress and the American public to have confidence in an initiative for which so much money is at stake and so little key information is available,Warren told a congressional committee this month.The stop in Milwaukee, scheduled at the UWM Student Union and open to the public, will be the panel’s third hearing outside the capital. It previously held public hearings near Las Vegas and Baltimore. Both of those, however, focused on home foreclosure issues.[...] In my opinion it is critical that Ms. Warren receive a very strong showing of support. Lacking subpoena power, public support is the only leverage she and her panel have.

Dow and S&P drop on bank worries, Apple jumps late By Chuck Mikolajczak – Wed Apr 22, 5:32 pm ET

NEW YORK (Reuters) – The Dow and S&P fell on Wednesday after Morgan Stanley revived concerns about the banking sector and the wider economy after it posted its second straight quarterly loss and slashed its dividend.The Nasdaq, however, eked out a gain after AT&T (T.N) reported a profit that fell less than expected, and an analyst said its iPhone partnership with Apple Inc (AAPL.O) is starting to help rather than hurt profits, lifting tech shares.The market, which had been up much of the day as investors initially seized on company comments suggesting that corporate profits were stabilizing, has been sensitive to the outlook for banks ahead of the government's stress test results expected in the days ahead.Morgan Stanley (MS.N) slid 9 percent to $22.44 after it posted its third loss in six quarters on real estate losses and a charge wiped out fees and trading profits. The KBW Bank Index (.BKX) fell 4.9 percent.

Banks have been a key component in leading the six-week rally that drove the broad S&P 500 up nearly 25 percent from March's bear market lows.The financial sector is still heavily influencing the tone and direction of this market, said Keith Wirtz, president and chief investment officer of Fifth Third Asset Management in Cincinnati.

Equities are just captive to anything that is coming out of financials and today, it was about Morgan Stanley.The Dow Jones industrial average (.DJI) dropped 82.99 points, or 1.04 percent, to 7,886.57. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index (.SPX) slid 6.53points, or 0.77 percent, to 843.55. The Nasdaq Composite Index (.IXIC) gained 2.27 points, or 0.14 percent, to 1,646.12.Before the sell-off in the last hour, the stock indexes had been driven higher by brighter outlooks from companies reporting quarterly results.JPMorgan recommended that Caterpillar should make up a larger part of investors' portfolios, and Caterpillar's stock rose 3.4 percent to $32.45, making it the Dow's biggest advancer.AT&T (T.N) was up 1.8 percent at $25.74 after profit fell less than expected, and an analyst said its iPhone partnership with Apple Inc (AAPL.O) is starting to help rather than hurt profits.

APPLE AND eBAY CLIMB AFTER THE BELL

After the closing bell, iPhone and iPod maker Apple (AAPL.O) posted stronger-than-expected quarterly results and gave a typically conservative outlook for the current quarter, sending shares up 2.4 percent to $124.40.Shares of EBay Inc (EBAY.O) rose 6.2 percent to $15.70 in extended trade after the online auctioneer reported lower quarterly net profit, sales and profit margins, but results beat Wall Street expectations.Wireless chip maker Qualcomm (QCOM.O) said that it was rescheduling its quarterly results due to advanced settlement discussions with Broadcom (BRCM.O) over legal disputes, but it also said second-quarter revenue and operating income met or exceeded prior guidance.Qualcomm's stock rose 7.4 percent to $24.28 in extended-hours trading.

FOR NASDAQ, IT'S THE BALM OF GILEAD

During the regular session, Gilead Sciences Inc (GILD.O) jumped 5.7 percent to $46.22 and contributed the most to the Nasdaq's gain after its quarterly profit beat estimates on increased sales of its drugs to treat the virus that causes

AIDS.

