Iran's AWACS destroyed in parade collision - Picture News from Jerusalem
US SHIPS COMING TO ISRAEL FOR TRAINING JOINT DRILL - Picture News from jerusalem
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).
RALLIES CATCH FIRE ABOUT OBAMAS MEDIA
http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=110672
BILL AYRES HELPED WRITE OBAMAS BOOK
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1nGYzzfqps&feature=player_embedded
Germany nears final ratification of Lisbon Treaty
HONOR MAHONY Today SEPT 23,09 @ 14:31 CET
Germany's president Horst Koehler on Wednesday (23 September) signed newly-drafted national laws enabling the country to adopt the EU's Lisbon Treaty, making final ratification of the document at the end of the week a formality.The laws will be published in Germany's official law register on Thursday and Mr Koehler is expected to sign the ratification document on Friday.Chancellor Angela Merkel welcomed the step as a great success, reports Spiegel Online.I put a great deal of effort into this Lisbon Treaty and it is a good end to the German presidency of the EU that we held some time ago she said referring to the efforts Berlin made to revive the institutional negotiations in the EU after a planned EU constitution was rejected by France and the Netherlands in 2005.The move puts an end to the ratification question mark that has hung over Germany since last year due to a legal challenge at the country's constitutional court.In June, the court ruled the treaty to be compatible with the German constitution but said parliamentary oversight must be strengthened, leaving German law-makers to scramble over the summer to draw up laws giving them more powers - but no veto - over EU decisions taken by Berlin.
The probable final step of ratification on Friday will take place exactly one week before Ireland will hold a referendum on the same treaty.Polls continue to put the Yes side in the lead but there is considerable nervousness in Brussels about the outcome and the country itself is awash with campaigners from both sides battling it out over many of the same issues that came up ahead of the first referendum in June last year.Aside from Ireland, Poland and the Czech Republic still have to complete ratification with signatures by their presidents.Czech president Vaclav Klaus has angered some his EU counterparts for apparently wanting to delay ratification for as long as possible, a move that prompted France to say there would be consequences if he continued even after a Yes vote in Ireland.However, right-wing Czech senators may soon be in league with Mr Klaus. Czech media reports that a group of senators will next week (28 September) ask the constitutional court if the treaty is compatible with Czech law, a legal examination that could take months to complete.A delay of several months in ratification of the treaty - which needs to be ratified by all 27 member states before it comes into force - opens up the chance of the British Conservatives coming into power while the issue is still undecided.Britain is due to hold an election by mid-2010 at the latest. The opposition Conservatives, who have promised a referendum on the EU treaty, are widely expected to win it.
Irish expats fail to donate money for Lisbon
ANDREW RETTMAN Today SEPT 23,09 @ 17:23 CET
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - A group of Irish citizens living in Brussels has failed to attract any large donations for the Yes campaign on the Lisbon Treaty from fellow expats across Europe.The initiative, called Europe for Ireland, was launched at the start of September to raise money for pro-Yes advertising in Ireland ahead of the 2 October vote. But with fewer than 10 days to go to referendum day, the project has so far managed to collect under €20,000.The fund is enough for the group to run a three man office in the EU capital and to encourage its contacts, their families and friends to vote Yes. But it is not enough to buy TV time or print space in Ireland.
We spread the word by email among Irish clubs in Europe, but I suppose people wondered if this is the best way to spend their money,Europe for Ireland spokesman Jim Murray told EUobserver. There was clearly a lot of money spent on the No side. We said, let's see if we can get some money on the Yes side. We didn't, he added.I predict a lot of people will try do something on 3 October. That's human nature. It's not just an Irish trait.The Irish diaspora, in terms of people claiming Irish descent, numbers into the tens of millions in Europe and beyond. But just 413,000 Irish passport holders reside in the EU outside of Ireland, according to the European Commission. The financial shortfall comes despite a push by Eamonn Bates, the Irish-origin director of the Eamonn Bates public relations firm in Brussels, to try and raise €500,000 for the project by asking business contacts for €30,000 each.
Mr Bates personally donated €5,000.
Mr Murray and Mr Bates defended their right to get involved in the Lisbon referendum, after coming in for criticism from some quarters, such as UK-based lobbyist Chris Whitehouse, for trying to interfere in the Irish vote. We're all Irish citizens, Irish people living abroad. We can't vote in Ireland but we're patriotic men and women and we have much more right to get involved and, if we could, to send a leaflet to every Irish household, than Ukip have,Mr Murray said, referring to a recent leaflet campaign by the British eurosceptic faction, the UK Independence Party.People make contributions for all sorts of causes abroad, whether it is to stop the trade in seal products or for climate change initiatives. Why should this be any different? Mr Bates said.
UK opposition leader backs Klaus on Lisbon Treaty delay
HONOR MAHONY Today SEPT 23,09@ 17:41 CET
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - In a show of support for Czech President Vaclav Klaus's continued refusal to complete ratification of the EU's Lisbon Treaty, the leader of the British Conservative Party has sent Mr Klaus a letter noting that the party intends to hold a referendum on the document if they are elected into government next year.The move, reported on Wednesday (23 September) in the Daily Mail, a British tabloid, would appear to support the theory that Mr Klaus is delaying signature of the treaty, already ratified by the Czech parliament, for as long as it takes for the Conservatives, currently on the opposition benches, to come into power.
David Cameron, the leader of the eurosceptic party, has repeatedly promised to hold a referendum on the treaty if he becomes prime minister and if ratification has not been fully completed in the rest of Europe.A general election must be called in Britain by the middle of next year and the Conservatives are widely expected to win.
A spokesperson for the Conservatives said he had not seen the letter but confirmed that one had been sent to the Czech president some weeks ago.There certainly wouldn't have been any pressure on Mr Klaus, said the spokesperson.It was just basically restating our position and underlining the point, our stance on the Lisbon Treaty.Basically, if were to form the next government, then we would hold the referendum that the British people have been promised,the spokesperson added.A referendum on the treaty in Britain, known for its largely eurosceptic population, is likely to result in a No vote, which would kill off the treaty.However, if all other member states have ratified the treaty, it is not clear what, if any, moves Mr Cameron can make. To date, he has only said the Conservatives will not let matters rest.Mr Cameron's move is set to infuriate other EU leaders, particularly France and Germany, who have thrown their weight behind the treaty. Both countries were already riled by the fact that Mr Cameron teamed up with Mr Klaus' eurosceptic Civic Democrats and left the federalist European People's Party in the European Parliament to form their own anti-federalist outfit after the June EU elections.Last week, Nicolas Sarkozy said there would be consequences for the Czech Republic if Mr Klaus kept postponing signature of the document.
The pressure from other capitals is likely to intensify if Ireland votes Yes in its referendum on the treaty next week (2 October).Cameron is going to destroy Britain's credibility as a European Union player,UK liberal MEP Andrew Duff told this website after news of the letter came out.The treaty creates an EU foreign minister and president of the council post and greatly extends the powers of the European parliament to co-legislate with member states. It must be ratified by all member states if it is to come into force.
LAND FOR PEACE (THE FUTURE 7 YEARS OF HELL ON EARTH)
JOEL 3:2
2 I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land.
THE WEEK OF DANIEL 9:27 WE KNOW ITS 7 YRS
Heres the scripture 1 week = 7 yrs Genesis 29:27-29
27 Fulfil her week, and we will give thee this also for the service which thou shalt serve with me yet seven other years.
28 And Jacob did so, and fulfilled her week: and he gave him Rachel his daughter to wife also.
29 And Laban gave to Rachel his daughter Bilhah his handmaid to be her maid.
DANIEL 9:26-27
26 And after threescore and two weeks(62X7=434 YEARS+7X7=49 YEARS=TOTAL OF 69 WEEKS OR 483 YRS) shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary;(ROMAN LEADERS DESTROYED THE 2ND TEMPLE) and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.(THERE HAS TO BE 70 WEEKS OR 490 YRS TO FUFILL THE VISION AND PROPHECY OF DAN 9:24).(THE NEXT VERSE IS THAT 7 YR WEEK OR (70TH FINAL WEEK).
27 And he( THE ROMAN,EU PRESIDENT) shall confirm the covenant with many for one week:(1X7=7 YEARS) and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease,(3 1/2 yrs in TEMPLE SACRIFICES STOPPED) and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.
ISAIAH 28:14-19 (THIS IS THE 7 YR TREATY COVENANT OF DANIEL 9:27)
14 Wherefore hear the word of the LORD, ye scornful men, that rule this people which is in Jerusalem.
15 Because ye have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with hell are we at agreement; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us: for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves:
16 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste.
17 Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet: and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding place.
18 And your covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with hell shall not stand; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then ye shall be trodden down by it.
19 From the time that it goeth forth it shall take you: for morning by morning shall it pass over, by day and by night: and it shall be a vexation only to understand the report.
WEST LEAVING DIRTY WORK TO ISRAEL ABOUT IRAN
http://live.radioamerica.org/loudwater/player.pl?name=wnd&url=http://feeds.radioamerica.org/podcast/DWP/audio/000007_012986.mp3
Obama working against Israel on Capitol Hill? Wednesday, 23 September 2009 06:25 News from Jerusalem .Lobbying efforts to ensure Netanyahu can't unite with Congress to ease pressure
President Obama's administration lobbied in recent weeks to ensure against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu working with pro-Israel members of Congress in an attempt to ease White House pressure against the Jewish state, according to senior Palestinian officials speaking to WND.The Palestinian officials said White House members met with certain Democrat and Republican members of Congress to brief them on Obama's positions regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the need to create a Palestinian state within two years.The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the Obama administration feared Netanyahu might turn to pro-Israel members of Congress to help ease American pressure regarding final status-talks and a U.S. demand that Israel halt all settlement activity in the West Bank and eastern sections of Jerusalem.According to the Palestinian officials, the Obama administration also has been embarking on a campaign to raise the Capitol Hill profile of J Street, a far-leftist Mideast activist organization that opposes Israel's Jewish communities in the West Bank and eastern Jerusalem.J Street takes the Obama White House line on most Mideast matters. The group opposes stronger sanctions against Iran and has been accused of anti-Israel activity.The Palestinian officials said the White House briefed the Palestinian Authority on its congressional lobbying activities as part of its efforts to convince PA President Mahmoud Abbas to attend yesterday's brief three-way Mideast summit on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly.
