CATHOLIC DIVIDE OVER OBAMA AT NOTREDAME

I LOVE THIS BY A PASTOR,THE LAST CALLER ON ALEX JONES TODAY SAID WARN THE PEOPLE.GIVE THEM A W.A.R.N.I.N.G

W-WE
A-ARE
R-RIGHT
N-NOW
I-IN
N-NAZI
G-GERMANY

EU DICTATOR (WORLD LEADER)

REVELATION 17:12-13
12 And the ten horns (NATIONS) which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast.
13 These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast.

REVELATION 6:1-2
1 And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals, and I heard, as it were the noise of thunder, one of the four beasts saying, Come and see.
2 And I saw, and behold a white horse:(PEACE) and he that sat on him had a bow;(EU DICTATOR) and a crown was given unto him:(PRESIDENT OF THE EU) and he went forth conquering, and to conquer.(MILITARY GENIUS)

REVELATION 13:1-10
1 And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.(THE EU AND ITS DICTATOR IS GODLESS)
2 And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.(DICTATOR COMES FROM NEW AGE OR OCCULT)
3 And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death;(MURDERERD) and his deadly wound was healed:(COMES BACK TO LIFE) and all the world wondered after the beast.(THE WORLD THINKS ITS GOD IN THE FLESH, MESSIAH TO ISRAEL)
4 And they worshipped the dragon (SATAN) which gave power unto the beast:(JEWISH EU DICTATOR) and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him?(FALSE RESURRECTION,SATAN BRINGS HIM TO LIFE)
5 And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months.(GIVEN WORLD CONTROL FOR 3 1/2YRS)
6 And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God,(HES A GOD HATER) to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven.(HES A LIBERAL OR DEMOCRAT,WILL PUT ANYTHING ABOUT GOD DOWN)
7 And it was given unto him to make war with the saints,(BEHEAD THEM) and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations.(WORLD DOMINATION)
8 And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.(WORLD DICTATOR)
9 If any man have an ear, let him hear.
10 He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity: he that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints.(SAVED CHRISTIANS AND JEWS DIE FOR THEIR FAITH AT THIS TIME,NOW WE ARE SAVED BY GRACE BUT DURING THE 7 YEARS OF HELL ON EARTH, PEOPLE WILL BE PUT TO DEATH (BEHEADINGS) FOR THEIR BELIEF IN GOD (JESUS) OR THE BIBLE.

DANIEL 9:26-27
26 And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come (ROMANS IN AD 70) shall destroy the city and the sanctuary;(ROMANS DESTROYED THE 2ND TEMPLE) and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.
27 And he( EU ROMAN, JEWISH DICTATOR) shall confirm the covenant with many for one week:( 7 YEARS) and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease,( 3 1/2 YRS) and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.

We shall have World Government, whether or not we like it. The only question is whether World Government will be achieved by conquest or consent.James Paul Warburg appearing before the Senate on 7th February 1950

Like a famous WWII Belgian General,Paul Henry Spock said in 1957:We need no commission, we have already too many. What we need is a man who is great enough to be able to keep all the people in subjection to himself and to lift us out of the economic bog into which we threaten to sink. Send us such a man. Be he a god or a devil, we will accept him.And today, sadly, the world is indeed ready for such a man.

DANIEL 7:23-24
23 Thus he said, The fourth beast(THE EU,REVIVED ROME) shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth,(7TH WORLD EMPIRE) which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces.(TRADE BLOCKS)
24 And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise:(10 NATIONS) and another shall rise after them;(#11 SPAIN) and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings.(BE HEAD OF 3 KINGS OR NATIONS).

Top Nazis Planned EU-Style Fourth Reich
Paul Joseph Watson Prison Planet.com Monday, May 11, 2009

A writer who was collecting material for a fictional book based around the premise that top Nazis, seeking to preserve their power at the end of the second world war, conspired to create a Fourth Reich under the auspices of the European Union, actually discovered documents proving the plot to be true.In a Daily Mail piece, Adam Lebor reveals how he uncovered US Military Intelligence report EW-Pa 128, also known as The Red House Report, which details how top Nazis secretly met at the Maison Rouge Hotel in Strasbourg on August 10, 1944 and, knowing Germany was on the brink of military defeat, conspired to create a Fourth Reich - a pan-European economic empire based around a European common market.Top Nazi industrialists were ordered by SS Obergruppenfuhrer Dr Scheid to set up front companies abroad and pose as democrats in order to achieve economic penetration and lay the foundations for the re-emergence of the Nazi party.The Third Reich was defeated militarily, but powerful Nazi-era bankers, industrialists and civil servants, reborn as democrats, soon prospered in the new West Germany. There they worked for a new cause: European economic and political integration,writes Lebor.Wealthy Nazi industrialists like Alfried Krupp of Krupp Industries and Friedrich Flick, as well as front companies like BMW, Siemens and Volkswagen, set about the task of building a new pan-European business empire. According to historian Dr Michael Pinto-Duschinsky, an adviser to Jewish former slave labourers, For many leading industrial figures close to the Nazi regime, Europe became a cover for pursuing German national interests after the defeat of Hitler….The continuity of the economy of Germany and the economies of post-war Europe is striking. Some of the leading figures in the Nazi economy became leading builders of the European Union.Banking titan Hermann Abs, who joined board of Deutsche Bank during the rise of Nazis, also sat on the supervisory board of I.G. Farben, the company that made the Zyklon B gas used to kill concentration camp victims. Abs was put in charge of allocating Marshall Aid - reconstruction funds - to German industry. By 1948 he was effectively managing Germany’s economic recovery,writes Lebor.

Crucially, Abs was also a member of the European League for Economic Co-operation, an elite intellectual pressure group set up in 1946. The league was dedicated to the establishment of a common market, the precursor of the European Union.The European League for Economic Co-operation developed policies for European integration that almost mirrored those proposed by Nazis just years previously.In his book Europe’s Full Circle,Rodney Atkinson provides a list of policies proposed by Nazis and their similarity to today’s European Union.

• Europaische Wirtshaftsgemeinschaft
• European Economic Community
• European Currency System
• European Exchange Rate Mechanism
• Europabank (Berlin)
• European Central Bank (Frankfurt)
• European Regional Principle
• Committee of the Regions
• Common Labour Policy
• Social Chapter
• Economic and Trading Agreements
• Single Market

Is it possible that the Fourth Reich those Nazi industrialists foresaw has, in some part at least, come to pass? asks Lebor.These three typewritten pages are a reminder that today’s drive towards a European federal state is inexorably tangled up with the plans of the SS and German industrialists for a Fourth Reich - an economic rather than military imperium.As we have highlighted in the past, Nazism and the EU have some very disturbing parallels. Indeed, the two are fundamentally intertwined and the origins of the EU can be traced directly back to the Nazis.The foundations for the EU and ultimately the Euro single currency were laid by the secretive Bilderberg Group in the mid-1950’s. Bilderberg’s owned leaked documents prove that the agenda to create a European common market and a single currency were formulated by Bilderberg in 1955. One of the group’s principle founders was H. Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands, a former Nazi SS officer.But the ideological framework for the European Union goes back even further, to the 1940’s when top Nazi economists and academics outlined the plan for a single European economic community, an agenda that was duly followed after the end of the second world war.In his 1940 book The European Community, Nazi Economics Minister and war criminal Walther Funk wrote about the need to create a Central European Union and European Economic Area and for fixed exchange rates, stating No nation in Europe can achieve on its own the highest level of economic freedom which is compatible with all social requirements…The formation of very large economic areas follows a natural law of development….interstate agreements in Europe will control [economic forces generally]…There must be a readiness to subordinate one’s own interests in certain cases to those of [the EC].Funk’s co-authors echoed his sentiments. Nazi academic Heinrich Hunke wrote, Classic national economy..is dead…community of fate which is the European economy…fate and extent of European co-operation depends on a new unity economic plan.

Fellow Nazi Gustav Koenig observed,We have a real European Community task before us…I am convinced that this Community effort will last beyond the end of the war.In 1940, Minister of Propaganda Joseph Goebbels ordered the creation of the large-scale economic unification of Europe,believing that in fifty years’ time [people would] no longer think in terms of countries.Just 53 years later, the European Union in its current form was established.Other top Nazis who called for the creation of a pan-European federal economic superstate include Ribbentrop, Quisling and Seyss-Inquart, who spoke of The new Europe of solidarity and co-operation among all its people… will find…rapidly increasing prosperity once national economic boundaries are removed.Such rhetoric would not look out of place at a present day Bilderberg, Trilateral Commission or CFR confab.The Nazis killed people who spoke out against the Third Reich, whereas the EU has implemented an altogether more efficient solution - simply kill their free speech instead.A Dutch MP was recently refused entry to Britainbecause his political opinions were deemed offensive under EU laws. Euro MP’s have consistently attempted to ban the dangerous and unregulated blogosphere in an attempt to shut down free speech on the Internet. Under the 1999 ruling of the European Court Of Justice (case 274/99), it is illegal to criticize the EU and the EU is on a mission to outlaw any national political parties that do not pander to the European federal superstate agenda.Most of the individuals who hold the reigns of power in the European Union are not Nazis, indeed, they probably believe themselves to be fair-minded liberals working for the greater good. However, the European Union by its very nature is totalitarian, because it seeks to remove power from national governments accountable to their electorate and centralize it into the hands of supra-national entities that are accountable to nobody but themselves. It also seeks to remove the right of free speech for anyone in a position of influence who criticizes this agenda.

