BUSINESS IN MOTION A CANADIAN COMPANY COULD BE NOTHING BUT A PYRAMID SCAM,LOOKOUT
http://www.bimcorporation.com/
HE DOES NOT EVEN PUT HIS PICTURE ON HIS SITES - THIS GOT SCAM WRITTEN ALL OVER IT.
http://www.fastpitchnetworking.com/buyprofile_nocookie.cfm?ContactID=52332712&ShowAds=Yes&CFID=7732093&CFTOKEN=49099660
http://www.xing.com/profile/Alan_Kippax
BETTER BUSNESS BUREAU RATING (BBB) D RATING FOR BIM
http://mwco.bbb.org/WWWRoot/Report.aspx?site=160&bbb=0107&firm=1174803
http://www.bbb.org/business-reviews/ratings/
http://www.bbb.org/business-reviews/ratings/overview.html
Re: Business in Motion (Earnfirm.com) - Is it a scam.
Quote:Originally Posted by CrimeBustersNow
This $5000+ challenge to Dove and Cruiser seems to have caused them to keep their beaks shut!!! Also word has it that the top BIM distributors are running scared ahead of the CBC Marketplace expose; especially those in high positions in the community, many time leveraged to the hilt; 50 Grand and more!!! Tsk, Tsk, Tsk, we did try to warn you, just like we tried to warn Pigeon King International and look were Galbraith and his investors are to-day.
Police probe January 6, 2009 Pigeon King failure triggers one of the largest fraud investigations in Waterloo history
Breadth and depth of this (Pigeon King scheme) is huge: Police
http://www.betterfarming.com/online-...o-history-1526,dave - CBNow
I OWNED A PIECE OF AMWAY MYSELF FOR A YEAR ALL I TOOK IN WAS ABOUT $200.00 AND WEEKLY PEP TALKS ABOUT GETTING PEOPLE SIGNED UP SO I COULD MAKE BIG BUCKS.
The lure of easy money ANDREW RYAN From Friday's Globe and Mail
February 6, 2009 at 12:00 AM EST
It's common practice for snake-oil salesman to surface in a flailing economy. Money worries tend to make people even more susceptible to the siren's song of the fast fix, or the get-rich-quick scam. Have you walked by a lottery kiosk lately? Or possibly you've noticed the street poles plastered with flyers blazing messages like Work from Home! or Make $5,000 a Month! Or the late-night infomercials promising untold wealth in the fields of property flipping and selling useless junk on eBay. Imagine the freedom.The rubes are out there, and the lure of easy money has never been more tempting, which only demonstrates the public need for a program like Marketplace (tonight, CBC at 8:30)(10:30 AM SAT). Viewers need a consumer-affairs protector now, perhaps more than ever.In desperate times, you need a show like Marketplace to watch your back, says co-host Wendy Mesley, with a hint of mock seriousness. We've done a couple of stories this year driven by people trying to make money off desperate people, which takes you to a whole new level of cynicism. There's a lot of fear and doubt out there.
Marketplace host Wendy Mesley: I’m not afraid of powerful people. (TIBOR KOLLEY/THE GLOBE AND MAIL)Recently relocated to Friday night, Marketplace has been appointment television for viewers since 1972, when it was hosted by Joan Watson and George Finstad. Over the years, the sturdy CBC series has been an instrument of change, and influential in changing Canadian legislation and health and safety regulations; if you're miffed that you can't buy lawn darts any more, blame Marketplace.The current edition of Marketplace, hosted by the fearless Ms. Mesley and fellow CBC news veteran Erica Johnson, holds faithful to the show's original mandate of sound investigative journalism and, of course, taking corporate weasels and con artists to task.So far this season, Marketplace has gone after dodgy contractors and irresponsible cellphone companies. Tonight's show is fair warning for anyone who might still believe in the fast track to financial freedom.The Mesley-helmed feature opens on an average Monday night at an airport hotel in Toronto. Marketplace has taken hidden cameras into a seminar-style meeting for a company called Business in Motion, or BIM. Owner Allan Kippax comes on strong and folksy in his sales pitch, extolling attendees to shake off that unbelief, and get ready to hear some wonderful things here! What BIM International Corp. is selling: Exotic holiday discounts. BIM's $3,200 entrance fee includes a binder and membership in an online travel club, allegedly worth $9,000.Oh, the proviso? You are now a recruiter in the BIM family. Each new BIM member must in turn sell two $3,200 memberships to family or friends, and so on and so on, supposedly into infinity, but it never seems to work out that way.Even from the hidden-camera perspective, you can tell people are buying Kippax's hypnotic sales pitch.