The summit ended without any dramatic declaration. Obama, however, vowed to move ahead with the diplomatic process, while he apparently scaled back his demand for a total Jewish settlement freeze, saying instead Israel is discussing restraining settlement activities.Obama reiterated the United States is committed to a just, lasting and comprehensive peace in the Middle East, which will result in two states living side by side – Palestine and Israel. It remains important for the Arab states to take steps to promote peace in the region.Obama claimed Israelis and Palestinians have not done enough to bring about peace.The Palestinians have strengthened their efforts on security,he said, adding they need to do more to end anti-Israel incitement and move forward on negotiations.Obama said nothing about rampant Palestinian terrorism or Abbas' Fatah party's refusal to recognize the existence of Israel.The U.S. president also didn't address the issue of Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip and is gaining ground on Abbas' territory in the West Bank. Hamas officials in recent days declared their group will not recognize any deal signed between Abbas and Israel.Meanwhile, Obama stated Israel has facilitated greater freedom of movement for Palestinians and discussed important steps to restraining settlement activity, but [the Israelis] need to translate the discussion into actions on that and other issues.wnd.
US ships arrive in Israel ahead of joint drill Monday, 21 September 2009 05:39 News from Jerusalem .Aegis missile ships
US Navy missile ships started arriving in Israel on Sunday ahead of next month's joint missile defense exercise between the IDF and the American military's European Command.Called Juniper Cobra, the exercise will include the Arrow missile defense system as well as three American systems - the THAAD, Aegis and PAC3 - that will all be deployed in Israel for the duration of the exercise.Defense officials said the exercise would not begin for a few weeks, but that the ships were already arriving to begin preparing the infrastructure for the joint drill, the largest since Israel and the US began holding the biennial Juniper Cobra drill in 2001.The arrival of the ships began a day before Defense Minister Ehud Barak was scheduled to fly to Washington for talks with his American counterpart, Robert Gates. Defense officials said that their talks would focus on the Iranian threat, Israeli-US defense cooperation as well as the role Israel will play in the new American missile defense shield announced last week.Expectations in Israel are that the US will deploy several Aegis ballistic missile ships - that are capable of intercepting ballistic missiles - in the Mediterranean and Red seas. Israel is already home to the advanced X-Band radar that the Bush administration gave as a farewell gift last October.
Officials said it was possible that the US would decide to leave some systems in Israel following the drill to bolster Israeli defenses in face of the Iranian threat. One possibility under discussion is that Aegis ships, that carry SM3 missile interceptors, will be deployed in the Mediterranean and Red seas.On Sunday, Gates wrote an op-ed in The New York Times in which he contended that the new European defense plan - which won't include a missile defense system in Poland and the Czech Republic, as per the US announcement last week - was a reworking of the previous proposal, and provided more protection in light of the current threat assessments.
Gates said that while the previous plan would not have provided any protection before at least 2017 - and likely later - the new program will begin providing some level of protection by 2011, will receive a significant boost in capability by 2015, and will be built over time to create an increasingly greater zone of protection.The new approach to European missile defense actually provides us with greater flexibility to adapt as new threats develop and old ones recede,Gates wrote.He challenged critics who have slammed the new plan as a concession to Russia, which had vehemently opposed placing a missile defense shield in Eastern Europe.Russia's attitude and possible reaction played no part in my recommendation to the president on this issue,Gates said.If Russia's leaders embrace this plan, then that will be an unexpected, and welcome, change of policy on their part. But in any case the facts are clear: American missile defense on the continent will continue, and not just in Central Europe.This proposal is, simply put, a better way forward,Gates summed up his position.It is a very real manifestation of our continued commitment to our NATO allies in Europe.jpost
Ahmadinejad will get what he deserves Tuesday, 22 September 2009 12:14 News from Jerusalem .President Shimon Peres
President Shimon Peres on Tuesday harshly criticized Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his regime on Tuesday, and said he is certain Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu will give the Iranian leader what he deserves.In several hours, our prime minister will meet with the US president [Barack Obama] and with Palestinian Authority President [Mamhmoud] Abbas, and will purposely be absent from a UN meeting attended by one of the most terrible men of our time - Ahmadinejad, the president said during a visit at the Kaduri Agricultural School on the North.Peres called the Iranian leader a man who denies the Holocaust, a man of dark words and a bearer of bad news, a man without a future.The president went on to tell the students that the world isn't looking for negativity, it seeks hope. I'm sure Netanyahu will give [Ahmadinejad] what he deserves.Netanyahu, who arrived in New York on Monday, has announced that he will not be present when Ahmadinejad addresses the opening session of the UN General Assembly on Wednesday, to avoid being in the same hall as the Iranian president. The prime minister is scheduled to address the gathering on Thursday.On Monday, Ahmadinejad said he is proud that the West was outraged by his denial of the Holocaust, according to Iran's state news agency.
The report by IRNA quoted the Iranian president as saying that angering the world's professional killers - an apparent reference to Israel and some in the West - is a source of pride for us.During a speech on Friday, Ahmadinejad reiterated his doubts about the Holocaust, questioning whether it was a real event.The remarks drew swift condemnation from the West.Speaking at Quds Day, an annual anti-Israel commemoration in Iran, Ahmadinejad said the Holocaust had been a false pretext to create Israel. He also called on all Muslims to confront the Zionist regime [as] a national and religious duty.The European Union, UK, US and Russia condemned Ahmadinejad's denial of the Holocaust, saying it encouraged anti-Semitism and hatred.jpost
Iran loses its only AWACS as Ahmadinejad threatens the world Wednesday, 23 September 2009 15:08 News from Jerusalem .Iran's AWACS destroyed in parade collision
Up above a big military parade in Tehran on Tuesday, Sept. 22, as Iranian president declared Iran's armed forces would chop off the hands of any power daring to attack his country, two air force jets collided in mid-air. One was Iran's only airborne warning and control system (AWACS) for coordinating long-distance aerial operations, DEBKAfile's military and Iranian sources disclose.The proud military parade, which included a march-past, a line of Shehab-3 missiles and an air force fly-past, was planned to give Ahmadinejad a dazzling send-off for New York and add steel to his UN Assembly speech Wednesday.Dubbed Simorgh(a flying creature of Iranian fable which performs wonders in mid-flight), the AWACS' appearance, escorted by fighter jets, was to have been the climax for the Iranian Air force's fly-past over the parade. Instead, it collided with one of escorting planes, a US-made F-5E, and both crashed to the ground in flames. All seven crewmen were killed.Eye witnesses reported that the flaming planes landed on the mausoleum burial site of the Islamic revolution's founder Ruhollah Khomeini, a national shrine. According to Western observers, no distress signals came from either cockpit indicating that the collision and explosions were sudden and fast.
DEBKAfile's military sources say the disaster was a serious blow to the Iranian Air Force not long after its first and only AWACS went into service in April 2008. It was a renovated version of the Russian Ilyushin 76, part of Saddam Hussein's air force before it was transferred to Iran in 1991 during the first Gulf War.Tehran hired Russian technicians to carry out renovations and install up-to-date radar. At the launching ceremony of the upgraded AWACS, Air Force commander Brig. Gen. Ahmad Miqani boasted its new radar systems were made in Iran and able to spot any airplane or missile at a distance of 1,000 kilometers from Iran's borders.The loss of this airborne control system has left Iran's air force and air and missile defenses without electronic eyes for surveillance of the skies around its borders.debka
Iran nuclear chief: We built new generation of centrifuges Tuesday, 22 September 2009 12:55 News from Jerusalem .Iranian centrifuges
Atomic Energy Organization head Salehi says Iranian scientists made new generation centrifuges that are currently being tests; adds Israel in no position to launch attack.Iran has built a new generation of centrifuges which are currently undergoing technical tests, the new head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization Ali Akbar Salehi said on Tuesday.Iranian scientists have made new generation centrifuges that are currently undergoing necessary tests,he told a news conference, according to the official news agency IRNA.According to a recent report issued by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Iran has increased the number of operational centrifuges at its nuclear sites to 8,308, despite decreasing uranium production.
The IAEA said the large amount of centrifuges will allow Iran to expand its uranium production should it choose to do so.Asked about the possibility of an Israeli attack on Iran, Salehi said, The Zionist entity is in no position to take such a step,adding that Tehran was working to improve its defense systems to better protect the nuclear facilities.Salehi spoke ahead of next week's talks between Iran and the six world powers (five permanent members of the UN Security Council - China, France, Russia, the United States and Britain - plus Germany), and said Tehran's representatives will not discuss the nuclear program during the negotiations.The West suspects Iran is seeking the means to produce bombs, not just fuel for nuclear power plants as it says.ynet.
Lt. Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi: Iran Threat to the Entire Free World Tuesday, 22 September 2009 05:17 News from Jerusalem .Lt. Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi
In an interview with Israel Army Radio, the Chief of the General Staff spoke about the threat of Iran and the release of Gilad Shalit.During an interview on Israel Army Radio on Monday (Sept. 21), the Chief of the General Staff, Lt. Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi, spoke about the threat posed by Iran. He said that the possibility of Iran becoming a nuclear power is a threat not only to the State of Israel, but for the Middle East and the entire free world,Speaking about the ways of dealing with the issue he said:We all understand that the best way of coping is through international sanctions... I hope that Iran will understand this. I think that if not, Israel has the right to defend itself, and all options are open. The IDF's working premise is that we have to be prepared for that possibility, and that is exactly what we are doing.On the topic of the necessary cooperation between the IDF and the US Army, Lt. Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi said that the IDF has a professional and productive cooperation with the American military. We have a special relationship with the United States.The Chief of the General Staff also spoke about his excellent personal relationship with the US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Michael Mullen.
When asked about the UN Goldstone Report on Operation Cast Lead, the Chief of the General Staff said: I studied the report – it is erroneous and unbalanced. The report disregards the fact that Hamas fired at Israeli civilians for years. As someone who planned the Operation – we have an ethical army and we did everything possible in order not to harm uninvolved civilians.The Chief of the General Staff emphasized that he did not know even one incident in which IDF soldiers consciously aimed a gun at innocent civilians and pulled the trigger.About the abducted IDF soldier Gilad Shalit, Lt. Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi said: Everybody wants Gilad to come home. We will not have completed our mission until Gilad returns home... He also spoke about the price that the State of Israel has to pay: I do not think that it is possible to bring Gilad home without releasing terror operatives – the question is which terror operatives. It is wrong to raise false hope that it will happen without the release of terror operatives.Lt. Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi also spoke about the issue of members of bereaved families being drafted into combat units, in the context of the tragic accident where Cpt. Assaf Ramon was killed: We have to discuss the issue and consider the wishes of the families and the soldiers.idf.