The fact that the EU was a brainchild of top Nazi economists and industrialists, formulated as a means of preserving dictatorial power and then implemented by a former Nazi working under the auspices of the Bilderberg Group in 1955, proves that the entire European Union system is poisoned with a legacy and a raison d’être of totalitarianism.This is becoming increasingly obvious in the 21st century as popular social movements across Europe rise up to oppose the blatant power grab being undertaken by the EU via the Lisbon Treaty, which will again be put before Irish voters later this year despite them already rejecting it in a national referendum, which prevented the treaty from being enforced.

EUROPEAN UNION ARMY

DANIEL 7:23-25
23 Thus he said, The fourth beast (EU,REVIVED ROME) shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth,(7TH WORLD EMPIRE) which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces.(TRADING BLOCKS)
24 And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings(10 NATIONS) that shall arise: and another shall rise after them;(#11 SPAIN) and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings.( BE HEAD OF 3 NATIONS)
25 And he (EU PRESIDENT) shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.(3 1/2 YRS)

DANIEL 8:23-25
23 And in the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors are come to the full, a king (EU DICTATOR) of fierce countenance, and understanding dark sentences,(FROM THE OCCULT) shall stand up.
24 And his power shall be mighty, but not by his own power:(SATANS POWER) and he shall destroy wonderfully, and shall prosper, and practise, and shall destroy the mighty and the holy people.
25 And through his policy also he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand; and he shall magnify himself in his heart, and by peace shall destroy many: he shall also stand up against the Prince of princes;(JESUS) but he shall be broken without hand.

DANIEL 11:36-39
36 And the king (EU DICTATOR) shall do according to his will; and he shall exalt himself, and magnify himself above every god, and shall speak marvellous things against the God of gods, and shall prosper till the indignation be accomplished: for that that is determined shall be done.
37 Neither shall he regard the God of his fathers,(THIS EU DICTATOR IS JEWISH) nor the desire of women, nor regard any god: for he shall magnify himself above all.(CLAIM TO BE GOD)
38 But in his estate shall he honour the God of forces:(WAR) and a god whom his fathers knew not shall he honour with gold, and silver, and with precious stones, and pleasant things.
39 Thus shall he do in the most strong holds with a strange god,(DESTROY TERROR GROUPS) whom he shall acknowledge and increase with glory: and he shall cause them to rule over many,(HIS ARMY LEADERS) and shall divide the land for gain.

REVELATION 19:19
19 And I saw the beast,(EU LEADER) and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse,(JESUS) and against his army.(THE RAPTURED CHRISTIANS)

NAU Precursor? EU Police Subdue Sovereignty Protesters
Prison Planet.com Monday, May 11, 2009
http://www.prisonplanet.com/nau-precursor-eu-police-subdue-sovereignty-protesters.html

EU police have been in action subduing Serbians protesting against their loss of national sovereignty to the globalist created client state Kosovo.Yes that’s right - if you didn’t know - the EU now has its own international police force - and they have been busy over the last couple of weeks tear-gassing and stun-grenading Serbian demonstrators upset about the UN-run Kosovo authorities re-building houses for ethnic Albanians in disputed territory.Is this a portend for when North American Union troops are dispatched to deal with angry Americans protesting against the loss of their sovereignty to a forcibly amalgamated U.S.-Canada-Mexico union of the Americas?

Agreements have already been signed between the U.S. and Canada that paves the way for the militaries from either nation to send troops across each other’s borders during an emergency.A European Union police officer watches as Serb protesters approach near the ethnically divided town of Mitrovica May 8, 2009. Around 50 Serbs protested on Friday against the rebuilding of seven destroyed houses belonging to Albanian returnees near the flashpoint town of Mitrovica.The EU police were joined by French KFOR troops in tanks as well as NATO soldiers. How long before these troops are in America wearing NAU badges? Recall that the Kosovo Liberation Army, a terrorist group with direct links to Al-Qaeda, was sponsored by the CIA during the NATO-led Kosovo war in 1999.As the Center For Research on Globalization reported, Despite its links to organized crime and Al Qaeda, the KLA rebel army had been skillfully heralded by the Western media in the months preceding the 1999 NATO bombings as broadly representative of the interests of ethnic Albanians in Kosovo.

STORMS HURRICANES-TORNADOES

LUKE 21:25-26
25 And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity;(MASS CONFUSION) the sea and the waves roaring;(FIERCE WINDS)
26 Men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.

Floods ease in Brazil, but 300,000-plus homeless By MARCO SIBAJA, Associated Press Writer – Sun May 10, 6:37 pm ET

PEDREIRAS, Brazil – Floodwaters receded some in inundated towns across northern Brazil on Sunday, but the number of homeless rose above 300,000 and two people were missing after an overloaded canoe overturned in swift waters.Forty deaths had been confirmed in northern Brazil's worst flooding in decades, fed by two months of unusually heavy rains in a zone stretching from deep in the Amazon to normally arid areas near the Atlantic coast.In Maranhao state, one of the worst affected regions, a small canoe capsized with seven people aboard on a river between the towns of Pedreiras and Trizidela do Vale. Two passengers were missing: a 54-year-old man and a 22-year-old woman.She knew how to swim, but it looks like the current was too strong, said Francisco Aguiar, an uncle of the missing woman.Police officers and firefighters were searching in motorboats, said Wallace Pires, an official with Brazil's national security force.Emergency crews struggled to clear debris from highways blocked by landslides, seeking to open the way for desperately needed aid shipments. There have been widespread complaints that the government was too slow in delivering food and water.It's raining less and we were able to clear some of the highways that were blocked,Maranhao state civil defense spokesman Ivar Araujo said. It will be easier bring help to the victims, but the situation is still a little complicated.

There were reports of scattered looting in Maranhao and of residents refusing to leave flooded homes for fear of thieves.But the gradual retreat of high water in many places boosted spirits.We're hoping the situation improves because the rains have not been so intense,said Maria Dorothea de Araujo, the Amazon operations manager for the aid group World Vision.

National Guard troops helping flood victims in WVa By BRIAN FARKAS, Associated Press Writer MAY 10,09

GILBERT, W.Va. – The National Guard is helping residents in West Virginia's southern coalfields recover from weekend flooding that destroyed at least 300 buildings, knocked out power and caused mudslides that flushed trash, debris and at least one mobile home downstream.Gov. Joe Manchin toured the region and activated 300 Guard troops Sunday on top of the 30 he called up a day before when he declared a state of emergency for six counties, said Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management spokesman Robert Jelacic.Since I have been governor, the damage that was caused by the flash floods and rain is as bad as I have seen anywhere, Manchin said in a statement.The period of bad weather that hit this region did so with tremendous force and devastation.Emergency crews, residents and business owners — some covered in mud — assessed the damage in Gilbert and used shovels to clean up after downpours dumped several inches of rain Friday and Saturday. On the road leading to the town of about 400 people, a mobile home broke loose Saturday and floated a quarter-mile before it was split in half by a poplar tree.I will never feel safe here again anytime it rains,said resident Jo Johnson.It was floating down the street like someone was driving it," said her husband, Milton Johnson, who was laid off last week from Massey Energy's Superior surface mine.

Now, this.

Johnson, 56, said he was awakened about 2:15 a.m. Saturday and within an hour, the couple and his 79-year-old mother, whose trailer next door was uprooted by rushing floodwaters, were forced to seek shelter on a nearby hillside. Johnson, whose home has flood insurance, said he's lived in Gilbert his entire life and this is the first time he's been flooded.No injuries have been reported and seven miners trapped underground because of high water were able to walk out of the Mountaineer Alma mine near Wharncliffe on Sunday morning, Jelacic said.Manchin said officials are trying to get water and sewer systems back up and running soon.The road in front of Gilbert Furniture was stacked high Sunday with lounge chairs, couches and refrigerators. Nineteen years ago, the store's former location next door was flooded by nearby Gilbert Creek. The new building was built 3 feet higher.

It didn't matter.

The force of the floodwaters blew the doors off their hinges,said Ricky Hatfield, who has worked 30 years at the store his parents own.The high water mark is 2 feet up the wall and the store's mud-stained contents are a total loss. But Hatfield said the family had flood insurance and plans to rebuild the store that has been around for 65 years because business has been good.Over at Tattoo Joe's, owner Joe Hinkle didn't have flood insurance for the business he's run for seven years.I can't salvage anything at all, Hinkle said.It breaks your heart, you know? You work for years and in one night, it's gone.Gilbert Mayor Vivian Livingood estimated 80 percent of the town's businesses were affected by high water. Donations of money, supplies and food were pouring into the town, Livingood said.She said residents were advised to boil their tap water first before drinking because mud got into the water system, although the water plant is working. Boone, Logan, McDowell, Mingo, Raleigh and Wyoming counties were under the state of emergency. Assessments show Mingo County was the hardest hit by flooding, with about 300 structures destroyed, 1,000 with major damage and 2,000 with minor damage. Wyoming County had 150 structures with major damage.

The National Weather Service in Charleston predicted a 20 percent chance of rain into Monday.In the Midwest, about 88,000 customers in Illinois and Missouri were still without electricity, days after a wave of deadly storms socked the region. Ameren electric said Sunday evening that 40,200 of its customers remained without power in Illinois, down from the some 68,000 immediately after Friday's storm.The storms were blamed for at least seven deaths in Illinois, Missouri, Kentucky and Kansas. Governors of Kentucky, West Virginia and Illinois declared emergencies or disasters in several counties.More than 15,000 customers in eastern Kentucky had no water because lines were broken or washed away and almost 6,000 had no power.