He's like P.T. Barnum, Mesley says. Kippax is an amazing salesperson, extremely charming. You get into that room and it's very easy to get swayed by all the promises and the math. He tells people you can't lose, that it's easy money, and they had better get in quick, because it's going to blow! And the routine still works, remarkably. Kippax claims BIM has 8,000 Canadian members and revenue of $30-million a year, which speaks to the man's powers of persuasion.In the program's most unsettling scene, Kippax counsels a woman on her sales pitch. “Nobody never doesn't have the money, he tells her. It's just whether or not they're willing to go to the extra lengths to get it. Here's an example, your mother is dying in the hospital. You need $3,200 for an emergency operation. Are you going to get the money, yes or no? Says Mesley: It puts a whole new spin on the hard sell, or maybe it's a very old spin.All things commensurate, BIM is a plum target for the Marketplace treatment. BIM's promise of financial salvation sounds grand in these recessionary times, but you may not want to believe the hype. Mesley takes the BIM package to a real travel operator, who takes five minutes on Google to find that the BIM trip to Banff, at the supposed discount price of $604, is readily available elsewhere for $399; he finds the BIM Bahamas trip costing $604 for $379. A financial expert interviewed immediately deduces the company's prime directive of mass recruitment.The Marketplace investigation also reveals Kippax helped his cousin set up a similarly structured U.K.-based enterprise, called Treasure Traders Corp. Ltd., that somehow involved emeralds and the same routine of people at the bottom paying the people at the top. The company was shut down by the government there, and labelled a pyramid selling operation. Many Canadian investors lost money in the scheme.
Mesley locates a Kelowna, B.C., man who borrowed more than $6,000 to buy into the BIM empire, and then convinced his friends to do likewise. Since ejected from BIM for rule infraction, the man is angry, and wants some form of compensation or justice, but did he really sign up with BIM for the dream vacations? He stood to make a nice commission, or so he thought, Mesley says.The cautionary tale is typical of the current campaign of Marketplace, which becomes the lead-in show for CBC's the fifth estate as of next Friday. The report wraps with the traditional Marketplace payoff, wherein the subject of the show is permitted the opportunity to defend his or her actions.In this instance, Mesley sits down for an interview with Kippax, who defends the BIM mission statement straight away. We sell a product, and our product is exceptional,he says. When she broaches the suggestion of pyramid activity, Kippax's amiable salesman style disappears, his voice rising to a shout: “Never once, ever, have I been charged for anything to do with any of what you're talking about. So that's got to be something. … Clearly, every evidence you have is irrelevant. Shrugging off her subject's rageful indignation, Mesley pushes him harder.I'm used to mixing it up, says Mesley, who still fills in regularly on the anchor desk of CBC's The National. I was a political reporter for many years and I'm not afraid of powerful people. We always go in with a very solid case, otherwise we wouldn't be doing the story. It's my duty as a journalist to confront these people.
01 February 2009 @ 12:37 pm BIM arguments Chad Froese - BIM arguments
To the best of my memory, these are the arguments I’ve received so far for Business In Motion International.I have not attended a meeting, so it is possible that there may be more information/arguments. However, I have researched this a great deal, including contacting the Better Business Bureau, RCMP, and the Competition Bureau of Canada, and many of these arguments will not benefit from additional claims or data. I would be justified at this point to refuse to attend a presentation, never mind committing to an investment of thousands of dollars and to recruiting others (usually friends and family).