OBAMA CZAR WHITES MUST STEP DOWN FOR BLACKS,GAY LEADERS
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYhY68kwAxg&feature=player_embedded
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XWYJRtKHthk&feature=player_embedded
CZAR WARS Diversity boss: White people must step down Obama appointee declares positions of power should go to people of color, gays September 23, 2009
4:34 pm Eastern By Chelsea Schilling 2009 WorldNetDaily
With former Obama green jobs czar Van Jones gone, along with his views about whites directing poisons to minorities, focus is now shifting to race-based views of diversity czar Mark Lloyd, who has suggested white people step down from positions of power to allow more people of color, gays and other people to take those positions.Lloyd, the Federal Communications Commission chief diversity officer appointed to the newly created position by President Obama in early August, has talked about issues such as a 100 percent tax on broadcast outlets to collect money to provide alternative viewpoints, mandatory diversity in station ownership and the idea of requiring broadcast businesses to cater to the demands of local activism committees. It's time to put up or shut up, America. Literally. Get the book that shows how to fight the assault on your freedom of speech! Prior to his recent appointment, Lloyd was vice president for strategic initiatives at the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights. He was also a senior fellow at the George Soros-funded Center for American Progress and has worked as a reporter and producer at NBC and CNN.At a May 2005 Conference on Media Reform, Lloyd appeared as a speaker in a discussion on why media policy should be considered from a racial angle.
First, he addressed affirmative action policies: During the Clinton administration, largely because of Congress, who was then very concerned about affirmative action and believed that – although affirmative action largely benefited white women – that affirmative action was largely viewed as something that was benefitting blacks – not necessarily any of the other racial groups [chuckle] but by blacks. And that blacks had gotten enough and it was time to do something about this. These affirmative-action programs needed to be stopped. We have not made much improvement since we had begun to pull back from those things in the mid-1990s.Lloyd also spoke about the challenge of communication in rooms full of whites.The conversation about how we communicate with each other despite being aware of the clear impressions that I know that I make in rooms that I walk into, when people hear my voice, is a challenge. How much do I express the ... I think really pretty obvious complaints of black Americans in rooms full of whites.He later spoke about his concerns about whites occupying important leadership positions: There's nothing more difficult than this. Because we have really, truly good white people in important positions,Lloyd said. And the fact of the matter is that there are a limited number of those positions. And unless we are conscious of the need to have more people of color, gays, other people in those positions we will not change the problem.He continued,We're in a position where you have to say who is going to step down so someone else can have power.
The following is an audio recording of his statements: Lloyd has pushed for reinstatement of the Fairness Doctrine and, according to the Washington Times, spoken publicly of getting white media executives to step down in favor of minorities and prescribed policies to make liberal talk radio more successful. Lloyd's comments also sparked controversy when he praised Chavez during a June 2008 Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, saying the Venezuelan president had led really an incredible revolution – a democratic revolution.The following is a video of that comment: Chavez kicked the nation's oldest television network, RCTV, off the air in 2007 by refusing to renew its license, the Washington Times reported. He replaced it with a state-run station that aired cartoons and old movies while protesters marched in the streets. Chavez has also indicated that he may try to close down Globovision, a TV station that has criticized him.In addition to his comments at the May 2005 Conference on Media Reform about affirmative action and rooms full of whites,Lloyd also told the crowd,There are few things I think more frightening in the American mind than dark-skinned black men.Here I am,he said.
How we all miss the Shah 1:47 AM, September 22, 2009
Jimmy Carterwas as president -- long before his recent Israel-bashing and his calling Obama detractors racist. If Carter hadn't let the Shah be overthrown in 1979,there wouldn't be this problem in Afghanistan, nor would there have been the Iran-Iraq war,Pahlavi tells Avenue magazine.Iraq would never have dared to even send a plane over our country. The Gulf War wouldn't have happened, nor would any of the problems of the past 30 years, including the exporting of religious fanaticism.In the intro to the interview,Bob Colacellotalks about his and Andy Warhol's 1976 visit to Iran: The fact that the empress would invite Andy Warhol, fresh from Studio 54, to the Imperial Palace . . . showed just how open-minded, not to say hip, Her Imperial Highness was.Unlike, say, the Ayatollah Khomeini.
THE widow of the Shah of Iran, Empress Farah Pahlavi, is still around to remind us how bad Jimmy Carter was as president -- long before his recent Israel-bashing and his calling Obama detractors racist. If Carter hadn't let the Shah be overthrown in 1979,there wouldn't be this problem in Afghanistan, nor would there have been the Iran-Iraq war,Pahlavi tells Avenue magazine.Iraq would never have dared to even send a plane over our country. The Gulf War wouldn't have happened, nor would any of the problems of the past 30 years, including the exporting of religious fanaticism.In the intro to the interview, Bob Colacello talks about his and Andy Warhol's 1976 visit to Iran: The fact that the empress would invite Andy Warhol, fresh from Studio 54, to the Imperial Palace . . . showed just how open-minded, not to say hip, Her Imperial Highness was.Unlike, say, the Ayatollah Khomeini.
Obama to world: Don't expect America to fix it all By JENNIFER LOVEN, AP White House Correspondent – SEPT 23,09
UNITED NATIONS – President Barack Obama challenged world leaders Wednesday to shoulder more of the globe's critical burdens, promising a newly cooperative partner in America but sternly warning they can no longer castigate the U.S. as a go-it-alone bully while still demanding it cure all ills.Those who used to chastise America for acting alone in the world cannot now stand by and wait for America to solve the world's problems alone,said Obama in put-up-or-shut-up comments before a packed U.N. General Assembly hall.Now is the time for all of us to take our share of responsibility for a global response to global challenges.In his first appearance before the group, Obama promised the U.S. would reach out in a new era of engagement based on mutual interest and mutual respect,but he also wagged a rhetorical finger at leaders who spend much of their time at international gatherings excoriating the U.S. He said an almost reflexive anti-Americanism that swept the globe under the administration of his predecessor, George W. Bush, is not an excuse for collective inaction.Nothing is easier than blaming others for our troubles and absolving ourselves of responsibility for our choices and our actions,he said.And yet, directly following Obama at the podium was Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, who railed against the U.N. Security Council, which includes the U.S., calling it a terror council and accusing it of treating smaller nations as second class, despised.U.S. presidents — Bush included — have come to the United Nations year after year with a wish list of action items and preaching the gospel of working together. The U.S. is rich and powerful, but cannot solve problems without help from the rest of the world, they say, whether Democrat or Republican.
So Obama's message at its core was not new.But it was delivered in an unmistakably new, more humble tone.Following a president criticized for making my-way-or-the-highway requests of allies, Obama didn't demand so much as he chided and cajoled. It's now an inextricably interconnected world, he said, so that each country's problems become the others' and hardly anything can be solved in one place without participation from elsewhere.In the year 2009 — more than at any point in human history — the interests of nations and peoples are shared,Obama said.Following a president pilloried for arrogance, Obama talked more modestly about the United States.To be sure, he listed American contributions. But this was no chest-thumping bragging; instead it was a more lawyerly argument aimed at convincing the jury of Obama's world peers that the U.S. has heard the complaints from elsewhere and, under his leadership, is addressing them on many fronts. Those range from banning torture to winding down the Iraq war, working to rid the world of nuclear weapons, aggressively pursuing Mideast peace and bringing new energy to the battle against climate change.And he delivered the message that America will not behave as if it is better than anyone else.
No one nation can or should try to dominate another nation,Obama said.That is the future America wants — a future of peace and prosperity that we can only reach if we recognize that all nations have rights, but all nations have responsibilities as well.At home, it remains to be seen whether Obama's critics on the right will see this sort of talk as giving away some of America's accepted status as the globe's lone superpower.Many were already criticizing Obama along these lines after previous speeches meant to reach out a conciliatory hand to the world — such as during his inauguration or in Cairo addressing the Muslim world. As John Bolton, a U.S. ambassador to the U.N. under Bush, said before Obama's trip here: Why should we not expect a visible demonstration of Obamamania at the U.N.? He is giving them pretty much what they ask for.The president's reception in the traditionally staid U.N. hall was hardly Obamamania. But he received several rounds of applause, something rarely afforded to Bush. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, perhaps Obama's chief foe in the room who was delivering his own address later, listened intently but did not clap.Even while offering what he called a new chapter of international cooperation from Washington, Obama was blunt that others must step up or face dire consequences: extremists sowing terror in pockets of the world, protracted conflicts that grind on and on, genocide, mass atrocities, more nations with nuclear weapons, melting ice caps and ravaged populations, persistent poverty and pandemic disease.
At the top of Obama's urgent challenges are the nuclear programs of North Korea and Iran, the first having already produced several atomic bombs, the second suspected of moving rapidly in that direction and both in defiance of repeated international demands. He said the two nations must be held accountable if they continue, without mentioning the tougher sanctions that are his preferred penalties. The world must stand together to demonstrate that international law is not an empty promise,Obama said.The president was particularly muscular on the need to tackle global warming, declaring that America's days of dragging its feet on the issue are over. If we continue down our current course, every member of this assembly will see irreversible changes within their borders,he said.And, seeking to build on his three-way meeting in New York on Tuesday with Israeli and Palestinian leaders, Obama urged nations aligned with either side to abandon old divides — by speaking honestly to the Israelis about the Palestinians' legitimate claims to land and livelihood and to Palestinians and Arab nations about Israel's right to exist. All of us must decide whether we are serious about peace, or whether we only lend it lip service,Obama said.He said that all leaders will be held accountable by their citizens.They will not long tolerate those who are on the wrong side of history,he said.And yet, when national interests collide with global priorities, leaders almost always choose the former, or pay a steep price politically. Obama himself said,I will never apologize for acting in America's interests whenever necessary.Indeed, the president saw two tests of this firsthand on Wednesday, as his U.N. speech was bracketed by meetings with the leaders of Japan and Russia.In talks with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, Obama's top priority was seeking support for tougher U.N. action against Iran if multilateral talks with Tehran next month yield no progress. Russia, which has strong economic ties with Iran, has stood in the way of stronger action against its nuclear program in the past.Japan, meanwhile, just elected a leader who campaigned on shifting Japan's diplomatic stance from one that is less centered on Washington's lead.Obama and Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama reaffirmed the importance of the traditional U.S.-Japan alliance in public remarks after their morning meeting.
SINS OF PEOPLE
2 TIMOTHY 3:1-5
1 This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.
2 For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,
3 Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good,
4 Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God;
5 Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.
6 For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts,
7 Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.
DECIEVERS WAXING WORSE AND WORSE.