LIFE WITH BIG BROTHER Electronic Police State report cites U.S.Ultimate Big Brother basics are in place Posted: May 10, 2009 9:05 pm Eastern By Bob Unruh 2009 WorldNetDaily

In what may be the first assessment of its kind, a private company that offers a range of privacy products for computers and other technology is ranking the United States No. 6 in the world for having the most aggressive procedures for monitoring residents electronically. The report, called The Electronic Police State, assesses the status of governmental surveillance in 52 nations around the globe for 2008. The document was released Cryptohippie, Inc., which was set up in 2007 through the acquisition of several little-known but highly regarded providers of privacy technologies. Not surprisingly, China and North Korea ranked No. 1 and No. 2, with Belarus and Russia following up. But the United Kingdom ranked fifth followed by the United States.Most of us are aware that our governments monitor nearly every form of electronic communication. We are also aware of private companies doing the same. This strikes most of us as slightly troubling, but very few of us say or do much about it. There are two primary reasons for this,the report said. We really don't see how it is going to hurt us. Mass surveillance is certainly a new, odd, and perhaps an ominous thing, but we just don't see a complete picture or a smoking gun, the report continued. Also, We are constantly surrounded with messages that say, Only crazy people complain about the government.The report mapped the world, showing the most advanced electronic police states in red, orange reflecting strongly developing electronic police states and yellow showing nations that are developing, but lagging:

Red nations have the most advanced electronic police state capabilites ,Company spokesman Paul Rosenberg told WND the biggest obstacle, however, is that the image of a police state dredges up visions of Nazi Germany's thugs breaking down doors in the middle of the night and hauling people off to blacked-out trains or Stalin's USSR rounding up offenders for imprisonment.That's how things worked during your grandfather's war – that is not how things work now,the report said. An electronic police state is quiet, even unseen. All of its legal actions are supported by abundant evidence. It looks pristine,the report said.To create the rankings, which also included Singapore, Israel, France and Germany in the top 10, his organization searched its worldwide sources for information, checked against a number of other published reports, and assigned a value of 1 to 5 to 17 different factors:Daily documents: How much is required day-to-day for residents to present state-issued identity documents or registration.Border issues: What is demanded for a border entry.
Financial tracking: The state's ability to search and record financial transactions.
Gag orders: The penalties for revealing to someone else the state is searching their records.Anti-crypto laws: Bans on cryptography.Constitutional protections: Either a lack of protections or someone overriding them.Data storage: The state's ability to record and keep what it uncovers.Data search: The processes to search through data.
ISP data retention: The demand for ISPs to save customers' records.Telephone data retention: States' requirements for communications companies to record and save records.Cell phone records: The saving and using of cell phone users' records.Medical records: Demands from states that medical records retain information.Enforcement: The state's ability to use force (SWAT teams) to seize someone.Habeus corpus: Either an absence of such rights or someone overriding them.Police-Intel barrier: the absence of a barrier between police and intelligence organizations.Covert hacking: State operatives meddling in data on private computers covertly.Loose warrants: Warrants that are being issued without careful review of police claims by a truly independent judge.The listings of China, North Korea, Belarus and Russia, all known for their repression of freedom, weren't surprising. Nor was the listing of the United Kingdom with its recent programs to copy and store virtually every telephone call, e-mail and text message within its borders. But Rosenberg said there's more going on in the United States than many believe want to believe. The nation's basic system of gathering evidence and sorting it later is really dangerous, he said.It's permanent. It's not going to go away.It goes so far that a person's alcohol consumption actually could be tracked by government agents, if they chose, through credit card documentation, he told WND.

In an Electronic Police State, every surveillance camera recording, every e-mail you send, every Internet site you surf, every post you make, every check you write, every credit card swipe, every cell phone ping… are all criminal evidence, and they are held in searchable databases, for a long, long time,the report said. Whoever holds this evidence can make you look very, very bad whenever they care enough to do so. You can be prosecuted whenever they feel like it – the evidence is already in their database,the report continued.Perhaps you trust that your ruler will only use his evidence archives to hurt bad people. Will you also trust his successor? Do you also trust all of his subordinates, every government worker and every policeman? If some leader behaves badly, will you really stand up to oppose him or her? Would you still do it if he had all the e-mails you sent when you were depressed? Or if she has records of every porn site you've ever surfed? Or if he knows every phone call you've ever made? Or if she knows everyone you've ever sent money to? the report asks. This system hasn't yet reached its full shape, but all of the basics are in place and it is not far from complete in some places,the report said. Rosenberg told WND the organization also sought input on the status of electronic surveillance around the world from organizations including the the Electronic Privacy Information Center, Reporters Without Borders, Freedom House, the Ludwig von Mises Institute and The Heritage Foundation.

Following the top 10 were: 11. Malaysia, 12. Ireland, 13. United Kingdom, Scotland, 14. Netherlands, 15. South Korea, 16. Ukraine, 17. Belgium, 18. Australia, 19. Japan, 20. New Zealand, 21. Austria, 22. Norway, 23. India, 24. Italy, 25. Taiwan, 26. Denmark, 27. Hungary, 28. Greece, 29. Canada, 30. Switzerland, 31. Slovenia, 32. Poland, 33. Finland, 34. Sweden, 35. Latvia, 36. Lithuania, 37. Cyprus, 38. Malta, 39. Estonia, 40. Czech Republic, 41. Iceland, 42. South Africa, 43. Spain, 44. Portugal, 45. Luxembourg, 46. Argentina, 47. Romania, 48. Thailand, 49. Bulgaria, 50. Brazil, 51. Mexico, 52. Philippines.

FIRES AND EXPLOSIONS

REVELATION 8:7
7 The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth: and the third part of trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up.

Power tool may have sparked Santa Barbara wildfire By AMY TAXIN, Associated Press Writer MAY 10,09

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – The wildfire that has scorched 13 square miles and destroyed dozens of homes in the hills above this scenic coastal city was apparently sparked by a power tool being used to clear brush, investigators said Sunday.Fire officials said someone, or possibly a group of people, was clearing vegetation on what appeared to be private land near the trail around the time the fire erupted Tuesday.Any time you use any power tool, there's always a possibility, especially if the conditions are right,said Joe Waterman, the overall fire commander from the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.Some Santa Barbara County residents recently received annual notices advising them they had until June 1 to clear potentially hazardous brush, county fire Capt. Glenn Fidler said.It was not immediately clear whether the blaze originated in an area targeted by such a notice.Officials declined to comment further about the type of power tool that may have been used, or if anyone could face charges.The fire has destroyed 77 homes, damaged 22 others and forced the evacuation of approximately 30,000 people to safer ground.All but approximately 350 evacuees had been allowed to return home Sunday, as firefighters had the blaze 65 percent contained, aided by cooler, more humid weather.Relieved to see their homes still standing, grateful residents paid tribute to firefighters by tooting car horns in their honor and posting large thank-you signs on their front lawns.More than 4,500 firefighters worked to contain as much of the blaze as they could before the hot, dry sundowner winds that pushed flames on homes earlier in the week return, possibly as early as Tuesday.

We have a window of opportunity right now to get our lines tied in and to get hot spots mopped up as good as possible because the next couple of days the wind is going to resurface again and we need to be prepared, said Kelley Gouette, deputy incident commander for the state Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.Fire officials over the weekend had lauded residents' removal of brush and fire-prone plants from their properties to bolster the defensible space needed to protect a house from a wildfire and keep firefighters safe while working in the region.Santa Barbara County Fire Chief Tom Franklin recalled that a 1990 blaze took out 500 homes, although it didn't burn across as wide a swatch of land as the 13 square miles covered by this week's fire.More homes would have burned had they not done their defensible space work,Franklin said of the residents who gave firefighters the best conditions to work in.Richard Martin, a 73-year old retired University of California, Santa Barbara, chemistry professor, rode out the worst of the firestorm from a five-by-seven-foot concrete bunker he built to store important documents.Martin and his wife, Penny, ducked in and out of the bunker to battle spot fires on the oak trees surrounding their four-level home tucked away near the Botanic Garden. But he also credited rooftop sprinklers, clearing brush and planting low, fire resistant plants around the edge of his home with its survival.All the trees the leaves are all dead because they've been scorched,Martin said, pointing out the glass door of his wooden deck. But those plants haven't been scorched. They look normal.In 2005, California extended the required clearance around homes in an effort to bolster the defensible space needed to protect a house from a wildfire and keep firefighters safe while working in the region.In Santa Barbara County, officials can also clear brush from unkempt property and charge homeowners for doing so. Franklin said they usually need to enforce that regulation on no more than a couple of homes a year.

Firefighters say they are more likely to hunker down and try to save a home that has good defensible space because they have a better and safer shot at getting a handle on the blaze.In recent years, many residents have gotten rid of more volatile plant life, replacing it with fire-resistant gardens or just clearing it out entirely. Some have built fire safety into the construction of the homes themselves. Some residents are reluctant to hack down the tree branches that shade their homes and give them privacy in the rolling canyons above the city's downtown, where many houses can't even be seen from the main roads.In the Painted Cave community, most homes are covered with branches and shrouded in trees, said Barry Flores, a Sacramento fire battalion chief working on the western front of the blaze.It's a firefighter's worst nightmare,he said.Associated Press writer Raquel Maria Dillon contributed to this report.