1.Q: What makes businesses like Microsoft, McDonald’s, and Walmart successful? A: A revolutionary distribution system.
a.This claim is suspect, since it confuses cause with effect. If these companies indeed possess markedly better systems to distribute their product, it is only on account of the product’s (or service’s) success. Microsoft originally stems from Gates’ programming expertise (among others) and continues with product popularity. McDonalds may not produce quality food, but it is distinctive in taste and cheap. Walmart is indeed a leader in logistics, but this would still be useless without either decent products or a better choice of products than most.
2.(Stemming from 1) BIM has a revolutionary distribution system, therefore it too will be successful.(This also seems to be used to establish BIM as a legitimate business.)
a.Distribution is not used consistently; a bait-and-switch. (1.) intends to establish the importance of a distribution system, and in (2.), BIM’s distribution system is implied, but is left undefined. Without more info, I can only guess that BIM’s method of recruiting new people to buy/sell product and recruit more is then labelled as distribution, which is very different from the examples given.
b.(1.a) is not addressed: what is a good (even revolutionary, as is claimed) system for distribution if the product is not successful, or even marketable?
i.My review of a product proved underwhelming: many hotels around the world could be booked for low prices, but primarily in off-season times. Furthermore, airfare was not included, meaning typical and easily available package deals (hotel + airfare) are cheaper. The counterargument made was that this product was merely one of many. When I asked for an example, none was forthcoming.
ii.One tendency of typical pyramid schemes is product loading, where new recruits are pressured to buy the product, often in large amounts. Return policies may be non-existent or disadvantageous. I do not know if BIM includes these policies, but it would be interesting to find out, since this reveals the product as being unmarketable; a business with a product few or no people will buy is untenable.
3.85% of business is in distribution and 15% is in manufacturing, therefore you want to be in distribution.
a.The initial claim is
i.A statistic, which may or may not be true. What is the source, and how reliable? Furthermore, is the number debatable?
ii.Vague--for example, what is included in distribution? Sales, shipping, logistics?
iii.A false dichotomy: there is more to business than distribution and manufacturing, regardless of how they are defined. Where does something as important to business as management/administration fit?
b.Inconsistent use and definition of distribution, as mentioned earlier.
c.Conclusion does not necessarily follow from claim. For example, if the market is over-saturated with businesses specializing in distribution, then the conclusion should be reversed. The conclusion only follows if it is assumed that there are more opportunities in distribution than in manufacturing, and this is not addressed.
4.Detractors of BIM must show/prove that it is a pyramid.
a.Misunderstanding/lack of understanding of burden of proof.
i.Burden of proof should lie upon those asking for an investment of time/effort from others. BIM must convince prospects of value or returns on their investments.
ii.Burden of proof should upon BIM to define itself as only an MLM (which is legal) and not a pyramid (which is illegal) if it exhibits characteristics of the latter (1-6 from the RCMP, 7-10 from the Competition Act of Canada):
1.High pressure sales tactics
2.Emphasis on recruitment over products/services
3.Secretive recruitment/information meetings
4.Reliance on word of mouth/relationships instead of advertising.
5.High-yield return in short term
6.Vague explanations of how the business works
7.Participants pay money for the right to receive compensation for recruiting new participants
8.A participant is required to buy a specific quantity of products, other than at cost price for the purpose of advertising, before the participant is allowed to join the plan or advance within the plan
9.Participants are knowingly sold commercially unreasonable quantities of the product or products (this practice is called inventory loading)
10.Participants are not allowed to return products on reasonable commercial terms.
5.Businesses like Amway, Tupperware, and Norwex are successful (and some for a long period of time) therefore BIM too will succeed.
a.Said businesses are MLMs but do not fit the definition of a pyramid. In general, these businesses maintain more focus on their products/services than on recruitment.
b.This argument assumes that BIM is not a pyramid.
c.Even if BIM is shown to have similarities to flourishing MLMs, its success is not guaranteed.More than 70% of businesses fail within the first 5 years.
d.If BIM can be shown to be a pyramid, then it is mathematically guaranteed to fail in a short period of time. In this failure, the majority of participants will lose their money. Furthermore, if Revenue Canada gets involved, all participants will lose their money.
6.Several police officers are involved in BIM (so, it is implied, BIM must be legal/legitimate).
a.Members of the police may be less likely to engage in illegal or unethical ventures, but this would not be the first or last time that there were exceptions. It may also be argued that there may be officers who are not aware or mindful of business competition laws.