2 TIMOTHY 3:13
13 But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived.
MORE SIN SIGNS
EPHESIANS 5:5-8
5 For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.
6 Let no man deceive you with vain words: for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience.
7 Be not ye therefore partakers with them.
8 For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light:
SEX SINS
1 CORINTHIANS 6:9,14-18
9 Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind,
10 Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.
14 And God hath both raised up the Lord, and will also raise up us by his own power.
15 Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ? shall I then take the members of Christ, and make them the members of an harlot? God forbid.
16 What? know ye not that he which is joined to an harlot is one body? for two, saith he, shall be one flesh.
17 But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit.
18 Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body.
GALATIONS 5:19-21
19 Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,
20 Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies,
21 Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.
Critics Assail Obama's Safe Schools Czar, Say He's Wrong Man for the Job
Critics say Kevin Jennings is too radical for the job of director of the Office of Safe and Drug Free Schools, citing what they say is his promotion of homosexuality in schools, his writings about his past drug abuse and his onetime contempt for religion. By Maxim Lott FOXNews.com Wednesday, September 23, 2009
President Obama's safe schools czar is a former schoolteacher who has advocated promoting homosexuality in schools, written about his past drug abuse, expressed his contempt for religion and detailed an incident in which he did not report an underage student who told him he was having sex with older men.Conservatives are up in arms about the appointment of Kevin Jennings, Obama's director of the Office of Safe and Drug Free Schools, saying he is too radical for the job.Jennings was appointed to the position largely because of his longtime record of working to end bullying and discrimination in schools. In 1990, as a teacher in Massachusetts, he founded the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN), which now has over 40 chapters at schools nationwide. He has also published six books on gay rights and education, including one that describes his own experiences as a closeted gay student.The OSDFS was created by the Bush administration in 2002. According to its Web site, one of its primary functions is to provide financial assistance for drug and violence prevention activities and activities that promote the health and well being of students in elementary and secondary schools, and institutions of higher education.
Jennings critics say he fits only half the bill, if that.Jennings was obviously chosen for this job because of the safe schools aspect... defining 'safe schools' narrowly in terms of safe for homosexuality,Peter Sprigg, a senior fellow at the Family Research Council, told FOXNews.com.But at least half of the job involves creating drug-free schools, and we've not been offered any evidence about what qualifications Jennings has for promoting drug-free schools.Jennings' detractors note that he made four references to his personal drug abuse in his 2007 autobiography, Mama's Boy, Preacher's Son: A Memoir.On page 103, discussing his high school years in Hawaii in the early 1980s, Jennings wrote:I got stoned more often and went out to the beach at Bellows, overlooking Honolulu Harbor and the lights of the city, to drink with my buddies on Friday and Saturday nights, spending hours watching the planes take off and land at the airport, which is actually quite fascinating when you are drunk and stoned.Sprigg said that quote is particularly unacceptable for someone who has been named to lead America's Office of Safe and Drug Free Schools.It would be nice to hear from Mr. Jennings ... that he regrets the drug use he engaged in when he was in school,Sprigg said. But in this autobiography, which Mr. Jennings wrote only recently, he never expresses any regret about his youthful drug use.
But Amanda Terkel, deputy research director at the Center for American Progress, sees Jennings' comments about drugs in a different light.We have had elected officials do [drugs] and we still believe it is fine for them to be elected, she said.This is a point in his life that he was struggling ... I think those experiences now help him reach out to students, relate to what they are going through, and help them through their problems.Liberal groups remain in Jennings' corner, saying he is fully qualified for his position and is the victim of a right-wing smear campaign. But Jennings' detractors point to other things he has said that alarm social conservatives.In 1997, according to a transcript put together by Brian J. Burt, managing editor of the student-run Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy, Jennings said he hoped that promoting homosexuality in schools would be considered fine in the future.One of our board members was called to testify before Congress when they had hearings on the promotion of homosexuality in schools, Jennings said.And we were busy putting out press releases, and saying,We're not promoting homosexuality, that's not what our program's about. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah..Being finished might someday mean that most straight people, when they would hear that someone was promoting homosexuality, would say Yeah, who cares? because they wouldn't necessarily equate homosexuality with something bad that you would not want to promote.The group Jennings founded has also been accused of promoting homosexuality in schools. At a GLSEN conference in 2000, co-sponsored with the Massachusetts Department of Education, the group landed in hot water when it was revealed that it had included an educational seminar for kids that graphically described some unorthodox sex techniques.
A state official who spoke to teens at the conference said:Fisting (forcing one's entire hand into another person's rectum or vagina) often gets a bad rap....[It's] an experience of letting somebody into your body that you want to be that close and intimate with...[and] to put you into an exploratory mode.At the time, Jennings said he had concerns about events at the conference, but he also criticized attendees who filmed it.From what I've heard, I have concerns as well,Jennings told the Boston Globe in May 2000.GLSEN believes that children do have a right to accurate, safer sex education, but this needs to be delivered in an age-appropriate and sensitive manner.What troubles me is the people who have the tape know what our mission is, they know that our work is about preventing harassment and they know that session was not the totality of what was offered at a conference with over 50 sessions,he said.But Peter LaBarbera, President of Americans for Truth About Homosexuality, said Jennings' reaction was weak and unacceptable.He never really apologized. If a conservative group had done that, they would be out of business,LaBarbera said.The religious right is also alarmed by Jennings' personal views about religion. In his memoir, he wrote of his views while he was in high school:What had [God] done for me, other than make me feel shame and guilt? Squat. Screw you, buddy -- I don't need you around anymore, I decided.The Baptist Church had left me only a legacy of self-hatred, shame, and disappointment, and I wanted no more of it or its Father. The long erosion of my faith was now complete, and I, for many years, reacted violently to anyone who professed any kind of religion. Decades passed before I opened a Bible again.
Terkel said Jennings was writing about a low point in his life, and he now considers himself a religious person.Since then he has been involved in the Union Theological Seminary,she said.He does consider himself religious. He tithes -- I just don't see any evidence that he is hostile to religion.Jennings is on the board of the Union Theological Seminary, which describes itself as progressive and evangelical.Another controversy from Jennings' past concerns an account in his 1994 book,One Teacher In 10,about how, as a teacher, he knew a high school sophomore named Brewster who was involved with an older man:Out spilled a story about his involvement with an older man he had met in Boston. I listened, sympathized, and offered advice. He left my office with a smile on his face that I would see every time I saw him on the campus for the next two years, until he graduated.The account led Diane Lenning, head of the National Education Association's Republican Educators Caucus, to criticize Jennings in 2004 for not alerting school and state authorities about the boy's situation, calling Jennings' failure to do so an unethical practice.Jennings threatened to sue Lenning for libel, saying she had no evidence that he knew the student in question was sexually active, or that he failed to report the situation.
But a professor at Grove City College in Pennsylvania, Warren Throckmorton, has produced an audio recording of a speech Jennings gave in 2000 at a GLSEN rally in Iowa, in which Jennings made it clear that he believed the student was sexually active:I said, What were you doing in Boston on a school night, Brewster? He got very quiet, and he finally looked at me and said,Well I met someone in the bus station bathroom and I went home with him.High school sophomore, 15 years old I looked at Brewster and said, You know, I hope you knew to use a condom.[Audio is available on the professor's Web site.]The Washington Times reported in 2004 that state authorities said Mr. Jennings filed no report in 1988.A spokeswoman for the Massachusetts Department for Children and Families, the department to which Jennings -- as a Massachusetts teacher -- would have been legally obliged to report the situation, did not return calls from FOXNews.com.GLSEN spokesman Daryl Presgraves told FOXNews.com that all the attacks on Jennings were hate-motivated smears, but he declined to address individual issues.From falsehoods to misrepresentations to things taken out of context to outright smears all of which have been fully debunked these groups will stop at nothing to ensure that no effective action is taken to address bullying based on sexual orientation and gender identity/expression in America's schools.They have failed to derail and slander GLSEN's well-respected work in the education world, which includes partnerships with numerous national education organizations, and they now seek to tarnish Kevin Jennings' highly regarded career as an educator.But Sprigg countered that nobody has adequately answered the questions that are being raised about Jennings.
Speaking of Jennings' job, he said: I think it's unfortunate that [it] is a position that did not require any sort of confirmation process, because there are a lot of serious questions about Jennings and there has not been any forum in which Jennings has been required to answer the questions.Jennings forwarded questions from FOXNews.com to Department of Education spokesman Justin Hamilton, who declined to comment.But Terkel said that Jennings' appointment showed that the Obama administration was taking safe schools seriously.For a long time I think this position was largely neglected. It was seen as a throwaway position [by the Bush administration.] Now the Obama administration has made an attempt to find someone who, in many ways, seems tailor-made for this position. [Jennings] has devoted his whole career to promoting safe schools.
WORLD TERRORISM
GENESIS 6:11-13
11 The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.(WORLD TERRORISM,MURDERS)(HAMAS IN HEBREW IS VIOLENCE)
12 And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.
13 And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence (TERRORISM)(HAMAS) through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.
2 PETER 2:5
5 And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly;
2 PETER 3:7
7 But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men
LEVITICUS 26:16
16 I also will do this unto you; I will even appoint over you( sudden) terror, consumption, and the burning ague, that shall consume the eyes, and cause sorrow of heart: and ye shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it.
GENESIS 16:11-12
11 And the angel of the LORD said unto her, Behold, thou art with child, and shalt bear a son, and shalt call his name Ishmael; because the LORD hath heard thy affliction.
12 And he will be a wild man; his hand will be against every man, and every man's hand against him; and he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren.
ISAIAH 33:1,18-19 Woe to thee that spoilest,(destroys) and thou wast not spoiled;(destroyed) and dealest treacherously, and they dealt not treacherously with thee! when thou shalt cease to spoil,(destroy) thou shalt be spoiled;(destroyed) and when thou shalt make an end to deal treacherously, they shall deal treacherously with thee.
18 Thine heart shall meditate terror. Where is the scribe? where is the receiver? where is he that counted the towers?
19 Thou shalt not see a fierce people, a people of a deeper speech than thou canst perceive; of a stammering tongue, that thou canst not understand.