SPECIAL REPORT ON POPES VISIT BY ISRAELNATIONALRADIO
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/131279

Pope Benedict XVI Arrives in Israel
by Hillel Fendel MAY 11,09

(IsraelNN.com) Pope Benedict XVI arrived in Israel at 11 AM as scheduled, on a direct flight from neighboring Jordan. On hand to greet him were President Peres and most of the government; the Chief Rabbis were not there.The pope had said his visit was a personal pilgrimage, and Voice of Israel goverment radio talk show host Yaron Dekel said that he requested that the Israeli flag and anthem not be in evidence. However, the Jordanian plane carrying the pope to Israel flew flags of both Israel and the Vatican, and the anthems of both were played upon his arrival.Footage of the pope’s arrival was aired around the world, including in Jordan and Iran.

Herzog, Hershkovitz
The only yarmulke-wearing Jew to greet the pope was Science Minister Prof. Rabbi Daniel Hershkovitz of the Jewish Home party. Welfare Minister Yitzchak Herzog was there and exchanged a few words with the Pope; his grandfather, Israel’s first Chief Rabbi, Rabbi Yitzchak HaLevy Herzog, had asked to meet with Pope Pius XII during and after the Holocaust, but was rebuffed.The Shas Party ministers did not arrive, and neither did Knesset Speaker Ruby Rivlin or the Chief Rabbis. The latter do not plan to meet the visitor during his visit to the Western Wall on Tuesday, but rather only later in the day at the Chief Rabbinate’s formal headquarters in the Heichal Shlomo building. A spokesman for Chief Rabbi Shlomo Amar said, When the Chief Rabbis visited the Vatican, he met them in his office, and the Rabbis will meet him in their office as well.In the background of this decision still lurks the tension of 45 years ago, when Pope Paul VI made the first-ever papal visit to Israel – and refused to meet the Chief Rabbis in Jerusalem. In response, then-Chief Rabbi Yitzchak Nissim refused to meet the pope altogether.

Against Israel
In addition, Prof. Yitzchak Minerbi, an expert on Catholic-Jewish relations, said, During an 8-day period during Israel's Operation Cast Lead against Hamas in Gaza a few months ago, I counted five statements made by the Pope against Israel's offensive - yet I did not find any parallel regarding the Hamas rocket attacks on Sderot. He definitely sides more with the Palestinian side and not the Israeli side.

Peres and the Pope
President Peres and the pope delivered short remarks at the airport. Peres spoke of the ongoing dialogue in the spirit of the Prophets between Judaism and Christianity, and emphasized the freedom of religion and access to religious sites that Israel grants.The pope mentioned the State of Israel in his opening sentence, as opposed to Pope Paul VI, who refrained from doing so during his entire 11-hour visit. Benedict XVI emphasized his pilgrimage of peace and criticized anti-Semitism around the world. He said that the Jews had tragically suffered the consequences of destructive ideologies, and that he would go to Yad Vashem to honor the memory of the six millions Jewish victims of the Shoah.His German nationality and his membership in the Hitler Youth and German Army of World War II weighed heavily in the background, though not mentioned.Finally, the pope spoke of his wish for a just and lasting solution to the current conflict, expressing his hope for both nations to live in secure and recognized boundaries.

Meeting with Shalit
The pope’s next stop, after an afternoon break, will be at the President’s Residence in Jerusalem, at 4:00 p.m. At the initiative of President Shimon Peres, the pope will also meet there with Noam Shalit, father of Hamas terrorist-kidnapped IDF soldier Gilad Shalit. Shalit was abducted nearly three years ago, and Hamas has released barely any sign of his life since.

Pope in Israel calls for Palestinian homeland By VICTOR L. SIMPSON, Associated Press Writer MAY 11,09

JERUSALEM – Pope Benedict XVI called for the establishment of an independent Palestinian homeland immediately after he arrived in Israel Monday, a stance that could put him at odds with his hosts on a trip aimed at improving ties between the Vatican and Jews.The pope also took on the delicate issue of the Holocaust, pledging to honor the memory of the 6 million Jewish victims of the Nazi genocide at the start of his five-day visit to Israel and the Palestinian territories.Benedict touched down in Israel on the second leg of a weeklong pilgrimage to the Holy Land, after spending three days in neighboring Jordan. He is using the tour to reach out to both Muslims and Jews.In his first public comments upon arriving, Benedict urged Israelis and Palestinians to explore every possible avenue to resolve their differences.The hopes of countless men, women and children for a more secure and stable future depend on the outcome of negotiations for peace, he told a welcoming ceremony at Israel's international airport.In union with people of goodwill everywhere, I plead with all those responsible to explore every possible avenue in the search for a just resolution of the outstanding difficulties, so that both peoples may live in peace in a homeland of their own within secure and internationally recognized borders.While Benedict has spoken in favor of a Palestinian homeland in the past, the timing and location of his comments were noteworthy.Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who was in the audience, has pointedly refused to endorse the two-state solution since his election. But he is expected to come under pressure to do so when he travels to Washington next week. Netanyahu did not speak at the ceremony, then flew to Egypt for talks on regional issues with President Hosni Mubarak.Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor played down the pope's comments, saying he was voicing a long-standing position shared by the U.S. and European countries.

At any rate, discussing this is not the purpose of the visit,he said.Parliament speaker Reuven Rivlin conspicuously skipped the airport ceremony, though his office said he would join the pope at Israel's Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial.The pope has tried to improve interfaith relations throughout his four-year papacy, and as a cardinal, had a long record of promoting dialogue with other faiths. But Benedict has had to tread carefully on his Middle East visit because of past gaffes.Benedict angered many in the Muslim world three years ago when he quoted a medieval text that characterized some of Islam's Prophet Muhammad's teachings as evil and inhuman, particularly his command to spread by the sword the faith. He later expressed regret that his comments offended Muslims.

Before leaving Jordan, he said he had a deep respect for Islam.

The Vatican has also been widely accused over the years of not doing enough to stop the Holocaust — a charge it rejects. And the German-born pope himself has faced questions for his involvement in the Hitler Youth corps during the war. Benedict says he was coerced.The pope outraged Jews earlier this year when he revoked the excommunication of a British bishop who denies the Holocaust. Ties were further strained when a senior Vatican official said during Israel's recent military campaign in Gaza that the territory resembled a big concentration camp.

Later Monday, Benedict was scheduled to lay a wreath at Yad Vashem.

It is right and fitting that, during my stay in Israel, I will have the opportunity to honor the memory of the 6 million Jewish victims of the shoah, he said, using the Hebrew word for the Holocaust. He said he would pray that humanity will never again witness a crime of such magnitude.Israel and the Vatican are also at odds over the legacy of World War II pontiff Pius XII, a candidate for sainthood. At Yad Vashem, Benedict will not visit the main part of the museum, where a photo caption says Pius did not protest the Nazi genocide of Jews and maintained a largely neutral position.

Dignitaries and religious leaders greeted the pontiff at a red-carpet ceremony at the Tel Aviv airport. Yellow and white Vatican flags fluttered alongside blue and white Israeli banners as an honor guard played in the background. The pope smiled as he walked along the carpet, flanked by Israeli President Shimon Peres on one side and Netanyahu on the other. Other political leaders, along with black-robed Christian clergymen and Muslim religious leaders, stood in line to shake his hand. Your visit here brings a blessed understanding between religions and spreads peace near and far. Historic Israel and the renewed Israel together welcome your arrival as paving the great road to peace,Peres said. Later, the pope flew by helicopter to Jerusalem for another red-carpet ceremony. Mayor Nir Barkat handed Benedict an ancient map of the world, with Jerusalem in the center and dozens of children from three schools — Christian, Jewish and Muslim — welcomed him. The children waved Israeli and Vatican flags and red carnations, and many wore T-shirts that read, I'm with the pope in Jerusalem.He loves us and wants peace, said David Sahagian, a 10-year-old from a Christian school in east Jerusalem.I want there to be peace in Jerusalem and I want him to give us his blessing.In the Gaza Strip, Palestinians were angry that the pope planned to meet with the family of an Israeli soldier held by militants in Gaza for nearly three years but would not meet with relatives of any of the 11,000 Palestinian prisoners imprisoned in Israel. Israeli police shut down a media center for the pope's visit that the Palestinian Authority had set up at an east Jerusalem hotel. Israeli authorities object to any attempt by the Palestinians to use east Jerusalem for official business because that would suggest Palestinian sovereignty there. Israel captured east Jerusalem in the 1967 Mideast war and the Palestinians claim it as capital of a future state.

PA Tries to Use Pope’s Visit for Control in Eastern Jerusalem
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu MAY 11,09

(IsraelNN.com)
The Palestinian Authority attempted to seize control of the Bridge for Peace visit by Pope Benedict XVI by claiming authority over media coverage of his tour in Jerusalem. It arranged a meeting in the Ambassador Hotel in eastern Jerusalem for journalists covering the visit, but Public Security Minister Yitzchak Aharonovitch (Yisrael Beiteinu) promptly issued an order to close the hotel.A police order to the hotel was based on the law that prohibits the PA from operating in the capital. Law enforcement officers confiscated documents at the hotel, and no violence or serious resistance was reported.PA officials maintained that the government order will not stop it from taking responsibility for welcoming the Pope and supervising media coverage in Jerusalem's Old City, arguing that arrangements for the tour are its responsibility.