7.BIM is not being investigated/has not been shut down by RCMP or a government agency (again, implying that BIM is legal/legitimate).
a.Said investigation may not be publically or widely known. It would not be the first time an investigation was kept under wraps until charges/arrests could be confidently made.
b.Said investigation may occur at a later date.
c.Police and government agencies do not have the resources necessary to pursue all illegal activity.
d.A false dichotomy is implied, that a business is either legal or under investigation. This is simply not true.
8.Alan Kippax (head/primary contact for BIM) has learned from his mistakes with Treasure Traders International (which shut down after a Supreme Court of Ontario case) and has set up BIM legally.
a.The reference to TTI has a “mistake” is a gross over-simplification. It is highly suspicious that one could mistakenly set up a pyramid which leaves thousands of people out of millions of dollars, and sue its most vocal critic in a case which goes to the second highest court in Canada. If doubt arose over TTI’s legality, the Competition Bureau of Canada offers to examine business plans for free to ensure legal compliance.
9.You cannot dismiss BIM unless you have tried it yourself.
a.This is true for subjective experiences: everyone has a personal response to something like a scary movie. However, this only a matter of taste; whether someone likes it. Likes or dislikes are superfluous when the legality and ethical nature of a venture is in question.
i.The implication may also be that objections to BIM are primarily emotional. This may or may not be true, but is still secondary when legality/ethics are in question.
b.Another implication is that insufficient information for objection is available without becoming a participant in BIM. This is not true if the venture in question exhibits several or all traits listed in (4.a.ii).
10.Appeal to personal character and success in a legitimate business.
a.The implication is that someone of integrity will not engage in illegal behaviour. This is unsupportable, and feasible only if the claim is weakened to that of: someone of integrity is less likely to engage in illegal behaviour.
b.Another implication is that someone who has had success in a legitimate business will not engage in illegal behaviour, or participate in a suspect business enterprise. As above, this is unsupportable, and only feasible if the claim is weakened to that of a probability.
i.To err is human. This is not just an antiquated proverb: it has been proven in scientific studies that even experts make mistakes in their own fields, often willingly ignoring troubling trends or evidence for emotional or ideological reasons, and then blaming others for failure.
Saturday, February 07, 2009
ANIMAL RIGHTS NUTS CRY WOLF
SARAH PALINS OFFICE SITE
http://gov.state.ak.us/
ALASKA OUTDOOR COUNCIL
http://www.alaskaoutdoorcouncil.org/about.html
ANIMAL RIGHTS NUTCASE ASHLEY JUDD PROMOTING HATE AGAINST SARAH PALIN - VIDEO
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yFdijgMytUA&eurl=http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/deadlineusa/2009/feb/03/sarah-palin-ashley-judd-wolf-killing&feature=player_embedded
Ashley Judd says women voting for Palin are suicidal
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BySATfll-BQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BySATfll-BQ&feature=related
Actress Ashley Judd criticizes the McCain/Palin ticket
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MEu5fnFVJAI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MEu5fnFVJAI&feature=related
ASHLEY JUDD NUTCASE ASKING FOR MONEY TO FIGHT SARAH PALIN,THIS IS NOTHING BUT A SCAM BY JUDD TO GET MONEY TO PROMOTE HERSELF.
http://www.eyeonpalin.org/
AT LEAST ELISABETH HASSELBACK FROM THE VIEW STUCK UP FOR PALIN,SHE SAID ALSO ABOUT ALL THE ABORTED INNOCENT BABBIES AND NOTHING SAID.