JOHN 16:2
2 They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service.
Official: More questioned in NYC terror probe By TOM HAYS and DEVLIN BARRETT, Associated Press Writers - SEPT 23,09
NEW YORK – Hundreds of federal agents and police officers widened their investigation of a potential terrorism plot involving an alleged al-Qaida associate on Wednesday as questions lingered about whether early missteps might have made the chore harder.Investigators have fanned out in a New York City neighborhood to re-interview people previously encountered during previous raids there, and to locate others who know them, according to a law enforcement official familiar with the probe. The effort also includes a review of phone and other records that could link potential suspects to one another or identify new ones.Many of the people we've spoken to have been cooperative,said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to The Associated Press because the investigation is ongoing.The official said business owners also are on the list of possible witnesses in a potential homemade-bomb plot. The official declined to identify those businesses, but authorities regularly monitor sales by suppliers of chemicals that could be used in improvised explosives.Najibullah Zazi, a 24-year-old Denver airport shuttle driver whom authorities have linked to al-Qaida; his father; and Ahmad Wai Afzali, a Queens imam, were charged last weekend with lying to the FBI. Authorities say they found bomb-making instructions on a hard drive on Zazi's laptop but knew of no specific time or place for a possible attack.The arrests came after the series of high-profile raids of several city apartments in the Queens neighborhood where Zazi had recently visited, and were followed by a flurry of nationwide warnings of possible strikes on transit, sports and entertainment complexes.A criminal complaint suggests police acting without the FBI's knowledge might have inadvertently blown the surveillance and forced investigators' hand by questioning Afzali — considered a trusted police source in the community — about Zazi and other possible plotters. The imam, it says, turned around and tipped off Zazi by calling him the next day and saying in a recorded conversation,They asked me about you guys.
The detectives referred to in the recently unsealed criminal complaint work for a division that operates independently from an FBI-run terrorism task force.When multiple agencies are involved in a probe, law enforcement runs the risk of someone tipping off someone who shouldn't have been tipped off,said Harry Sandick, a former federal prosecutor now in private practice.You often have informants who are working both sides,he said.That seems to part of what happened here, they trusted this fellow and that trust wasn't well-placed. He couldn't be trusted to keep secrets.The complaint also suggests that the NYPD and FBI might have spooked Zazi even before the imam's call by towing and searching a rental car he was using on his trip to New York City. In the phone conversation with Afzali, Zazi said the car's disappearance convinced him he was being watched.Searching the car and him realizing that it had happened, that may have been a little ham-handed, but they obviously had to realize when they interviewed the imam that it could get back to him,said Larry Bacella, another former federal prosecutor.Police officials say that their investigators reached out to Afzali only after receiving fresh information from the terrorism task force that a terrorism plot was possibly in progress.In a joint statement, Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly and Joe Demarest, head of the FBI office in New York, denied reports that the questioning of Afzali and his alleged betrayal had caused a rift between the agencies.The FBI and the NYPD work together on joint investigations and side by side in task forces on a daily basis,the statement said.This collaboration is an essential part of what helps to protect New York City from another terrorist attack.Barrett reported from Washington.
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.
Tropical Storm Nora strengthens in Pacific SEPT 23,09
MIAMI – Tropical Storm Nora is strengthening in the open Pacific far off Mexico's coast, but the system is not expected to threaten land.The storm has maximum sustained winds near 50 mph (75 kph).It was centered Wednesday about 705 miles (1,135kilometers) southwest of the southern tip of Mexico's Baja California peninsula. It's moving west-northwest near 7 mph (11 kph).
U.S. flood damage in Georgia to top $250 million By Matthew Bigg – Wed Sep 23, 2:55 pm ET
ATLANTA (Reuters) – Flooding in north Georgia that killed nine people caused $250 million worth of damage to property and tens of millions of dollars more damage to infrastructure, the state insurance commissioner said on Wednesday.Parts of the I-20 interstate highway that runs through downtown Atlanta were closed through the Wednesday morning rush hour and at least 20 bridges, including some over the highway, appeared damaged, commissioner John Oxendine said.There was a lot of water pressure building up on those bridges and that's a major concern,said Oxendine who based his damage estimate on an aerial inspection.But two days after flood waters reached their peak, only nine roads and six bridges in the southeastern state remained closed, according to the Georgia Department of Transportation.The flooding struck on Monday after days of rain that in some parts of Atlanta were the heaviest in the city in more than 100 years, according to state climatologist Pam Knox at the University of Georgia in Athens.Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue asked President Barack Obama on Tuesday to declare a state of emergency for Georgia.The U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency is considering a request from Georgia for aid.
Oxendine said only around 20 percent of private buildings damaged would likely be covered by flood insurance.The Chattahoochee river broke its banks and several smaller creeks and tributaries that snake through the city became raging torrents with water levels rising up to 20 feet. In most cases the water quickly receded.(Editing by Pascal Fletcher and Vicki Allen)
Ga. residents warned of stagnant water after flood By DIONNE WALKER, Associated Press Writer – SEPT 23,09
ATLANTA – Georgia residents returning Wednesday to homes soaked by days of torrential rains were warned of a hidden danger — disease-causing bacteria and jagged debris harbored by stagnant, murky water.Standing water up to several feet deep was still pooled in some neighborhoods, including parts of Cobb County in the Atlanta area. Anyone venturing into a flooded yard or basement should wear rubber waders and surgical gloves, and items that were submerged should be cleaned with disinfectant, state emergency officials said.Bacteria in water left behind after flooding can infect open wounds, and the soup could also contain harmful chemicals, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.Clorox is going to be your best friend,state Insurance Commissioner John Oxendine said Wednesday.Flooding at sewage plants in at least four Atlanta-area counties along the Chattahoochee River could add human waste and plant debris to the standing water in some neighborhoods, Oxendine said.Residents of Stephens and Douglas counties were without running water late Wednesday morning, the emergency management agency said.
President Barack Obama assured Georgia officials that requests for federal aid to deal with the flooding will receive prompt attention, the White House said Wednesday. Obama called Gov. Sonny Perdue late Tuesday after the governor asked Obama to declare a state of emergency in Georgia. Officials estimated $250 million in damage in the state.At least 10 deaths in Georgia and Alabama were blamed on the torrential downpours in the Southeast. The storms finally relented and relief was in sight with just a slight chance of rain Wednesday, but the onslaught left many parts of the region in stagnant water.Those conditions were keeping about 320 displaced residents at seven shelters around the state on Wednesday, according to estimates from the Georgia Emergency Management Agency.Johnnie Chavours said she has been praying to pass the time at a Red Cross shelter in Cobb County. She and her sons evacuated their apartment in Lithia Springs Monday night, and there was no word on when they could return.The family grabbed as much as they could before they were rescued by firefighters on Monday night.We seen the water coming in through the wall,Chavours said as she sat on a green cot, rocking a friend's baby to sleep.When they left, the water was up to the balcony of her third floor apartment, and her neighbors below were completely submerged. Chavours worries about how much damage was done before she left, but is eager to get home.If I have a home there,she said.
Dust storm shrouds Sydney, obscures monuments By ROHAN SULLIVAN, Associated Press Writer – Wed Sep 23, 2:44 pm ET
SYDNEY – Red Outback grit shrouded Australia's largest city Wednesday, blotting out such landmarks as the Sydney Opera House and Harbour Bridge and even reaching underground to coat subway stations. The country's worst dust storm in 70 years diverted planes and produced an eerie orange sky.The haze was visible from space, appearing as a huge brown smudge in satellite photographs of Australia.By afternoon, the dust had moved on from Sydney, heading north to the Queensland state capital of Brisbane, where the sky was clogged into the evening.No one was hurt as a result of the pall that swept in overnight, bringing an eerie orange dawn to Sydney, but ambulance services reported a spike in emergency calls from people with breathing difficulties, and police warned drivers to take it easy on the roads.The dust clouds formed in Australia's interior — parched by the worst drought on record — when gale force winds snatched up tons of topsoil and threw it high into the sky before carrying it hundreds of miles (kilometers) eastward.
The Sydney Morning Herald called it the day the country blew into town.The dust so thoroughly blanketed everything in its path — clothes, cars, train seats — that Queensland promised to lift water restrictions, imposed because of the drought, so residents could clean their homes and vehicles.Suburban rail trains carried the dust into underground stations in Sydney.When I got on the train at Cronulla, our seats were covered in this red dust, Robyn Jaques said, referring to a station south of the city.It's got over all of my clothes.International flights were diverted from Sydney to other cities — three from New Zealand were turned around altogether — and domestic schedules were thrown into chaos as operations at Sydney Airport were curtailed by unsafe visibility levels.Helicopters carrying water to douse bush fires raging in Queensland were grounded in the afternoon because of poor visibility.Even after Sydney's skies cleared, severe flight delays persisted because of diverted and late-running planes, according to national carrier Qantas. Passenger ferries on the city's famous harbor were also stopped for several hours for safety reasons.But forecasters predicted normal conditions would return to Sydney on Thursday, and flights were expected to be back on schedule.Such thick dust is rare over the city, and came along with other uncommon weather conditions across the country in recent days. Hailstorms have pummeled parts of the country this week, while other parts have been hit with an early spring mini-heatwave, and wildfires.
It did feel like Armageddon because when I was in the kitchen looking out the skylight, there was this red glow coming through,Sydney resident Karen told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio.The storms are the most severe since the 1940s, experts said. One was recorded traveling from southern Australia all the way to New Zealand some 1,400 miles (2,220 kilometers) away.Officials said particle pollution in Sydney's air rose to the worst on record Wednesday, and the New South Wales state ambulance service said it had received more than 250 calls before midday from people suffering breathing problems.People with asthma or heart or lung diseases were urged not to go outside and to keep their medicine inhalers handy. Keeping yourself indoors today is the main thing to do if you have any of those conditions and particularly if you're a known sensitive sufferer such as children, older adults or pregnant women,said Wayne Smith, a senior state health official.Sydney residents coughed and hacked their way through their morning commute, rubbing grit from their eyes. Some wore masks, wrapped their faces in scarves or pressed cloths over their noses and mouths.These dust storms are some of the largest in the last 70 years, said Nigel Tapper, an environmental scientist at Monash University.Ten very dry years over inland southern Australia and very strong westerlies have conspired to produce these storms.