Eastern Jerusalem is our responsibility, and we are supposed to take care of all matters there, including the Pope’s visit,officials told the Hebrew-language web site of the Yediot Acharonot newspaper.The PA is expecting the Pope to encourage a resumption of talks between Israel and the PA, which wants the discussions to be based on Israel’s accepting in principle a new PA country on all of Judea, Gaza and Samaria, with its capital in eastern Jerusalem.The Pope’s visit is highly politicized, partly because of his plan to visit Arabs in eastern Jerusalem and in Bethlehem who are living near the separation barrier, which the PA and most international media call the Apartheid Wall. He also will arrive in Sakhnin, the Arab city in the Galilee whose mayor earlier this year led massive demonstrations highlighted by anti-Israeli incitement during the Operation Cast Lead counterterrorist campaign.

Abbas Rejects Talks with Israel; Abdullah Warns: War or Peace
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu MAY 11,09

(IsraelNN.com)
PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas has rejected talks with Israel at this time, according to the Hebrew-language Maariv newspaper, apparently waiting for the outcome of next week’s meeting between U.S. President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu. Last week, the Prime Minister offered to return to the negotiating table immediately and without any pre-conditions.The Arab world is expecting the U.S. to pressure Israel into specifically accepting the two-state solution and halting all construction in Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria. The discussions in Washington are being billed as crucial to the future of the Middle East. Prime Minister Netanyahu has maintained the PA must become more stable economically and politically before a new Arab state can be created alongside the Jewish State, a concept that PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas has rejected. Israel fears that the objective of the Arab world is to allow the return of several million Arabs who claim to be descendants of former residents in the country. The result would be the domination of Arabs in Israel.Abbas has conducted a determined single-minded four-year campaign to win international backing for a new PA state based on the Saudi Arabian 2002 Peace Plan that calls for Arab immigration and a new Arab country to be established on all of the land of Judea, Gaza and Samaria, including the Old City of Jerusalem, The PA includes 250,000 Jews in Jerusalem neighborhoods which were restored to Israel in the Six-Day War in 1967. The municipality annexed the neighborhoods, including Gilo, Talpiot, Ramot and French Hill, into the capital more than 20 years ago, but the international community has not accepted the change.

Abdullah: Peace or War
Meanwhile, Jordan’s King Abdullah II continued a worldwide campaign to pressure Israel into accepting the Saudi Arabian 2002 Peace Plan or face war in 18 months. He told the London Times, If the call [decision] is in May that this is not the right time or we are not interested, then the world is going to be sucked into another conflict in the Middle East.King Abdullah issued a similar warning during his visit to the United States three weeks ago and repeated his claim that the Jewish state faces war if it does not accept Arab demands.The newspaper confirmed a report published last week in Israel National News that he and U.S. President Barack Obama discussed a plan for 57 Arab countries to recognize Israel in return for the Jewish State’s acceptance of the Saudi Arabia 2002 Peace Plan. King Abdullah did not directly respond to the report last week that President Obama suggested that the United Nations take responsibility for Jerusalem’s holy sites. However, he stated that Jerusalem is an international solution as opposed to a problem. He did not respond to a report that President Obama suggested the United Nations flag fly over religious sites in the capital.In his interview with the Times, King Abdullah recalled that his first – and last - meeting with Prime Minister Netanyahu 10 years ago was the least pleasant during his reign. The Prime Minister is flying to Sharm El-Sheikh Monday morning for talks with Egyptian Prime Minister Hosni Mubarak in what is expected to be a frank exchange of views without any dramatic results.King Abdullah will continue his peace campaign Monday with a visit to Syrian President Bashar Assad, two days after President Obama ordered the extension of sanctions against the country for supporting terror.

The intense American-led pressure on Israel is expected to receive an additional voice this week with the visit of Pope Benedict XVI.It is all part of one major effort,King Abdullah told the Times.

FROM WND'S JERUSALEM BUREAU Has Obama cut off information to Israel? Lack of communication not normal practice May 10, 2009 6:10 pm Eastern By Aaron Klein
© 2009 WorldNetDaily

Barack Obama

JERUSALEM – Unlike the Bush administration, the staff of President Obama is not coordinating its policy on Iran or the greater Middle East with Israel and has not been informing the Jewish state of its plans or recent diplomatic developments in area, according to sources in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office. The silence extends to U.S. talks with the Palestinians, the sources said. Our intention and our hope as we go to Washington is to establish close intimate cooperative relationships on these sensitive matters,a top Netanyahu official told WND yesterday. The official was speaking about Netanyahu's May 18th visit to the White House. According to other sources in the prime minister's office, Israel has been obtaining the vast majority of its information regarding U.S. plans and advances for the Middle East from third parties, mostly European diplomats. This is in stark contrast to Bush's eight-year presidency, during which the White House and State Department routinely briefed Israeli counterparts on Middle East affairs to the extent that the majority of official U.S. and Israeli statements on various policy issues were heavily coordinated.A recent example of the Obama administration leaving Israel in the dark was information received by Jerusalem officials of a U.S. deadline of October for Iran to show progress in talks over their nuclear program.That deadline was apparently set by Obama's Middle East envoy Dennis Ross.

The information of the deadline - first reported by Haaretz yesterday and confirmed by WND - was discovered in Jerusalem not via U.S. sources but from third party European diplomats who were briefed on the matter. Right now there is next to no communication coming to us from the White House,said a source in Netanyahu's office.
The source warned against interpreting the matter as evidencing an anti-Israel bias from the Obama administration. Look, there is a new administration in the U.S. and a new one here (in Israel),the source said.There hasn't been so much time yet to establish channels.Still, the source noted the extent of the blackout on information from the U.S. was not usual practice.A second source said the lack of communication between Israel and America extends to Israeli-Palestinian affairs. That source described a meeting last month between Netanyahu and another of Obama's Middle East envoys, George Mitchell.The source said the meeting largely was a one-way street, with the prime minister sharing his intended approach to Syria and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. He said Mitchell outlined Obama's overall strategy for the region, but did not update Netanyahu on any talks with the Palestinians or specifics of Obama's intentions. Other than the Mitchell meeting, basically there wasn't much other communication at all, period,said the second source.And we were not informed beforehand of policy statements that were made by Obama or his administration regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, including statements Obama made after meeting Jordan's King Abdullah (last month).

Obama trumpets anti-Israel Arab plan

WND's source said one thing Mitchell did convey to Netanyahu was Obama's alleged plan to help create a Palestinian state in hopes of normalizing relations between Israel and the Arab world in line with the Arab Peace Initiative.The source said Mitchell relayed that Obama's Middle East strategy would be based on the concept of the initiative but with security guarantees for Israel.Following scores of denials he would trumpet the plan, Obama in January hailed the Arab initiative, which offers normalization of ties with the Jewish state in exchange for extreme Israeli concessions. In an interview with an Arab television network – his first formal interview as president – Obama stated: Well, here's what I think is important. Look at the proposal that was put forth by King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia. ... I might not agree with every aspect of the proposal, but it took great courage to put forward something that is as significant as that. I think that there are ideas across the region of how we might pursue peace. I do think that it is impossible for us to think only in terms of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and not think in terms of what's happening with Syria or Iran or Lebanon or Afghanistan and Pakistan.Since then, Obama and his team have trumpeted the plan several more times, including during a meeting last month with Jordan's Abdullah.

The Arab Initiative, originally proposed by King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia in 2002 and later adopted by the Arab League, states that Israel would receive normal relations with the Arab world in exchange for a full withdrawal from the entire Gaza Strip, West Bank, Golan Heights and eastern Jerusalem, which includes the Temple Mount. The West Bank contains important Jewish biblical sites and borders central Israeli population centers, while the Golan Heights looks down on Israeli civilian zones and was twice used by Syria to mount ground invasions into the Jewish state. The Arab plan also demands the imposition of a non-binding U.N. resolution that calls for so-called Palestinian refugees who wish to move inside Israel to be permitted to do so at the earliest practicable date.Palestinians have long demanded the right of return for millions of refugees,a formula Israeli officials across the political spectrum warn is code for Israel's destruction by flooding the Jewish state with millions of Arabs, thereby changing its demographics. When Arab countries attacked the Jewish state after its creation in 1948, some 725,000 Arabs living within Israel's borders fled or were expelled from the area that became Israel. Also at that time, about 820,000 Jews were expelled from Arab countries or fled following rampant persecution.

While most Jewish refugees were absorbed by Israel and other countries, the majority of Palestinian Arabs have been maintained in 59 U.N.-run camps that do not seek to settle the Arabs elsewhere. There are currently about 4 million Arabs who claim Palestinian refugee status with the U.N., including children and grandchildren of the original fleeing Arabs, Arabs living full-time in Jordan and Arabs who long ago emigrated throughout the Middle East and to the West.