Semiconductor stocks were a bright spot following strong quarterly results from SanDisk Corp (SNDK.O). The PHLX Semiconductor index (.SOXX) advanced 4.3 percent.
Boeing Co (BA.N) rose 1.8 percent to $37.30 after the big U.S. aircraft maker and defense contractor lowered its full-year outlook, but the range was still above Wall Street's expectations, according to Reuters Estimates. Trading was active on the New York Stock Exchange, with about 1.77 billion shares changing hands, above last year's estimated daily average of 1.49 billion, while on Nasdaq, about 2.69 billion shares traded, above last year's daily average of 2.28 billion. Advancing stocks outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by a ratio of about 8 to 7, while on the Nasdaq, 14 stocks rose for every 13 that fell.(Additional reporting by Jennifer Ablan; Editing by Jan Paschal)

MEPs approve softer version of energy law
VALENTINA POP 22.04.2009 @ 17:45 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS – The European Parliament has approved a watered-down version of an energy package aimed at further liberalising the bloc's electricity and gas markets, while strengthening consumer rights. Initially targeting full separation of transmission and production activities in energy giants like E.ON or GDF - also known as unbundling - the compromise approved on Wednesday (22 April) by the European Parliament gives big energy players the option of keeping the two types of activities, but under stronger supervision. The EU goal is to facilitate network access for smaller energy companies without their own grids, as well as to ease up cross-border investments and trade in EU's €300 billion electricity and gas market, which is still fragmented by national barriers.The package will give the EU a clear regulatory framework needed to ensure a properly functioning internal market and to promote much needed investment, especially by cross-border and regional cooperation, EU energy commissioner Andris Piebalgs told MEPs in a plenary debate ahead of the vote.He admitted however, that the compromise was only a tool to achieve the ambitious goal launched in 2006, to create a truly competitive and single European energy market with greater transparency and lower prices for EU consumers.Under the deal pushed especially by Germany and France, home of Europe's biggest electricity and gas giants, companies will be required to choose one of three options of unbundling – full separation of transmission and production, handing over the management of the grid to an independent operator or keeping the transmission business but under strict supervision by a mixed body which includes third party shareholders. The latter version was promoted by Berlin and Paris.

A compliance programme would set out measures to prevent discriminatory conduct from energy giants on the local markets and a compliance officer would monitor the implementation of this programme. EU countries will have up to 30 months after the rules are published to enact one of the three options. Publication will probably be within the next five or six months.To Luxembourg Green MEP Claude Turmes, the compromise would only bolster oligopolies in tightening their grip on the market and absorbing smaller companies, much to the detriment of EU consumers.Most MEPs, however, defended the package stressing that the compromise was accepted only after having obtained increased scrutiny of energy companies and regulatory authorities and by grating consumers, especially the poorer ones, more rights and options.We are moving toward a separation of the transmission networks one way or the other," Spanish MEP Alejo Vidal-Quadras said.

During the two years that the package was negotiated and watered down, the EU commission also probed several energy giants, including EDF, E.ON, Gaz de France, RWE and Eni for possible EU competition rules breaches.Last year, Germany's E.ON agreed to sell its electricity-transmission grid and fellow German supplier RWE chose to sell its gas-transmission network to settle commission investigations.

New agency born

Among the measures adopted there is also one providing for the creation of a new EU agency – the Agency for Co-operation of Energy Regulators (ACER) aimed at ensuring the independence and joint work of national energy market regulators.Usually a matter of national pride for member states to host an EU agency, ACER is already being courted by one of the bloc's newest members, Romania. But it is likely to be initially located in Brussels and - when several other new agencies are set up - EU heads of state and governments will decide which countries get to host what, an EU source told this website.In 2005, Italy and Finland fought a diplomatic battle over the seat of the European food safety authority which was in the end located in Parma, Italy, with premier Silvio Berlusconi arguing that Parma ham bears no comparison with smoked reindeer.

Time running out for Croatia's EU reforms
ELITSA VUCHEVA 22.04.2009 @ 07:09 CET

EUOBSERVER / ZAGREB – The structural reforms Croatia still needs to carry out are more likely to hold up its EU membership bid than the current border dispute with Slovenia, a senior EU official has warned.I would be more concerned about structural reforms [in Croatia] than about the border dispute, Vincent Degert, head of the European Commission's delegation in Croatia told a group of journalists in Zagreb on Monday (20 April).Mr Degert spoke about justice reform, as well as the need to restructure Croatia's shipyards and the agriculture sector, as some of the key areas where progress is still needed.These are the hardcore reforms, he said, with Croatia hoping to finish membership negotiations within the next eight months and enter the EU by 2011.Croatia's capacity to deal with its past is also a very important element, both concerning its cooperation with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, and the capacity of the judicial system and the authorities in general to deal with the domestically prosecuted war crimes, Mr Degert pointed out.