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x89s4z_the-view-elisabeth-hasselbeck-on-wo_shortfilms
http://www.wowowow.com/post/elisabeth-hasselbeck-wonders-why-judd-doesnt-fight-abortion-199060
http://abc.go.com/daytime/theview/cohosts#
http://abc.go.com/player/index?pn=index&showId=167365
http://abc.go.com/daytime/theview/info?pn=hottopics
http://abc.go.com/daytime/theview/video
OBAMA CLAIM TO BE THE ONE,JUDD LOVES OBAMA.AHMADINEJAD CLAIMED THE LIGHT TO.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mopkn0lPzM8&eurl=http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2179144/posts&feature=player_embedded
POOR SARAH THE GODLESS ENVIROMENTAL NUTCASES ARE AFTER HER NOW,THESE SICKOS PROTECT ANIMALS,BUT MILLIONS UPON MILLIONS OF INNOCENT BABBIES ARE MURDERED BECAUSE OF LUST AND PROMISCUITY AND THESE NUTCASES THINK THATS OK,BUT SHOOT A WOLF OR A SPOTTED OWL AND YOUR THE SCUM OF THE EARTH. THESE SICKO ENVIROMENTALISTS AND ANIMAL RIGHTS NUTCASES BETTER GET THEIR MORALS STRAIGHT.
JUST LIKE THE GAYS THIS ASHLEY JUDD IS PROUD TO GO AGAINST SARAH,MY BIBLE SAYS THE PROUD WILL BE BROUGHT DOWN FROM THEIR NOSE IN THE AIR PROUDNESS.IT SEEMS MUSLIMS AND ANIMAL RIGHTS AND ENVIROMENTALCASES CAN SAY ANYTHING AND DO ANYTHING THEY WANT,BUT LET A CHRISTIAN QUOTE A SCRIPTURE TO THESE GODLESS PEOPLE ABOUT JESUS AND HELL AND GAYS AND ABORTION AND WERE CLASSIFIED AS HATERS.......INTERESTING JUSTICE IN THIS WORLD THESE DAYS.
Friday, February 06, 2009 Ashley Judd: Clown in Wolf Guardian's Clothing
by Michelle Malkin
Actress Ashley Judd has finally earned her Hollywood stripes and provided award-winning comic relief. With Washington poised to shove a trillion-dollar stimulus pork pie down our throats, we need all the distractions we can get. I give Judd's unintentionally entertaining performance in a new Sarah Palin-bashing animal rights ad two diversionary thumbs up.The Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund sponsored the YouTube video starring Judd. They've dubbed their campaign, launched this week, Eye on Palin. With all the serious, socially responsible celebrity earnestness she could muster, Judd decried the aerial hunting of wolves in Alaska, the GOP governor's state. It is time to stop Sarah Palin and stop this senseless savagery, Judd intoned.
Casting herself as an environmental expert, Judd attacked Palin for casting aside science and championing the slaughter of wildlife. The video shows a wolf being shot, writhing in pain, with an ominous soundtrack throbbing and menacing photos of Palin flashing across the screen. Riddled with gunshots, biting at their backs in agony, they die (pause for quiver) a brutal death, Judd enunciates slowly as wolf squeals punctuate the video. Defenders of Wildlife assails Gov. Palin for proposing a $150 bounty for every wolf killed by aerial hunters. She's cruel and bloodthirsty, and she must be stopped! It's a compelling black-and-white storyline. But like the world Judd inhabits, this plot is make-believe.
Fact is, the policy is intended to protect other animals -- moose and caribou -- from overpopulation of wolves. Alaskans rely on caribou and moose for food. Not all Americans care to live on environmentally correct starlet diets of tofu salad and Pinkberry yogurt. Neither Palin nor the aerial hunters in those scary low-flying planes that have Judd quivering promote the program out of malice and animal insensitivity. On the contrary, they are the true compassionate conservationists. The bounty helped state biologists collecting wolf age data and provided incentives to reduce the wolf population when wildlife management efforts had fallen behind. This is about predator control. But to liberal, gun-control zealots thousands of miles away, it's all heartless murder. Federal law makes specific exceptions to aerial hunting for the protection of land, water, wildlife, livestock, domesticated animals, human life or crops. Targets are not limited to wolves. And, as Alaska wildlife officials note, the process is tightly controlled and designed to sustain wolf populations in the future.No matter. As Judd proclaimed, It is time to stop Sarah Palin. That is the true aim of left-wing lobbying groups and their allies in Hollywood. Palin is a threat not to Alaska's wolves, but to the liberal establishment's wolves. Defenders of Wildlife isn't targeting the ads in states affected by these policies. They're running the Judd-fronted ads across battleground states. It's about electoral interests, not wildlife interests. The eco-Kabuki theater is just plain laughable.