Catholic political divide over Obama at Notre Dame By BETH FOUHY, Associated Press Writer – Sun May 10, 6:10 pm ET

NEW YORK – A campaign by outraged Roman Catholics to keep President Barack Obama from delivering the commencement address at Notre Dame shows that the gulf between the church and backers of abortion rights remains deep.Yet the effort to get the school to rescind its invitation to Obama also highlights a political disconnect between the conservative Catholic hierarchy and millions of U.S. Catholic voters.Since the White House announced in March that Obama had accepted Notre Dame's invitation to speak May 17, more than 358,000 people have signed an online petition demanding that the university take back the offer. The Cardinal Newman Society, an advocacy group for Catholic colleges that circulated the position, said the invitation violated a 2004 bishops' mandate that stated, The Catholic community and Catholic institutions should not honor those who act in defiance of our fundamental moral principles.One Catholic leader, Archbishop Raymond Burke, accused Obama of pushing an anti-life, anti-family agenda. Burke, the first American to lead the Vatican supreme court, said Friday it was a scandal that Notre Dame had invited Obama to speak.Catholic activists and bishops have been outspoken in their criticism of Obama. By comparison, they had only occasional disagreements with President George W. Bush, primarily over the U.S. invasion of Iraq, which the Vatican condemned but many conservative Catholics supported.They cite his support for abortion rights and embryonic stem cell research, and his repeal of a policy that denied federal dollars to international relief organizations that provide abortions or abortion-related information. They remain angry with Obama's support for legislation that would prohibit state and local governments from interfering with a woman's right to obtain an abortion.Obama also has been criticized by Catholics and other opponents of legal abortion for telling Pastor Rick Warren at a campaign forum last summer that the question of when life begins was above my pay grade.Yet polling and other evidence shows that Catholic voters have a largely positive view of the president, closely tracking other national polling. Obama's standing is more evidence that U.S. Catholics don't always follow the Church hierarchy, whether on issues such as abortion and contraception or political preferences. Also, the president's community service background and his opposition to the Iraq war appeal to some Catholics.

As a candidate, Obama worked hard to woo Catholic voters. He chose an observant Catholic, Joe Biden, as his running mate, and Biden campaigned hard for the ticket in states like Pennsylvania and Ohio, which have large Catholic communities. But Biden also supports abortion rights, putting him at odds with the bishops and many conservative Catholics.Obama is also widely popular among Hispanics, a fast-growing growing Catholic population in the U.S.Patrick Whelan, a physician at Harvard Medical School and president of Catholic Democrats, said that by taking such a hard line against Obama, bishops and other conservative leaders risked driving Catholics away from the church rather than cool their support for the president.There are unintended consequences to this kind of angry, vituperative language about their opponents, Whelan said.By making themselves pawns of the conservative right, the bishops are playing into a cycle of decline for our church.Notre Dame students are generally enthusiastic about Obama's impending visit to their northern Indiana campus. He won about 57 percent of the students' vote in a mock election in October, compared with 41percent for Republican John McCain, an abortion rights opponent.Obama, a Protestant, won 54 percent of the Catholic vote in the 2008 general election and continues to be viewed more favorably by Catholics than by Protestants. A Quinnipiac University poll released in late April found that white Catholics approve of Obama's job performance by a 57-33 percent margin, while white Protestants are split 44-42 percent in favor.

Catholics have sided with the winner in eight of the past nine presidential elections. That suggests their votes generally mirror national political trends and are not overly influenced by a candidate's abortion position.The only exception to the pattern was in 2000, when Catholics narrowly favored Democrat Al Gore, a Protestant abortion-rights supporter, over Bush, a Protestant whose views on abortion were seen as more in line with Catholic teaching. Gore won the popular vote in the disputed election that year.In 2004, Catholic voters chose Bush over Democrat John Kerry, a Catholic who supports abortion rights.J. Matthew Wilson, a political science professor at Southern Methodist University who has studied the Catholic vote, said observant Catholics tend be more conservative and much more skeptical of Obama than those who don't practice the faith.There are large number of voters who are nominally Catholic but are not regular churchgoers and not tied in with Catholic life in any meaningful way,Wilson said.Many of these people know nothing about what the bishops are saying about political matters because they're not in church to hear them.Indeed, a new Pew Research Center poll found that 45 percent of Catholics who regularly attend Mass said it was wrong for Notre Dame to invite Obama to speak. Fifty-six percent of nonobservant Catholics said the school was right to invite him. Many prominent Catholic politicians have been condemned by the church for supporting legal abortion. Most have been Democrats, including Sen. Ted Kennedy, whose brother, John F. Kennedy, was the first Catholic president. Others include House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Geraldine Ferraro, the party's 1984 vice presidential nominee and the first woman to appear on a major party ticket. In 2004, St. Louis Archbishop Raymond Burke said he would deny communion to Kerry because of the senator's support for abortion rights. He made the same threat against Rudy Giuliani, a Catholic and former New York mayor who ran for the Republican presidential nomination last year.

Former Democratic New York Gov. Mario Cuomo, a Catholic and abortion rights supporter, tangled with the church hierarchy during his three terms in office. He delivered a well-regarded speech at Notre Dame in 1984 explaining that Catholic lawmakers cannot impose their religious beliefs on the public at large. Cuomo recently sent a letter to Notre Dame outlining his views on Obama's impending speech there, and shared a copy with The Associated Press. The president's appearance at Notre Dame will not in any way serve as an acceptance or condonation of his position on abortion and stem cells, but rather will provide the university the opportunity to reject — freely and clearly — those positions for all the world to hear and read, Cuomo wrote.Better that confident and respectful stance by the university than a defensive and impolite insult to our nation's respected and singularly important world leader, who demonstrated his respect to Notre Dame by agreeing to come to the university.On the Net: Cardinal Newman Society: http://www.cardinalnewmansociety.org/
University of Notre Dame: http://www.nd.edu/ Catholic Democrats: http://www.catholicdemocrats.org/ United States Conference of Catholic Bishops: http://www.usccb.org/ Quinnipiac poll: http://tinyurl.com/ckwnx8.

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 MON MAY 11,2009

09:30 AM -10.20
10:00 AM -125.21
10:30 AM -118.92
11:00 AM -109.12
11:30 AM -108.72
12:00 PM -136.92
12:30 PM -111.75
01:00 PM -126.96
01:30 PM -116.85
02:00 PM -108.17
02:30 PM -119.02
03:00 PM -114.30
03:30 PM -135.49
04:00 PM -155.88 8418.77

S&P 500 909.24 -19.99

NASDAQ 1731.24 -7.76

GOLD 914.00 -0.90

OIL 58.19 -0.44

TSE 300 10,108.78 -129.21

CDNX 1062.83 -6.92

S&P/TSX/60 613.50 -8.52

MORNING,NEWS,STATS

YEAR TO DATE PERFORMANCE
Dow -2.30%
S&P +2.88%
Nasdaq +10.27%
TSX Advances 1,117,declines 487,unchanged 245,Volume 2,559,468,461.
TSX Venture Exchange Advances 519,Declines 355,Unchanged 354,Volume 317,199,544.

Dow -100 points at 4 minutes of trading today.
Dow -147 points at low today.
Dow -10 points at high today so far.
GOLD opens at $912.40.OIL opens at $57.48 today.

AFTERNOON,NEWS,STATS
Dow -147 points at low today so far.
Dow -10 points at high today so far.

DAY TODAY PERFORMANCE - 12:30PM STATS
NYSE Advances 961,declines 2,644,unchanged 79,New Highs 16,New Lows 37.
Volume 1,379,895,426.
NASDAQ Advances 1,017,declines 1,660,unchanged 93,New highs 22,New Lows 16.
Volume 1,239,957,183.
TSX Advances 549,declines 838,unchanged 251,Volume 2,025,032,470.
TSX Venture Exchange Advances 284,Declines 376,Unchanged 287,Volume 127,806,299.

WRAPUP,NEWS,STATS
Dow -163 points at low today.
Dow -10 points at high today.
Dow -1.82% today Volume 330,730,841.
Nasdaq -0.45% today Volume -.
S&P 500 -2.15% 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

OK WORLD WE CITIZENS OF FREEDOM KNOW BY PROPHECY WHAT WILL BE HAPPENING ALL WE HAVE TO DO IS READ GODS WORD TO KNOW WHAT THE NEW WORLD ORDER AGENDA IS.WE GOT AN UPPER HAND ON THE NEW WORLD ORDER BECAUSE THEY HAVE TO BRAG AND WARN WHAT THEIR GOING TO DO TO EARTHS POPULATION BEFORE THEY DO IT.LIKE THE BIBLE SAYS BY THEIR WORDS THEY WILL BE CONDEMNED.OK PEOPLE WE KNOW BY THE NEW WORLD ORDERS WRITINGS WHAT THEY WANT TO DO TO US,SO AS THE PROPHECIES OF THE BIBLE COME TO PASS,PEOPLE WILL START KNOWING JESUS TRUELY IS THE GOD OF ISRAEL AND THE WORLD AND TOLD US WHAT THE LAST DAYS NEW WORLD ORDER WOULD BE UP TO.SO AS THE PROPHECIES ARE BEING FULLFILLED THE PEOPLE WILL START REBELLING AGAINST THIS TYRANNY WORLD SYSTEM SINCE GOD WARNED US WHAT THEY WOULD BE UP TO.AND ACTUALLY THE NEW WORLD ORDER WILL BE JUDGED NOT ONLY BY THE PEOPLE OF EARTH REBELLING AGAINST THEM FOR WHAT THEIR DOING TO INNOCENT CITIZENS BUT ALSO GODS JUDGEMENTS ARE FALLING ON THEM AS WELL.NOW WE SEE WHY JESUS PREVAILS AND RULES FROM JERUSALEM FOREVER THE TRUE KING OF THE TRUE GODLY NEW WORLD ORDER,NOT THE GODLESS NEW WORLD ORDER THATS TAKING SHAPE ON EARTH RIGHT NOW.