There are around 30 cases a year in front of the Croatian courts on crimes committed during the 1991 – 1995 war in Croatia. But the prosecutor has a database of some 730 crimes that have still not been investigated, while some old cases also need to be reviewed in order to check whether the verdicts pronounced in abstentia in 1995 are sustainable, the commission official explained.Additionally, ICTY prosecutor Serge Brammertz at the end of last year signalled that potentially incriminating documents for the case of Croat General Ante Gotovina – who is accused of driving out ethnic Serbs at the end of the war in Croatia – were missing and called on Zagreb to deliver them.

Croatian reassurance

Several EU states have also expressed concerns about Croatia's cooperation with the UN tribunal.We are in a very thorough investigation, Croatia's justice minister Ivan Simonovic said, responding to the concerns.He said that the chain of possession of the documents in question would be restructured by the end of next week and those found to have been having the documents last might be prosecuted.Defending the justice reform in his country, Mr Simonovic referred to the current reform of the penal code, which contains a provision that makes it possible to confiscate all property of people found guilty of organised crime activities and of their relatives, if it has not been obtained legally.It is a very sharp measure, but we believe it will be very efficient,Mr Simonovic said.

New meeting on the border stalemate

Meanwhile, the 18-year-old dispute on the delimitation of the sea border between Slovenia and Croatia has been escalating in the last months, after Ljubljana blocked Zagreb's EU accession talks in December. The blockage is now threatening to delay the EU entry timetable targeted by Croatia.An intergovernmental EU-Croatia conference planned for the end of March was postponed and is now scheduled to take place on Friday.EU enlargement commissioner Olli Rehn is to meet both countries' foreign ministers later on Wednesday (22 April) in Brussels in order to discuss his latest mediation proposal aimed at solving the dispute.No major breakthrough is expected, however. Slovenia favours the commission's idea, while Croatia insists the row should be solved via the International Court of Justice in The Hague.

H.R. 1913 - End of Free Speech?? OpenCongress.org April 22, 2009
H.R. 1913 - End of Free Speech?? Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2009

To provide Federal assistance to States, local jurisdictions, and Indian tribes to prosecute hate crimes, and for other purposes.
http://www.opencongress.org/bill/111-h1913/text

TEXT OF BILL:

111th CONGRESS 1st Session H. R. 1913
To provide Federal assistance to States, local jurisdictions, and Indian tribes to prosecute hate crimes, and for other purposes.IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
April 2, 2009