On a deadly serious note, Judd's selective concern for savagery is not lost on longtime observers of the activist entertainer's political forays. A militant, pro-choice feminist, Judd lashed out at the Republican ticket during the campaign: [A] woman voting for McCain and Palin is like a chicken voting for Colonel Sanders. Yet, not a peep has been heard from Judd about the serial predators of Planned Parenthood who have been caught on tape urging young girls to cover up statutory rape to facilitate abortion procedures. And she won't be starring in any YouTube ads decrying grisly late-term abortion procedures. In a starlet's world, senseless savagery only applies to the poster pet of the month.
February 6, 2009 Why does Sarah Palin support shooting wolves in Alaska?
If we really want more moose, we should be shooting bears instead, says a Vermont wildlife biologist By Brendan Borrell
The state of Alaska may no longer loom as large in the American consciousness as it did during the presidential election, but enviros won't let us forget failed GOP veep candidate Gov. Sarah Palin's support for aerial wolf hunting. Conservation watchdog Defenders of Wildlife this week launched the Eye on Palin Web site to spotlight the moose-hunting Alaska chief exec's Anti-Wolf, Anti-Wildlife Agenda.I am outraged by Sarah Palin's promotion of this cruel, unscientific and senseless practice, which has no place in modern America, actress and animal activist Ashley Judd said in a press release. Because she is apparently determined to continue and expand this horrific program, I am grateful that Defenders will aggressively fight to stop her. I am proud to be a part of that effort.
Palin took the attack as an affront to her state's livelihood.
Alaskans depend on wildlife for food and cultural practices which can't be sustained when predators are allowed to decimate moose and caribou populations, she said in a statement, Our predator-control programs are scientific and successful at protecting vulnerable wildlife.According to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, predators kill more than 80 percent of the moose and caribou that die there in a given year. To keep predator populations in check, the state currently has five wolf-control programs covering about 9.4 percent of the state's land area. Successful programs allow humans to take more moose, its Web site claims, and healthy populations of wolves continue to thrive in Alaska.The agency lumps bears and wolves together as effective and efficient predators of caribou, moose, deer and other wildlife, but it fails to explain why only wolves are targeted—or exactly how the predators affect moose, the most sought after big game animal in Alaska.To find out more, we asked Shawn Haskell, a wildlife biologist at the Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department in Saint Johnsbury, who has studied caribou and wolf populations in Alaska and now manages Vermont deer populations.
Why do we need to manage wildlife populations?
We are humans, and we have existed for hundreds of thousands of years as just a small part of nature—but in the past couple hundred years we've become a large part of nature. We influence nature simply by existing. That's the reason wildlife management is now necessary to conserve the wildlife populations we affect.
How do biologists determine if a population needs to be culled?
First, there's the biological carrying capacity. Animals, including humans—though we don't always recognize it—sometimes become too numerous for their own good. That's when they eat themselves out of house and home: Their body condition goes down, reproductive rates go down, and fawns and calves starve to death during their first week of life because their dams [mothers] have no milk.Then, there's what we call cultural carrying capacity, when animal populations become too numerous or too few for human liking. Deer become too many when they are eating your gardens excessively, and you're hitting them with your cars excessively. They become too few when you can't find any to hunt. So, there's a happy medium somewhere from a cultural perspective.
Why do Sarah Palin and her Alaskan neighbors want to shoot their wolves?
My guess is the areas where they want to aerial hunt and cull wolves are areas where rural residents are saying We used to have more moose, we used to have more caribou.
They want caribou and moose to eat, and predators can be their direct competition. It really is that simple. You'll find lots of scientific studies driven by data that show you can increase prey populations by shooting predators. You can look at the habitat and say that a range could support three moose per square mile, yet we have less than one. It's a no-brainer really.Wolves, however, aren't necessarily the big problem. Bears can be a bigger issue than wolves when it comes to the survival of moose young.
Bears? Why aren't people shooting bears from planes?