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
GETHNER ON FINANCIAL REGULATIONS
http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?video=1274062799&play=1
http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?video=1274039346&play=1
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http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?video=1272575804&play=1
http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?video=1271979546&play=1
GOLDMAN SACHS GLOBAL INVESTMENT
http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?video=1274179724&play=1
http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?video=1274057552&play=1
http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?video=1273914490&play=1
FEDS LEAVE RATES UNCHANGED
http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?video=1274157622&play=1
http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?video=1274046328&play=1
http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?video=1274031559&play=1
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http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?video=1272420156&play=1
MOST POWERFUL WOMEN IN BANKING
http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?video=1274123001&play=1
http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?video=1274031179&play=1
http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?video=1273920178&play=1
FHA COMMISION SPEAKS OUT
http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?video=1274114504&play=1
US TANGLED UP IN GREEN MOVEMENT
http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?video=1273979977&play=1
RISKS IN CURRENCIES CONTINUE
http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?video=1273931244&play=1
CHINA AND CLIMATE CHANGE
http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?video=1273840590&play=1
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CZECH PRESIDENT SOUNDS OFF
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CANADAS HARPER ON THE ECONOMY
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OBAMA SPEAKS AT THE UN
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OBAMA ON CLIMATE CHANGE
http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?video=1271829294&play=1
6000 SCHOOLS GET SUCKED INTO CLIMATE CHANGE - DECIEVED BY OBAMA
http://live.radioamerica.org/loudwater/player.pl?name=wnd&url=http://feeds.radioamerica.org/podcast/DWP/audio/000007_012990.mp3
Fed slows housing market plan; rates to stay low By JEANNINE AVERSA, AP Economics Writer – SEPT 23,09
WASHINGTON – Signaling confidence in a recovery, the Federal Reserve decided Wednesday to stretch out the pace of a program intended to lower mortgage rates and prop up the housing market.Even so, rates on home loans are expected to remain low.
With the economy on the mend, the Fed said it now plans to reach its goal of buying $1.45 trillion in mortgage-backed securities and debt by the end of March, rather than by the end of this year as originally scheduled. It's the second time since August that the Fed has opted to slow emergency programs designed to encourage spending and boost the economy.Those decisions show that Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke and his colleagues are shifting from managing the financial and economic crises to nurturing a budding recovery.In a far brighter assessment, Fed policymakers said: Economic activity has picked up following its severe downturn. In August, policymakers had observed that economic activity was leveling out.To foster the recovery, the Fed also decided to hold the target range for its key bank lending rate at a record low of between zero and 0.25 percent. It again pledged to keep rates there for an extended period.Economists predict that means through the rest of this year, and perhaps into part of next year.Holding that rate steady means commercial banks' prime lending rate — used to peg rates on home equity loans, certain credit cards and other consumer loans — will stay at about 3.25 percent, the lowest in decades. The goal is to entice people and businesses to step up spending to aid economic growth.Yet even so, Fed policymakers predict inflation will remain subdued for some time.
On Wall Street, stocks initially enjoyed a bounce but quickly gave up those gains, once traders digested the news and saw nothing new in it to boost stocks.The market got exactly what it was expecting,said Thomas Wilson, a managing director at Brinker Capital in Berwyn, Pa.The Dow Jones industrial average, which had risen 27 points before the announcement, ended up losing more than 81 points to close at 9,748.55. Major market indicators are up more than 50 percent from their lows in early March, and many analysts fear stocks have become overvalued.Analysts say mortgage rates should remain low for now but could eventually head higher. That's why homeowners who want to refinance mortgages shouldn't delay, said Greg McBride, senior financial analyst at Bankrate.com.McBride said rates will eventually be pushed up by the Fed's gradual withdrawal from the market, the strengthening housing market and the likely increase in inflation as the economy stabilizes.Refinancing is especially urgent for people eligible for a separate government-backed refinance program, which expires in June, McBride said. But he said homeowners in adjustable-rate loans whose payments fell this year also need to move quickly.They could be tempted to put their heads in the sand on refinancing for another 12 months,he said.It could be a different story 12 months from now,with much higher rates for 30-year fixed rate mortgages.
In their more optimistic outlook, policymakers noted that financial conditions and the housing market have improved. Those observations build on Bernanke's declaration last week that the recession is very likely over.They also cautioned, though, that other factors could weigh down the recovery. Consumer spending — the lifeblood of economic activity — remains constrained by job losses, sluggish income growth, lower housing wealth and still hard-to-get-credit.Even though the Fed will slow its purchases of mortgage securities, rates for home loans should remain low in the 5 percent range as long as the purchases continue, said Guy Cecala, publisher of Inside Mortgage Finance. The program has helped the housing market, which led the country into recession. Home sales have firmed, and mortgage rates have dropped. Rates on 30-year home loans fell to 5.04 percent last week, compared with 5.78 percent a year earlier, Freddie Mac says.But the housing market's health remains precarious as foreclosures continue to mount.This phaseout is significant because housing, though stabilizing, is very dependent on the government help and so much of the economy depends on housing,said Sung Won Sohn, economist at California State University's Smith School of Business.The central bank announced the mortgage-buying program in November, after financial turmoil reached a crisis point.The Fed has bought roughly $775 billion worth of both mortgage-backed securities and debt from Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae, which finance most new mortgages. The central bank is buying roughly 85 percent of the mortgages issued by those companies, according to one estimate. It's basically bankrolling mortgage lending.
By doing so, the Fed is helping provide demand for these securities — which had dried up when the crisis deepened — and forcing down mortgage rates. The Fed's purchases of mortgage securities and debt have averaged roughly $25 billion a week over the past six weeks.The Fed did say additional mortgage purchases could occur if economic conditions warrant.A $8,000 federal tax credit for first-time home buyers also is helping to shore up the housing market. There's a bipartisan push on Capitol Hill to extend the credit, which expires on Nov. 30.As the recovery gains traction, the Fed will face more pressure to wind down some emergency programs. It's a fine line. Policymakers need to leave programs intact long enough to support the recovery — but not so long as to unleash inflation later on.Inflation will remain in check, according to the Fed policymakers, who got rid of language in their August statement that noted rising prices for energy and other commodities.Factories are still operating well below capacity. Other factors keeping prices in check include the weak job market — enabling employers to avoid wage increases — and cautious shoppers making companies wary of raising costs.After suffering a free-fall, the economy is growing at a pace of 3 to 4 percent in the current quarter, many analysts predict. But Bernanke warned that growth in the months ahead probably won't be strong enough to generate many new jobs and prevent the unemployment rate from rising. The rate hit a 26-year high of 9.7 percent in August and is expected to top 10 percent this year.The U.S. economy has moved from its deathbed to intensive care, so some of the Fed's more extreme policy programs can be rolled back,said Richard Yamarone, economist at Argus Research.However, the patient is still in intensive care, and the central bank should be careful not to pull the plug too quickly.AP Business Writers Daniel Wagner in Washington and Alex Veiga in Los Angeles contributed to this report.
Commission proposes stronger oversight of financial sector-The new authorities will rule on disputes between national supervisors (Photo: EUobserver)ANDREW WILLIS Today SEPT 23,09 @ 17:38 CET
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS – The European Commission came forward with a package of legal proposals for strengthened regulation of the financial sector on Wednesday (23 September), as the EU seeks to prevent a repeat of the last year's meltdown. The bundle of draft regulations is a direct result of political decisions taken by EU leaders meeting in Brussels in June and a meeting of finance ministers earlier the same month. In Brussels' time, this rapid progress is equivalent to the speed of light,said internal market commissioner Charlie McCreevy, referring to the frequently torturous speed of legislation coming out of the EU institutions.The proposals put forward a two-tier approach to supervision of Europe's financial sector. At the level of the individual firm, national supervisors will continue to carry out much of the day-to-day work, but three new authorities in the areas of banking, insurance, and securities and occupational pensions will play a co-ordinating role.Plans to equip the three authorities with powers to settle disputes between national supervisors, for example on the need to recapitalise a bank registered in one country but with branches in another, caused consternation in the UK early this year, with Slovakia, Slovenia, the Czech Republic and Romania also raising concerns.Addressing the fear that the new banking authority could, for example, force a member state government to recapitalise a bank with taxpayers money against its will, the new commission proposals contain a safeguard mechanism where member states can appeal a decision to the Council of Ministers (representing member states).At which point however, the appealing country would need to convince a qualified majority of member states to back its position, in order to successful reject a decision by one of the authorities.I anticipate that there will be further heavy discussion about this in the Council of Ministers and the European Parliament [where the draft legislation now goes]. Certainly in the Council of Ministers,said Mr McCreevy in acknowledgement of the rocky road still to be travelled if the new system is to be up and running by next year as hoped.
Under the proposals, the new authorities will draw up a single rulebook for the three areas, so that the same standards apply to all institutions, big or small, national or cross-border.Voting by authority boards would be on a qualified majority basis for the development of these guidelines and budgetary matters, but a simple majority for enforcement and implementation matters such as ruling in disputes between national supervisors.A provision within Wednesday's proposals calls for a review to be carried out after three years of operation of the new system, in order to see whether a further move to a single European supervisor should be taken.
However, Mr McCreevy ruled this out in the short term, firstly as a treaty change would likely be needed, but secondly due to a lack of practicality.There are 7,000 banks in the EU, from small to big. For 98 percent of which, their total action is within their own domestic border,he said.So why would you have a single supervisory authority, say for example located in Dublin, dealing with all of those? I don't think it would make sense.
European Systemic Risk Board
The EU commissioner for economic and monetary affairs, Joaquin Almunia, was also on hand to present plans to set up a new European Systemic Risk Board (ESRB) that will monitor the European financial system as a whole. The board will not have powers to enforce the warnings and recommendations it issues to member states, but Mr Almunia insisted that EU governments and national supervisors would heed any warnings given to them.Now we have a crisis and we have to learn from this crisis,said Mr Almunia, adding that systemic advice in the past had come from an array of disparate voices.
There was no body to convey the systemic warnings. This [new board] will increase the credibility of the warnings,he said, hinting that the markets would also play their role in punishing member states that did not take action on recommendations.
One area where the new board could have acted in the past, had it existed, was the dangerous situation in which families, especially in eastern Europe, had run up debts in foreign currencies.In some member states, people took out mortgages in euros, yen, and Swiss francs. This not only endangered them but also the financial institutions involved. That would have received a warning [from the ESRB],said Mr Almunia.
FED SPEECHES
http://www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/press/monetary/20090923a.htm
Press Release Release Date: September 23, 2009 FOMC REMARKS
For immediate release
Information received since the Federal Open Market Committee met in August suggests that economic activity has picked up following its severe downturn.Conditions in financial markets have improved further, and activity in the housing sector has increased.Household spending seems to be stabilizing, but remains constrained by ongoing job losses, sluggish income growth, lower housing wealth, and tight credit. Businesses are still cutting back on fixed investment and staffing, though at a slower pace; they continue to make progress in bringing inventory stocks into better alignment with sales. Although economic activity is likely to remain weak for a time, the Committee anticipates that policy actions to stabilize financial markets and institutions, fiscal and monetary stimulus, and market forces will support a strengthening of economic growth and a gradual return to higher levels of resource utilization in a context of price stability.With substantial resource slack likely to continue to dampen cost pressures and with longer-term inflation expectations stable, the Committee expects that inflation will remain subdued for some time.