Mr. CONYERS (for himself, Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts, Mr. ABERCROMBIE, Mr. ACKERMAN, Ms. BALDWIN, Ms. BERKLEY, Mr. BERMAN, Mrs. BIGGERT, Mr. BISHOP of Georgia, Mr. BLUMENAUER, Mrs. BONO MACK, Mr. BRALEY of Iowa, Ms. CORRINE BROWN of Florida, Mr. CAO, Mrs. CAPPS, Mr. CASTLE, Ms. CASTOR of Florida, Mr. CLAY, Mr. CUMMINGS, Mr. DELAHUNT, Mr. DRIEHAUS, Mr. GENE GREEN of Texas, Mr. ISRAEL, Ms. KILROY, Mr. KIRK, Mr. KUCINICH, Mr. LANCE, Mrs. MALONEY, Ms. MCCOLLUM, Mr. MCGOVERN, Mr. MOORE of Kansas, Mr. MORAN of Virginia, Mr. NADLER of New York, Mr. OLVER, Mr. PETERS, Mr. POLIS of Colorado, Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN, Mr. SERRANO, Ms. SLAUGHTER, Ms. VELAZQUEZ, Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ, Ms. WATSON, and Ms. WOOLSEY) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary
A BILL
To provide Federal assistance to States, local jurisdictions, and Indian tribes to prosecute hate crimes, and for other purposes.Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.This Act may be cited as the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2009.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress makes the following findings:
1(1) The incidence of violence motivated by the actual or perceived race, color, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability of the victim poses a serious national problem.
(2) Such violence disrupts the tranquility and safety of communities and is deeply divisive.
(3) State and local authorities are now and will continue to be responsible for prosecuting the overwhelming majority of violent crimes in the United States, including violent crimes motivated by bias. These authorities can carry out their responsibilities more effectively with greater Federal assistance.
(4) Existing Federal law is inadequate to address this problem.
(5) A prominent characteristic of a violent crime motivated by bias is that it devastates not just the actual victim and the family and friends of the victim, but frequently savages the community sharing the traits that caused the victim to be selected.
(6) Such violence substantially affects interstate commerce in many ways, including the following:
(A) The movement of members of targeted groups is impeded, and members of such groups are forced to move across State lines to escape the incidence or risk of such violence.
(B) Members of targeted groups are prevented from purchasing goods and services, obtaining or sustaining employment, or participating in other commercial activity.
(C) Perpetrators cross State lines to commit such violence.
(D) Channels, facilities, and instrumentalities of interstate commerce are used to facilitate the commission of such violence.
(E) Such violence is committed using articles that have traveled in interstate commerce.
(7) For generations, the institutions of slavery and involuntary servitude were defined by the race, color, and ancestry of those held in bondage. Slavery and involuntary servitude were enforced, both prior to and after the adoption of the 13th amendment to the Constitution of the United States, through widespread public and private violence directed at persons because of their race, color, or ancestry, or perceived race, color, or ancestry. Accordingly, eliminating racially motivated violence is an important means of eliminating, to the extent possible, the badges, incidents, and relics of slavery and involuntary servitude.
(8) Both at the time when the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments to the Constitution of the United States were adopted, and continuing to date, members of certain religious and national origin groups were and are perceived to be distinct ‘races’. Thus, in order to eliminate, to the extent possible, the badges, incidents, and relics of slavery, it is necessary to prohibit assaults on the basis of real or perceived religions or national origins, at least to the extent such religions or national origins were regarded as races at the time of the adoption of the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments to the Constitution of the United States.
(9) Federal jurisdiction over certain violent crimes motivated by bias enables Federal, State, and local authorities to work together as partners in the investigation and prosecution of such crimes.
(10) The problem of crimes motivated by bias is sufficiently serious, widespread, and interstate in nature as to warrant Federal assistance to States, local jurisdictions, and Indian tribes.

SEC. 3. DEFINITION OF HATE CRIME.

In this Act–
(1) the term crime of violence has the meaning given that term in section 16, title 18, United States Code;
(2) the term hate crime has the meaning given such term in section 280003(a) of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 (28 U.S.C. 994 note); and
(3) the term local means a county, city, town, township, parish, village, or other general purpose political subdivision of a State.
SEC. 4. SUPPORT FOR CRIMINAL INVESTIGATIONS AND PROSECUTIONS BY STATE, LOCAL, AND TRIBAL LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICIALS.