Economic crisis heightens Africa's conflict tensions: OECD Sun May 10, 6:20 pm ET

PARIS (AFP) – The global economic crisis has heightened the risk that tensions could explode in Africa, where growth will be slashed this year because of recession in rich nations, the OECD warned Monday.There are signs of increasing political tension that cannot be ignored, said a report by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), African Development Bank (AfDB) and UN Economic Commission for Africa which said the continent's growth would be cut to 2.8 percent this year after 5.7 percent in 2008.Stressing that it was using "optimistic" estimates, it forecast a moderate 4.5 percent recovery in Gross Domestic Product in 2010.The situation remains tense in some countries and new tensions could explode in the coming months due to the worsening of economic conditions due to the global crisis, said the report.It highlighted widespread fallout from the crisis already seen in mass layoffs in the key mining sector.Although several governments managed the situation in 2008 by implementing support measures and containing social discontent, the situation is likely to be more challenging in 2009, in a context of reduced public resources.Commodity prices and demand from Western countries have collapsed in the crisis. The OECD said that while Asia remains a growing trading partner, particularly China and India, the demand was mainly for commodities and this has fallen off dramatically.Four of the 52 countries surveyed will fall into negative growth: Angola, Africa's biggest oil exporter, could slump from 15.8 percent growth in 2008 to -7.2 percent this year. The Seychelles (-0.4 percent), Democratic Republic of Congo (-0.6 percent), Chad (-0.7 percent) were also predicted to fall into minus growth.

Central Africa will suffer worst from the crisis, with overall growth slashed to 0.2 percent, while East Africa should still see GDP rise by 5.5 percent.South Africa, the continent's biggest economy, will see GDP growth fall from 3.1 percent in 2008 to 1.1 percent this year.The OECD highlighted how a 3.3 billion dollar Nigerian-Chinese deal to build cement plants across Africa has been suspended. A nine billion dollar accord between China and DR Congo for mineral resources in exchange for infrastructure has also stalled.The rapidly rising current account deficits associated with the global recession is rapidly eroding international reserves, with African countries increasingly turning to the International Monetary Fund for support in order to avoid exchange rate crises.Several African countries have already seen food riots over the past 18 months and South Africa had deadly riots with xenophobic connotations, said the report which highlighted a new surge in military coups: in Mauritania and Guinea.

The army also intervened to help overthrow Madagascar's president this year, while the military in Guinea-Bissau killed President Joao Bernardo Vieira.The OECD said the situation in Somalia was now critical with a civil war now in its 18th year. The lack of an effective state threatens the security of the entire region,said the report.The report expressed concerns about events in Chad, where rebels staged a new offensive as the report was being released and how social protests had growing political impact.

In Cameroon, protests against high prices were coupled with discontent over President Paul Biya's intention to modify the constitution in order to be allowed to run for a third mandate.Political economy considerations have acquired increasing relevance and the authorities have had to strike a careful balance between the need to take some measures to control unrest and the need to avoid a shift to authoritarianism,said the report.With some exceptions, the stance taken by governments faced with these problems turned out to be constructive. The challenge will be to continue on this track, against a background of decreasing public resources, and uncertain donor support.

PESTILENCES (CHEMICAL AND BIOLOGICAL WEAPONS)

LUKE 21:11
11 And great earthquakes shall be in divers places, and famines, and pestilences;(CHEMICAL,BIOLOGICAL WEAPONS) and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven.

Concerns white phosphorus used in Afghan battle By JASON STRAZIUSO and RAHIM FAIEZ, Associated Press Writers MAY 10,09

KABUL – Doctors voiced concern over unusual burns on Afghan villagers wounded in an already controversial U.S.-Taliban battle, and the country's top human rights groups said Sunday it is investigating the possibility white phosphorus was used.The American military denied using the incendiary in the battle in Farah province — which President Hamid Karzai has said killed 125 to 130 civilians — but left open the possibility that Taliban militants did. The U.S. says Taliban fighters have used white phosphorus, a spontaneously flammable material that leaves severe chemical burns on flesh, at least four times the last two years.Using white phosphorus to illuminate a target or create smoke is considered legitimate under international law, but rights groups say its use over populated areas can indiscriminately burn civilians and constitutes a war crime.Afghan doctors told The Associated Press they have treated at least 14 patients with severe burns the doctors have never seen before. The villagers were wounded during last Monday's battle in Farah province.

Allegations that white phosphorus or another chemical may have been used threatens to deepen the controversy over what Afghan officials say could be the worst case of civilian deaths since the 2001 U.S. invasion that ousted the Taliban regime.In Kabul on Sunday, hundreds of people marched near Kabul University to protest the U.S. military's role in the deaths. Protesters carried signs denouncing the U.S. and chanted anti-American slogans.The incident in Farah drew the condemnation of Karzai, who called for an end to airstrikes. The U.S. has said militants kept villagers captive in hopes they would die in the fighting, creating a civilian casualties controversy.However, President Barack Obama's national security adviser said Sunday the United States would not end airstrikes. Retired Gen. James Jones refused to rule out any action because we can't fight with one hand tied behind our back.Along with Afghan and U.S. investigations into the battle, the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission has been looking into concerns that white phosphorus may have been used after strange burns were reported. Nader Nadery, a commissioner in the leading rights organization, said more investigation was needed.Our teams have met with patients, Nadery told AP.They are investigating the cause of the injuries and the use of white phosphorus.White phosphorus is a spontaneously flammable material that can cause painful chemical burns. It is used to mark targets, create smoke screens or as a weapon, and can be delivered by shells, flares or hand grenades, according to GlobalSecurity.org.Human rights groups denounce its use for the severe burns it causes, though it is not banned by any treaty to which the United States is a signatory.The U.S. military used white phosphorus in the battle of Fallujah in Iraq in November 2004. Israel's military used it in January against Hamas targets in Gaza.

Col. Greg Julian, the top U.S. military spokesman in Afghanistan, said the U.S. did not use white phosphorus as a weapon in last week's battle. The U.S. does use white phosphorous to illuminate the night sky, he said.Julian noted that military officials believe that Taliban militants have used white phosphorus at least four times in Afghanistan in the past two years. I don't know if they (militants) had it out there or not, but it's not out of the question,he said.A spokesman for the Taliban could not be reached for comment Sunday.The U.S. military on Saturday said that Afghan doctors in Farah told American officials the injuries seen in wounded Afghans from two villages in the province's Bala Baluk district could have resulted from hand grenades or exploding propane tanks.Dr. Mohammad Aref Jalali, the head of the burn unit at the Herat Regional Hospital in western Afghanistan who has treated five patients wounded in the battle, described the burns as unusual.I think it's the result of a chemical used in a bomb, but I'm not sure what kind of chemical. But if it was a result of a burning house — from petrol or gas cylinders — that kind of burn would look different,he said. Gul Ahmad Ayubi, the deputy head of Farah's health department, said the province's main hospital had received 14 patients after the battle, all with burn wounds. Five patients were sent to Herat. There has been other airstrikes in Farah in the past. We had injuries from those battles, but this is the first time we have seen such burns on the bodies. I'm not sure what kind of bomb it was,he said.U.N. human rights investigators have also seen extensive burn wounds on victims and have raised questions about how the injuries were caused, said a U.N. official who asked not to be identified talking about internal deliberations. The U.N. has reached no conclusions about whether any chemical weapons may have been used, the official said.

Afghan officials say up to 147 people may have died in the battle in Farah, though the U.S. says that number is exaggerated. The investigation into the Farah battle coincides with an appeal by Human Rights Watch for NATO forces to release results of an investigation into a March 14 incident in which an 8-year-old Afghan girl was burned by white phosphorus munitions in Kapisa province. The New York-based group said Saturday that white phosphorus causes horrendous burns and should not be used in civilian areas.In the latest violence, a double suicide bomb attack killed seven people and wounded 20 in southern Afghanistan on Sunday. The majority of casualties were police and army units responding to the initial attack, said Dawood Ahmadi, the governor's spokesman.A roadside bomb in eastern Nangarhar province killed eight construction workers traveling on a rural road on their way to build a checkpoint for the country's border police, an official said, while a truck driver and two assistants died in a roadside bomb blast in Zabul province while transporting goods to a U.S. base, police said.Taliban militants have increased their attacks the last three years as the country's insurgency has turned increasingly bloody. President Barack Obama is sending 21,000 additional U.S. troops to the country to bolster the record 38,000 American forces already in the country.

Ankara's closer ties with Muslim countries EU compatible
VALENTINA POP Today MAY 11,09 @ 10:15 CET

EUOBSERVER / ANKARA – EU accession remains Turkey's main priority after a cabinet reshuffle, with the country's new policy of forging stronger ties with Muslim neighbours seen as EU compatible despite concerns from the secularist oppposition.In my term the first priority of our foreign policy will continue to be the EU, Turkish foreign minister Ahmet Davutoglu told a group of EU journalists in Ankara on Friday.

Only ten days in office, after a cabinet reshuffle which saw his predecessor, Ali Babacan, take over the position of minister of economy, he dwelled on the multidimensional identity of Turkey - European but majority Muslim, neighbouring the Middle East, the Caucasus, the Mediterranean and the Black Sea - and said no Turkish leader could ignore any of these parts. In the eyes of the opposition, this shift marks a departure from the traditional secularist view that Turkey is a different culture, but part of the same Western civilisation as Europe. Common military exercises with Syria, for instance, have risen concerns in Israel, a long-time ally of Ankara.Mr Davutoglu, an influential conservative scholar and former advisor to the premier, was instrumental in Ankara's strong opposition in approving Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen as future Nato secretary-general. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoga cited concerns in the Muslim world over the way the Danish politician managed the cartoon crisis, but was eventually convinced by US President Barack Obama.