In these circumstances, the Federal Reserve will continue to employ a wide range of tools to promote economic recovery and to preserve price stability.The Committee will maintain the target range for the federal funds rate at 0 to 1/4 percent and continues to anticipate that economic conditions are likely to warrant exceptionally low levels of the federal funds rate for an extended period.To provide support to mortgage lending and housing markets and to improve overall conditions in private credit markets, the Federal Reserve will purchase a total of $1.25 trillion of agency mortgage-backed securities and up to $200 billion of agency debt.The Committee will gradually slow the pace of these purchases in order to promote a smooth transition in markets and anticipates that they will be executed by the end of the first quarter of 2010.As previously announced, the Federal Reserve’s purchases of $300 billion of Treasury securities will be completed by the end of October 2009. The Committee will continue to evaluate the timing and overall amounts of its purchases of securities in light of the evolving economic outlook and conditions in financial markets. The Federal Reserve is monitoring the size and composition of its balance sheet and will make adjustments to its credit and liquidity programs as warranted.Voting for the FOMC monetary policy action were: Ben S. Bernanke, Chairman; William C. Dudley, Vice Chairman; Elizabeth A. Duke; Charles L. Evans; Donald L. Kohn; Jeffrey M. Lacker; Dennis P. Lockhart; Daniel K. Tarullo; Kevin M. Warsh; and Janet L. Yellen.
Gold slips as dollar manages to move higher By Sara Lepro, Ap Business Writer – SEPT 23,09
NEW YORK – The Federal Reserve's upbeat assessment of the economy Wednesday did little to stir commodities.Prices for oil, gold and other metals finished lower, while the dollar seesawed as the Fed said the pace of economic activity has picked up since its last meeting in August.Markets for many commodities were already closed before the Fed's statement, which came at the end of a two-day policy meeting Wednesday afternoon. But prices fell further in after-hours trading as the dollar recovered from a brief, sharp drop following the announcement.The Fed's decision to keep interest rates at a record low of near zero did not come as a surprise. The Fed reiterated in its statement Wednesday that inflation is not yet a concern and that it will likely be subdued for some time. Investors often use gold and oil as hedges against inflation.Commodities, which are priced in U.S. dollars, have surged this year thanks in no small part to the weak greenback, the value of which has eroded amid the rock-bottom interest rates and unprecedented government spending. The weaker dollar makes commodities cheaper for foreign investors.On the New York Mercantile Exchange Wednesday, gold for December delivery slipped $1.10 to finish at $1,014.40 an ounce, while December silver dropped 20.5 cents to $16.91 an ounce.
October platinum fell $11.40 to $1,327.80 an ounce.Among industrial metals, December copper futures lost 5.65 cents to $2.8080 a pound.Besides being hurt by the stronger dollar Wednesday, crude and gasoline prices took a big hit from more evidence of weak energy demand. Natural gas, however, extended recent gains, spiking nearly 7 percent. Natural gas has lagged the broader energy market this year.Light, sweet crude for November delivery tumbled nearly 4 percent, or $2.79, to settle at $68.97 a barrel after the government reported an unexpected rise in last week's crude inventories. Crude in storage is now 10.6 percent above year-ago levels, the Energy Department's Energy Information Administration said in its weekly report.Gasoline for October delivery fell 7.67 cents to $1.7049 a gallon, and heating oil lost 5.27 cents to $1.7594 a gallon.Natural gas rose 25.1 cents to settle at $3.86 per 1,000 cubic feet.Grain prices were mixed on the Chicago Board of Trade.December wheat futures added 4.25 cents to $4.60 a bushel, while corn for December delivery rose 4.50 cents to $3.3025 a bushel.November soybeans lost 1.5 cents to $9.2050 a bushel.
Other soft commodities, including cocoa, sugar and orange juice, fell.
Sarkozy proposes extra climate summit ahead of Copenhagen
LEIGH PHILLIPS Today SEPT 23,09 @ 09:12 CET
French President Nicolas Sarkozy has proposed that the leaaders of the major industrialised nations hold an extraordinary summit to discuss climate change ahead of the UN climate conference in Copenhagen in December.Concerns that negotiations on a global climate deal are close to stalemated, despite fresh proposals for domestic measures aiming to counter global warming from China, prompted the suggestion from the French leader, in New York for a day of climate discussions during a meeting of the UN General Assembly.Considering how complex this negotiation is, a new summit before Copenhagen is needed,he told attendees.We are on the path to failure if we continue to act as we have,he said.UN Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon warned ahead of the meeting:The climate negotiations are proceeding at glacial speed. The world's glaciers are now melting faster than human progress to protect them - and us.
However, both China and Japan impressed with offers made over the course of the day.
Chinese President Hu Jintao committed his country to a plan that would see an expansion of forest coverage by planting trees of some 240,000 kilometres and produce 15 percent of its energy from renewable sources by 2020.The Chinese leader also said that his country would reduce by a notable margin its carbon emissions growth.However, he did not attach a specific reduction figure to the pledge.At stake in the fight against climate change are the common interests of the entire world, he said.Out of a sense of responsibility to its own people and people across the world, China fully appreciates the importance and urgency of addressing climate change.
Developing countries should not ... be asked to take on obligations that go beyond their development stage,he added.Incoming Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama also re-iterated a commitment made shortly after his election that the country will cut emissions by 25 percent by 2020, beating the EU's binding target of 20 percent by the same date.The EU has however committed to a cut of 30 percent if an ambitious global deal is reached in Copenhagen.US President Barack Obama's presentation to delegates was much anticipated but in the end underwhelmed.The threat from climate change is serious, it is urgent, and it is growing,Mr Obama said.And the time we have to reverse this tide is running out.He outlined steps the US is already taking to reduce greenhouse gas emissions such as doubling the generating capacity from renewable energy sources over three years, constructing offshore wind plants and looking to carbon capture and storage to bury the carbon that is produced by industry and the power sector.But the American plan to cut emissions to 1990 levels by 2020 already announced and derided as strongly inadequate in many quarters is still tied up in the US Congress and may not be passed in advance of the Copenhagen meeting.Nevertheless, by the end of the UN conference on Tuesday, Mr Ban and Danish Prime Minister Lars Loekke Rasmussen, host of the Copenhagen summit, impressed by the Chinese offer, had become somewhat more optimistic.This feeling of political momentum - that was very strong,said Mr Rasmussen.
EU court slaps down Brussels attempts to lower eastern CO2 emissions
LEIGH PHILLIPS Today SEPT 23,09 @ 17:23 CET
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - Poland and Estonia have won a court challenge to European Commission attempts to rein in their carbon emissions, a move that could threaten the European Union's flagship mechanism for combatting climate change.The European Court of First Instance on Wednesday backed complaints from the two eastern EU member states, saying that the commission had exceeded the limits of its power when it rejected their national carbon emission reduction plans.We are extremely disappointed and we are studying the ruling with a view to a possible appeal,said commission environment spokeswoman Barbara Helfferich.The commission is studying the judgment carefully with a view to a possible appeal,she continued. The commission will take all possible action in order to protect the integrity of the European-wide market for allowances and minimise the legal uncertainty created by these rulings.
Under the EU's emissions trading scheme, the bloc's main pillar of its climate policy, major carbon emitters must submit annually a number of emission allowances to their government that are equivalent to their CO2 emissions for that year. If they do not release as much carbon as their allocation, they can sell on their surplus allowances. If they exceed their carbon allowances, they are obliged to purchase extra.The main fault with the ETS however has been that member states, responsible for emissions allowance allocations, have over-allocated allowances.As a result, from 2012, the emissions allowances will be centralised in the hands of the commission, ending the system of national allocation plans (NAPs).Until then, the commission has the power to review these plans. But the court found that in limiting the NAPs of Estonia and Poland, it had surpassed the boundary of its authority.The court finds ... that by specifying a specific quantity of allowances ... and by rejecting the national plan of the Republic of Estonia,one ruling read,the Commission has exceeded the limits of its power of review.A similar judgement was offered after Poland's complaint. Both submissions were backed by other eastern European member states: Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania and Romania.The court said that the commission was encroaching on the exclusive competence [of] the member states.
The EU executive has two months to lodge an appeal.
Meanwhile, the Czech Republic, which had recently given notice that it intended to withdraw its own, similar complaint, on Wednesday signalled that it will continue with the court case.Following the ruling, the price of carbon skidded, as markets worried that if the judgement is upheld by the European Court of Justice, member states will increase the allocations in their emission plans, a move that could see the price of carbon crash.The decision comes at an awkward time for Brussels, with the EU holding up its track-record on climate change as the most ambitious amongst industrialised powers in the lead-up to the UN climate conference in Copenhagen in December.Sanjeev Kumar, the emissions trading scheme co-ordinator for conservation group WWF told EUobserver: I've never seen a ruling as direct and aggressive.But at the same time in the end it's a lot of fuss about nothing. The ruling only applies to phase two of the ETS [until 2012], after which allocation is centralised.
Opaque banking fees leave EU citizens in the dark
ANDREW WILLIS 22.09.2009 @ 17:12 CET
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS – If tracking down the bank which charges the lowest account fees has left you frustrated in the past, new evidence suggests you may not be alone. A report published by the European Commission on Tuesday (22 September) described the price structure for current accounts offered by European banks as: very opaque making it almost impossible for consumers to know how much they are paying.So unclear is the information on websites and printed material that the independent experts producing the report for the Commission were forced to contact 66percent of the banks they surveyed in order to work out the real costs of an account.The report – which covered 221 banks making up 81 percent of the EU market – also showed that consumers pay considerably more for their current accounts in some member states, with average annual fees in Italy clocking in at €253, compared to a paltry €27 in good-value Bulgaria.There is widespread evidence that basic consumer principles are being violated with problems from complex prices to hidden charges, said EU commissioner for consumer affairs, Meglena Kuneva, while presenting the report in Brussels.Banks need to put their house in order with a culture change …and member state authorities need to fulfil their obligation to enforce EU consumer laws,she added.Two pieces of EU legislation are designed to protect citizens in this area. The Payment Services Directive, which must be transposed by member states into national law by 1 November of this year, is expected to provide greater transparency to the market.The Unfair Commercial Practices Directive - implemented in 2007 - is a comprehensive piece of legislation banning all practices that mislead consumers. But both rely on the correct enforcement by member state authorities, something the Commission says needs to be stepped up.