(a) Assistance Other Than Financial Assistance-
(1) IN GENERAL- At the request of a State, local, or Tribal law enforcement agency, the Attorney General may provide technical, forensic, prosecutorial, or any other form of assistance in the criminal investigation or prosecution of any crime that–
(A) constitutes a crime of violence;
(B) constitutes a felony under the State, local, or Tribal laws; and
(C) is motivated by prejudice based on the actual or perceived race, color, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability of the victim, or is a violation of the State, local, or Tribal hate crime laws.
(2) PRIORITY- In providing assistance under paragraph (1), the Attorney General shall give priority to crimes committed by offenders who have committed crimes in more than one State and to rural jurisdictions that have difficulty covering the extraordinary expenses relating to the investigation or prosecution of the crime.
(b) Grants-
(1) IN GENERAL- The Attorney General may award grants to State, local, and Indian law enforcement agencies for extraordinary expenses associated with the investigation and prosecution of hate crimes.
(2) OFFICE OF JUSTICE PROGRAMS- In implementing the grant program under this subsection, the Office of Justice Programs shall work closely with grantees to ensure that the concerns and needs of all affected parties, including community groups and schools, colleges, and universities, are addressed through the local infrastructure developed under the grants.
(3) APPLICATION-
(A) IN GENERAL- Each State, local, and Indian law enforcement agency that desires a grant under this subsection shall submit an application to the Attorney General at such time, in such manner, and accompanied by or containing such information as the Attorney General shall reasonably require.
(B) DATE FOR SUBMISSION- Applications submitted pursuant to subparagraph (A) shall be submitted during the 60-day period beginning on a date that the Attorney General shall prescribe.
(C) REQUIREMENTS- A State, local, and Indian law enforcement agency applying for a grant under this subsection shall–
(i) describe the extraordinary purposes for which the grant is needed;
(ii) certify that the State, local government, or Indian tribe lacks the resources necessary to investigate or prosecute the hate crime;
(iii) demonstrate that, in developing a plan to implement the grant, the State, local, and Indian law enforcement agency has consulted and coordinated with nonprofit, nongovernmental violence recovery service programs that have experience in providing services to victims of hate crimes; and
(iv) certify that any Federal funds received under this subsection will be used to supplement, not supplant, non-Federal funds that would otherwise be available for activities funded under this subsection.
(4) DEADLINE- An application for a grant under this subsection shall be approved or denied by the Attorney General not later than 30 business days after the date on which the Attorney General receives the application.
(5) GRANT AMOUNT- A grant under this subsection shall not exceed $100,000 for any single jurisdiction in any 1-year period.
(6) REPORT- Not later than December 31, 2011, the Attorney General shall submit to Congress a report describing the applications submitted for grants under this subsection, the award of such grants, and the purposes for which the grant amounts were expended.
(7) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS- There is authorized to be appropriated to carry out this subsection $5,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2010 and 2011.
SEC. 5. GRANT PROGRAM.

(a) Authority To Award Grants- The Office of Justice Programs of the Department of Justice may award grants, in accordance with such regulations as the Attorney General may prescribe, to State, local, or Tribal programs designed to combat hate crimes committed by juveniles, including programs to train local law enforcement officers in identifying, investigating, prosecuting, and preventing hate crimes.
(b) Authorization of Appropriations- There are authorized to be appropriated such sums as may be necessary to carry out this section.

SEC. 6. AUTHORIZATION FOR ADDITIONAL PERSONNEL TO ASSIST STATE, LOCAL, AND TRIBAL LAW ENFORCEMENT.

There are authorized to be appropriated to the Department of Justice, including the Community Relations Service, for fiscal years 2010, 2011, and 2012, such sums as are necessary to increase the number of personnel to prevent and respond to alleged violations of section 249 of title 18, United States Code, as added by section 7 of this Act.

SEC. 7. PROHIBITION OF CERTAIN HATE CRIME ACTS.