Our purpose was not to defend the Muslim world against Nato, but trying to find out a way to prevent any misperception and damage to the image of Nato. We thought only as a Nato member,he explained, stressing that Ankara would have behaved in the same way if the concerns came from the Chinese or Africans.In a bid to explain the nuances of the new foreign policy, Mr Davutoglu said his country could not deny its multiple identity.In Europe, I am looking for the future of Europe, I am speaking as a European. But if we are members of the Organisation of Islamic Conference, in this organisation of course we will be speaking as a member, for the future of the Muslim world,Mr Davutoglu said.Asked about the relations with Iran, Mr Davutoglu emphasised that there was mutual respect, especially since the two countries had not changed their border since 1639.We know each other, we respect each other. Our policy regarding nuclear issues is clear – nobody can defend nuclear weapons,he said, while also defending Tehran's right to peaceful nuclear energy projects.Another foreign policy shift that was seen with concern in Israeli circles and by the opposition was the government's approach towards Hamas.Can you envisage peace without Hamas? Like it or not, they are part of the solution. If we really want a two-state solution, we must allow Hamas to sit at the table,Turkey's chief EU negotiator Egemen Bagis told journalists at a separate briefing.

EU failure fuels Muslim policy

The ruling AK Party had a half-hearted European policy and a preference for Muslim countries because EU is no successful story in the eyes of the public,opposition leader Onur Oymen from the secularist Republican People's Party (CHP) party said.

Created by the founding father of Turkey's strong separation between mosque and state – military leader Kemal Ataturk – the CHP suffered a crushing defeat in the 2007elections that saw the AKP consolidate its power at 46.6 percent of the votes.The EU was wrongly backing the so-called reforms of the AK Party, he said, restricting the army's role and allowing Islamic symbols – such as the head scarf – re-enter public life. The image of the army and its defenders has been seriously shaken in the past year with the emergence of a far-reaching trial case dubbed Ergenekon.Over a hundred people, including former generals, university professors, politicians and journalists have been detained or questioned since July 2008 in connection to this alleged clandestine, ultra-nationalist paramilitary organisation aimed at toppling the AKP government and assassinating prominent figures.Allegedly, Ergenekon was the successor or had some members who were initially part of the CIA-backed Counter-Guerilla, the covert organisation established at the beginning of the Cold War to oppose communism and later on fight the Kurdish Workers Party (PKK).The case was started at a time when the Constitutional Court was about to give its verdict on whether the AKP was breaching the separation of mosque and state, which would have dissolved the party and thrown most of its leaders, including premier Recep Tayyip Erdogan and President Abdullah Gul, to jail. The court in the end did not deem the AKP anti-constitutional, but issued a strong warning and said the AKP was undertaking anti-secular activities.

EU not on citizens' agenda

With EU negotiations in the slow lane and being kicked around in domestic politics football, Turkish citizens seemed rather unimpressed by the whole process, the head of EU commission's delegation to Ankara, Marc Pierini, said.The EU agenda is not a Turkish citizens' agenda. The aquis communautaire is about better air, safer food, equal rights. But here, there is a very strong political awareness of the citizens, even in villages, they are very educated politically. The drive towards accession is less strong,he said.In the five years since opening negotiations, Ankara and Brussels have finalised only one accession chapter of a total of 35, while eight remain blocked due to the ongoing dispute about Northern Cyprus. Additionally, Cyprus is now blocking the opening of the energy chapter, the only country to do so in the EU's Council of Ministers - representing the member states.Ankara does not recognise EU member state Cyprus, who for its part has failed to reconcile with the northern part of the island, rejecting a UN-brokered deal that the Northern Cypriots had approved in a referendum. Northern Cyprus is not part of the EU and only recognised by Turkey, which invaded this part of the island in 1973 in order to prevent its annexation to Greece.Turkey refuses to open its airports and ports to Greek Cypriot traffic until the issue is solved.

UN: Treaty expanded by 9 more dangerous chemicals By ALEXANDER G. HIGGINS and ELIANE ENGELER, Associated Press Writer – Sat May 9, 5:39 pm ET

GENEVA – A U.N.-sponsored treaty to combat highly dangerous chemicals has been expanded to include nine more substances that are used in pesticides, electronics and other products, U.N. officials said Saturday.The additions include one called PFOS worth billions of dollars in a wide range of uses from making semiconductor chips to fighting fires. Another is lindane, a pesticide widely used in combatting head lice.

The chemicals accumulate in the environment up through the food chain and stay in people's bodies, said Donald Cooper, executive secretary to the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants, or POPs.He said they travel long distances in the air.The alarm over the original chemicals was sounded because they were being found in high concentrations in the fatty tissues and blood of the Inuit Indians in Canada even though they were thousands of miles away from the production or use of any of the chemicals, Cooper said.Participating countries have one year to say whether they will ban or restrict the chemicals or whether they will need more time or an exemption, Cooper said.The additions to the list make it possible for developing countries to receive international help in containing and destroying stockpiles of the chemicals which might otherwise seep into the soil and water supply, Cooper said.

The 2004 treaty aims to protect the environment and people's health from very dangerous chemicals that last a long time in the atmosphere, soil or water, and ultimately phase them out.The treaty had included 12 chemicals, such as the widely banned pesticides DDT and chlordane. Countries that have ratified the treaty also enact national legislation to enforce the bans and restrictions it imposes.The use of DDT in sprays to kill malaria-spreading mosquitoes has been allowed under an exception in the treaty. But the U.N. environmental and health agencies said this week that there are good alternatives to combat malaria. They announced the aim of phasing out DDT completely by the early 2020s.The so-called POPs pose a risk to humans and the environment because they often damage reproductive health, can lead to mental health problems, cause cancer or impede normal growth, said Cooper.The pollutants have some characteristics that make them exceptionally dangerous, he said.

These chemicals transit boundaries. They are found everywhere in the world, Cooper said.They don't go away. They persist in the atmosphere, they persist in the soil, in the water for extremely long periods of time.Some of the additions to the list are chemicals that are used less than they once were, but there may be large stockpiles of them around the world in leaky containers.Among them are chlordecone, which was used as an agricultural pesticide; hexabromobiphenyl, an industrial chemical that was used as a flame retardant; and lindane, which has been used in insecticides for soil, wood and animals.Now the pressure will be on to switch to safer alternatives, he said.

The meeting also decided to restrict the use, production and trade of PFOS, a toxic chemical used in many electronic applications, such as semiconductor chips, but also in fire fighting foam, photo imaging, hydraulic fluids and textiles.PFOS has been the most difficult chemical to list because it is still widely used, Cooper said. He said developed countries have signaled that they intend to phase out the production and most of the use of PFOS over the course of the next 10 years because it will take awhile to develop alternatives. Developing countries have indicated they would do that within 15 years.

The new chemicals targeted for elimination are:
alpha hexachlorocyclohexane, still produced as an unintended byproduct of lindane
beta hexachlorocyclohexane, still produced as an unintended byproduct of lindane
hexabromodiphenyl ether and heptabromodiphenyl ether, used in flame retardants
tetrabromodiphenyl ether and pentabromodiphenyl ether, used in flame retardants
chlordecone, an agricultural pesticide
hexabromobiphenyl, or HBB, a flame retardant
lindane, used in creams for treatment head lice; also has been used in insecticides.
pentachlorobenzene, used in PCB products, dyestuff carriers, as a fungicide, a flame retardant

For elimination or restriction:
PFOS — perfluorooctane sulfonic acid, its salts and perfluorooctane sulfonyl fluoride

Iceland parliament to table EU talks bill this week
LEIGH PHILLIPS Today MAY 11,09 @ 09:17 CET

Icelandic Prime Minister Johanna Sigurdardottir has said the country's new government is to put the question of European Union membership talks to parliament this week.

Despite her coalition partners' opposition to joining the bloc, such a bill is likely to pass, as there is a fresh majority in the house in favour of the move, taking into account two minor parties.There is a parliamentary majority for EU membership talks, she told reporters on Sunday (9 May).It will be in the first days after the inaugural session,she said, adding that legislation permitting EU accession talks to begin will be tabled on Friday, when the Althingi, the country's parliament, resumes sitting after last month's elections that returned a left-wing majority for the first time.

We insist that a membership application be sent to the EU before July.While the senior government partner, the Social Democrats, strongly back joining the EU, their allies, the far-left Left Green Movement, are opposed. The two parties have a 34-seat majority in the 63-seat Althingi.However, taking into account the minor parties, the house now also has a strong majority in favour of the EU.The centrist Progressive Party, which recently changed its position and now backs applying for EU membership, won nine seats, and the Citizens' Movement, which grew out of the protests that led to the government resigning and also supports such a move, won four, giving the pro-EU fraction in the parliament a total of 33 seats.Steingrimur Sigfusson, the leader of the Left Greens and the country's finance minister said the partners had agreed to disagree on the subject.This is a compromise, said Mr Sigfusson. When it comes to voting on the resolution, the members of parliament will only be bound by their own conscience.However, both partners agreed that the final decision on membership will be put to a referendum.Both parties emphasise their joint intent that it be the nation which, in a referendum, will finally determine whether Iceland will (apply to) join the European Union,the government said in a policy paper.

A Gallup poll on Wednesday showed almost two thirds (61.2%) of Icelanders in favour of the move and 29.6 percent against, although the question of actual membership still divides them.For its part, the European Commission has indicated that if Reykjavik applied for membership, its accession process would be short and it could become an EU member by 2011.The country already applies some 75 percent of EU legislation through its existing membership in The European Economic Area (EEA) along with Liechtenstein and Norway.