A catalogue of difficulties
As well as the difficulties in accessing information on banking fees, the new Commission report says advice given to clients by banking staff is frequently sub-standard, either the result of inadequate training or a simple desire to sell more expensive products.German data show that consumers terminate 50-80 percent of all long-term investments prematurely because of inadequate advice, resulting in a loss of €20-30 billion a year.Added to this, the complexities of changing a bank account in Europe mean switching rates remained as low as nine percent in 2007 and 2008, compared to 25 percent for car insurance.Last December the industry adopted principles to facilitate bank account switching – due to apply from 1 November 2009 -with the Commission saying it will monitor results closely.The report shows that banking fees are lower in countries where switching bank accounts is less laborious, a direct result of the greater competition.The European Consumers' Organisation, BEUC, welcomed the report's publication on Tuesday.The Commission has presented cold, hard facts that cannot be refuted. But this information will be useless unless it is acted upon and soon, said the groups director-general, Monique Goyens.The Commission says it intends to discuss the findings with national enforcement authorities such as the Office of Fair Trading in the UK.
Industry and greens battle over pseudoscience in EU capital
LEIGH PHILLIPS Today SEPT 23,09 @ 09:27 CET
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - An industry-bankrolled PR company has attacked what it calls pseudoscience in EU legislation, as a years-long war between the defenders of enlightenment and the partisans of obscurantism comes to Brussels.Grayling, the world's third largest public relations company, on Monday (21 September) launched ScienceMatters,a campaign to promote science-based policy-making.The group wants to take on bad science and what it describes as scaremongering about technology.
According to the ScienceMatters website, the group aims to ensure that EU policy-making ... be based on sound scientific evidence. Its members believe that the growing trend of ignoring or mis-communicating on science does little to promote the interests of the consumer, the environment, and science itself.Jessica Adkins, the campaign director and a lobbyist with Grayling, told EUobserver: On a range of issues, from genetically modified organisms to nanotechnology to chemicals to pesticides to cosmetics, the issue is that science isn't really being taken into account by decision makers.Her colleague, Guillaume Artois, a spokesperson for the campaign and a communications manager with Albermerle, a US chemical firm and one of the major backers of ScienceMatters, said that environmental risk assessment has become politicised in Brussels.We are puzzled by the way science is being treated by the European institutions,he said.In the chemical field, for example, there are established procedures based on a risk assessment, but when it comes to allowing a product on the market that has passed this assessment, it is somehow disregarded to profit some political concern.Once a risk assessment is done, that should be upheld, whatever the conclusions are.
Astroturf
Lobby transparency campaigners and environmental groups however are worried that far from encouraging science-led legislation, the new group is in reality what they call astroturf - a fake grassroots campaign that on the surface looks like a group of concerned citizens but actually is only out to promote the interests of the companies that have hired the PR firm.At first glance, the group appears to be the Brussels extension of recent efforts by scientists to tackle the avalanche of information in the public discourse that is based on spurious or outright false claims.In recent years, a number of researchers, particularly young ones, frustrated that astrology is viewed by some as a science, homeopathy as medicine, that the teaching of evolution is being squeezed out of biology curricula in some jurisdictions and that climate-change deniers are taken seriously by conservative politicians, have abandoned the shackles of political neutrality within the public debate and become openly partisan when it comes to their subject areas.From evolutionary biologist, militant atheist and alternative medicine sceptic Richard Dawkins to physician and the Guardian newspaper's Bad Science columnist, Ben Goldacre, the boffins are fighting back.Newspapers, internet bulletin boards and the blogosphere have been crammed with exposures of homeopathy as quackery, discussions of the fall-out in the UK from unwarranted scares over infant vaccinations, and laments about the general poverty of science reporting. A stream of best-selling books such as How Mumbo-Jumbo Conquered the World by Francis Wheen and a host polemical documentaries have firmly established the defence of reason as a dominant meme in the second half of the decade.But civil society groups in Brussels worry that ScienceMatters has piggybacked onto this discourse and taken what they say is otherwise a worthy endeavour - improving the scientific literacy of the public and policy-makers - but warped it to serve the interests of industries that want to limit the costs of legislation that aims to reduce pollution and harm to human health.
Chemical firm backers
The campaign is funded by major chemicals companies Albemarle, Chemtura, and ICL-IP. It is also supported - but receives no money - from the British Plastics Federation, the European Crop Protection Association - the pesticide lobby, and EuropaBio - the biotech trade association headed by Andrea Rappagliosi who is simultaneously the head of the Brussels office of pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline, all of whom have participated in roundtable discussions with what the campaign describes as EU stakeholders.
Foundation Nanonet, a Poland-based organisation that aims to popularise nanotechnology, is also a member of the new group.At the same time, the group is very up front about its backers, noting on its website that Albemarle, Chemtura, ICL-IP and Foundation Nanonet are members.The group also open about the fact that ScienceMatters' previous incarnation was ReachForLife, which began its existence a year ago as an organisation focussed on EU chemicals policy and its Regulation on Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals (Reach) legislation in particular.At the time of its launch, Axel Singhofen, an advisor on health and environment policy to the Greens in the European Parliament, accused ReachForLife of wanting to overturn a ban on decabromodiphenyl ether (deca-BDE), a flame retardant, and to prevent any such bans from occurring in the future.Mr Singhofen told this website that ReachForLife was originally created as a last-ditch attempt to reverse the ban on their flagship products.It's a joke that these cowboys are coming to the defence of science. Their adverts in Brussels media last year were full of misinformation, saying that EU assessments had found deca-BDE to present no risk, that they were proven to be safe, and had a clean track record.
But he pointed out that the European Commission's Scientific Committee on Toxicity, Ecotoxicity and Environment (CSTEE) and its Scientific Committee on Health and Environmental Risks both had recommended risk reduction for the product, and that risk assessment raised concerns about persistence of the chemical and bio-accumulation - which occurs when an organism absorbs a toxic substance at a rate greater than that at which the substance is lost.They say they're battling anti-science, but when you look at what they say is in the science, you see that they are completely misrepresenting it,he added.It's the worst spin that exists.Indeed, at the time, even the European Chemical Industry Council, the sector's trade association, publicly distanced itself from the ReachForLife campaign.Erik Wesselius, of the Alliance for Lobbying Transparency and Ethics Regulation (ALTER-EU), which argues for more openness in influence exerted by corporate lobbyists on the political agenda in Europe, told this website: It's a devious way for the industry to lobby the EU institutions, but this sort of astroturfing has a long tradition. Industry PR has been using this tactic for about ten years now. What they do is try to cast doubt on opponents by discrediting the science their opponents use.
They say they have the real science while their opponents base theirs on pseudoscience and scaremongering,he continued.But of course it's they who define what the real science is.He said that ReachForLife/ScienceMatters have set up a series of roundtables for stakeholders, but that these are always with industry representatives and sometimes an MEP and a journalist,but certainly not with all stakeholders, say, from civil society or genuine grassroots groups. They're not invited.Mr Wesselius also noted that Grayling is one of the companies that have not signed up to the European Commission's registry of lobbyists and that ReachForLife had been longlisted as a candidate for last year's EU Worst Lobby Awards, the annual spoof awards show that Alter-EU organises to raise awareness of lobbying influence in Brussels.ScienceMatters will spend €100,000 over the next twelve months on the campaign, atop a similar figure spent on ReachForLife. However, Ms Adkins denies that the group will do any lobbying, telling this website that the money will only be spent on holding roundtable discussions, the production of a report on the role of science in EU decision-making and media relations.
Greens have narrow perspective on science
Frank Swain, the British science writer and creator of the popular SciencePunk blog, said the campaign should be taken at its word. I don't think they're being disingenuous - it's right there on the website that these chemical companies back them. It's a bit unfair to call them astroturf.At the same, of course people are absolutely right to be concerned that any group might actually be in the service of industry interests,he told EUobserver, adding that there are endless examples of enterprise, particularly pharmaceutical companies, unduly influencing or suppressing the publication of scientific research.But that's why it is vital that our elected representatives be scientifically literate and depend on people that are competent in a knowledge of science.He added that environmentalists tend to have a pick-and-mix attitude when it comes to science.The Green parties and green groups sometimes have very narrow, very shallow perspective on science. In terms of climate change, the environmental movement are very strong, but elsewhere, they can be very lackadaisical, embracing science when it supports their case, and ignoring it when it doesn't.He said that on the question of nuclear power, medical testing on animals and genetically modified foods, environmentalists disregard what scientists have to say.It's natural to have concerns with the business practices of Monsanto, with concerns about the food supply chain, about food security and agribusiness, but it is important not to conflate that with an ideological opposition to GMOs.Don't put Frankenfood banners on a wall. Identify your concerns and support those with good evidence.
Hazard vs. risk
Green MEP Carl Schlyter, who himself worked as a chemical engineer before he went to Strasbourg, took umbrage at the accusation that environmentalists were at any time anti-science.It is not surprising that these companies would try something like this,he said.For them, they only time science is talked about is when they want to stop those who have concerns about protection of the environment or people.He said that behind the discussion of a defence of science, the campaign was in fact a reformulation of the debate about hazard versus risk that the two sides have been engaged in for years. Hazard is the potential to cause harm while risk on the other hand is the likelihood of harm. Some products can be highly hazardous, but if used correctly, present low or no risk. Alternately, other products can present very little hazard, but if used incorrectly carry a great deal of risk.Chemical companies and the producers of many industrial products have historically wanted to restrict regulation to risk alone, while environmentalists say the intrinsic hazard of a substance needs to be taken into account as well.Sometimes the immediate short-term danger of a product is very difficult to prove, even though over the longer term, it can cause imbalances in an ecosystem that could lead to a reduction in the productive capacity of the ecosystem.The companies have an economic agenda that is served by limiting what can be called scientific,he said.They must maximise their profits in the short term, thus anything that produces a delay - and legislative concerns over not-easily-identifiable dangers do this - must be discredited and the way they are now doing this is to label us as unscientific.He said that the companies have a more constricted definition of science as it applies to their products than he would adhere too.
They think that to be scientific is to say that only when something is absolutely proven beyond a shadow of a doubt to be bad should the product be pulled from the market,he said.You could say that the really extreme Green opposite of that would be that only when something is absolutely proven beyond a shadow of a doubt to be good should a product be allowed onto the market.The rest of us exist in the uncertain space in between. There is still science in that space and it is also the space in which we fight.Correction: A previous version of this article erroneously suggested that the International Fragrance Association supported the ReachForLife/ ScienceMatters campaign.