(a) In General- Chapter 13 of title 18, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following:
Sec. 249. Hate crime acts
(a) In General-
(1) OFFENSES INVOLVING ACTUAL OR PERCEIVED RACE, COLOR, RELIGION, OR NATIONAL ORIGIN- Whoever, whether or not acting under color of law, willfully causes bodily injury to any person or, through the use of fire, a firearm, or an explosive or incendiary device, attempts to cause bodily injury to any person, because of the actual or perceived race, color, religion, or national origin of any person–
(A) shall be imprisoned not more than 10 years, fined in accordance with this title, or both; and
(B) shall be imprisoned for any term of years or for life, fined in accordance with this title, or both, if–
(i) death results from the offense; or
(ii) the offense includes kidnaping or an attempt to kidnap, aggravated sexual abuse or an attempt to commit aggravated sexual abuse, or an attempt to kill.
(2) OFFENSES INVOLVING ACTUAL OR PERCEIVED RELIGION, NATIONAL ORIGIN, GENDER, SEXUAL ORIENTATION, GENDER IDENTITY, OR DISABILITY-
(A) IN GENERAL- Whoever, whether or not acting under color of law, in any circumstance described in subparagraph (B), willfully causes bodily injury to any person or, through the use of fire, a firearm, or an explosive or incendiary device, attempts to cause bodily injury to any person, because of the actual or perceived religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability of any person–
(i) shall be imprisoned not more than 10 years, fined in accordance with this title, or both; and
(ii) shall be imprisoned for any term of years or for life, fined in accordance with this title, or both, if–
(I) death results from the offense; or
(II) the offense includes kidnaping or an attempt to kidnap, aggravated sexual abuse or an attempt to commit aggravated sexual abuse, or an attempt to kill.
(B) CIRCUMSTANCES DESCRIBED- For purposes of subparagraph (A), the circumstances described in this subparagraph are that–
(i) the conduct described in subparagraph (A) occurs during the course of, or as the result of, the travel of the defendant or the victim–
(I) across a State line or national border; or
(II) using a channel, facility, or instrumentality of interstate or foreign commerce;
(ii) the defendant uses a channel, facility, or instrumentality of interstate or foreign commerce in connection with the conduct described in subparagraph (A);
(iii) in connection with the conduct described in subparagraph (A), the defendant employs a firearm, explosive or incendiary device, or other weapon that has traveled in interstate or foreign commerce; or
(iv) the conduct described in subparagraph (A)–
(I) interferes with commercial or other economic activity in which the victim is engaged at the time of the conduct; or
(II) otherwise affects interstate or foreign commerce.
(b) Certification Requirement- No prosecution of any offense described in this subsection may be undertaken by the United States, except under the certification in writing of the Attorney General, the Deputy Attorney General, the Associate Attorney General, or any Assistant Attorney General specially designated by the Attorney General that–
(1) such certifying individual has reasonable cause to believe that the actual or perceived race, color, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability of any person was a motivating factor underlying the alleged conduct of the defendant; and
(2) such certifying individual has consulted with State or local law enforcement officials regarding the prosecution and determined that–
(A) the State does not have jurisdiction or does not intend to exercise jurisdiction;
(B) the State has requested that the Federal Government assume jurisdiction;
(C) the State does not object to the Federal Government assuming jurisdiction; or
(D) the verdict or sentence obtained pursuant to State charges left demonstratively unvindicated the Federal interest in eradicating bias-motivated violence.
(c) Definitions-
(1) In this section–
(A) the term explosive or incendiary device has the meaning given such term in section 232 of this title; and
(B) the term firearm has the meaning given such term in section 921(a) of this title.
(2) For the purposes of this chapter, the term gender identity means actual or perceived gender-related characteristics.
(d) Rule of Evidence- In a prosecution for an offense under this section, evidence of expression or associations of the defendant may not be introduced as substantive evidence at trial, unless the evidence specifically relates to that offense. However, nothing in this section affects the rules of evidence governing impeachment of a witness.
(b) Technical and Conforming Amendment- The table of sections at the beginning of chapter 13 of title 18, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following new item:
249. Hate crime acts.
SEC. 8. STATISTICS.

(a) In General- Subsection (b)(1) of the first section of the Hate Crimes Statistics Act (28 U.S.C. 534 note) is amended by inserting gender and gender identity, after race,
(b) Data- Subsection (b)(5) of the first section of the Hate Crimes Statistics Act (28 U.S.C. 534 note) is amended by inserting , including data about crimes committed by, and crimes directed against, juveniles’ after data acquired under this section.
SEC. 9. SEVERABILITY.

If any provision of this Act, an amendment made by this Act, or the application of such provision or amendment to any person or circumstance is held to be unconstitutional, the remainder of this Act, the amendments made by this Act, and the application of the provisions of such to any person or circumstance shall not be affected thereby.
SEC. 10. RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.

Nothing in this Act, or the amendments made by this Act, shall be construed to prohibit any expressive conduct protected from legal prohibition by, or any activities protected by the free speech or free exercise clauses of, the First Amendment to the Constitution.