The whole predator control focus seems to be aimed at wolves from a general standpoint. I'm not sure that's always appropriate.Bears are held to a different standard. You have to hire a guide to hunt a bear if you are a nonresident—it's a big business in Alaska. They are also less visible. Wolves exist in packs. They howl at night when they are hunting. When I'm out moose hunting in the Alaska range, I hear wolves but not the bears. Bears are a very good predator. They are very smart and capable. They are omnivores, which is one reason they don't get as much attention. Black bears and grizzly bears know when the fawn crop hits the ground. They kill a lot of moose calves. Studies have shown that bears are as big or a bigger issue for moose in south central Alaska.Wolves are more tied to caribou. When a caribou calf hits the ground, its up and running. If you've ever seen the Planet Earth videos, you'll see a wolf chasing a three-week old caribou calf for miles on end. The little sucker can run. A bear can't catch them. Moose calves have a hider strategy. They hide in the vegetation, and that makes them susceptible to bears.
That's why I find it very interesting that people want to increase moose populations, but they talk about culling wolves. I've questioned that myself. It doesn't have to do with science, it's just the way it is.
So it might make sense to kill wolves if managers were just interested in boosting caribou populations?
It's actually possible that culling the wolf colony on the North Slope of Alaska created conditions that gave rise to the caribou now called the Central Arctic Herd. They didn't used to exist until wolves were moved from that area. Wolves and caribou calving grounds don't mix. Wolves exhibit surplus killing behavior. They kill every calf they find, even if they don't eat them.Alaska had an aerial wolf eradication campaign in the 1950s; the oil fields came in with exploration in the 1960s, and then the government established the native village of Nuiqsut in the 1970s. This reduced the wolf population on the North Slope to the point where all of the sudden it became feasible for it to be a caribou calving ground. It's speculation, but it's very interesting.But caribou herds also migrate: They come and go in space and time in very big ways. You can manage them but they are certainly a lot less manageable than moose populations.
http://gov.state.ak.us/
ALASKA OUTDOOR COUNCIL
http://www.alaskaoutdoorcouncil.org/about.html
ANIMAL RIGHTS NUTCASE ASHLEY JUDD PROMOTING HATE AGAINST SARAH PALIN - VIDEO
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yFdijgMytUA&eurl=http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/deadlineusa/2009/feb/03/sarah-palin-ashley-judd-wolf-killing&feature=player_embedded
Ashley Judd says women voting for Palin are suicidal
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BySATfll-BQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BySATfll-BQ&feature=related
Actress Ashley Judd criticizes the McCain/Palin ticket
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MEu5fnFVJAI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MEu5fnFVJAI&feature=related
ASHLEY JUDD NUTCASE ASKING FOR MONEY TO FIGHT SARAH PALIN,THIS IS NOTHING BUT A SCAM BY JUDD TO GET MONEY TO PROMOTE HERSELF.
http://www.eyeonpalin.org/
AT LEAST ELISABETH HASSELBACK FROM THE VIEW STUCK UP FOR PALIN,SHE SAID ALSO ABOUT ALL THE ABORTED INNOCENT BABBIES AND NOTHING SAID.
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x89s4z_the-view-elisabeth-hasselbeck-on-wo_shortfilms
http://www.wowowow.com/post/elisabeth-hasselbeck-wonders-why-judd-doesnt-fight-abortion-199060
http://abc.go.com/daytime/theview/cohosts#
http://abc.go.com/player/index?pn=index&showId=167365
http://abc.go.com/daytime/theview/info?pn=hottopics
http://abc.go.com/daytime/theview/video
OBAMA CLAIM TO BE THE ONE,JUDD LOVES OBAMA.AHMADINEJAD CLAIMED THE LIGHT TO.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mopkn0lPzM8&eurl=http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2179144/posts&feature=player_embedded
POOR SARAH THE GODLESS ENVIROMENTAL NUTCASES ARE AFTER HER NOW,THESE SICKOS PROTECT ANIMALS,BUT MILLIONS UPON MILLIONS OF INNOCENT BABBIES ARE MURDERED BECAUSE OF LUST AND PROMISCUITY AND THESE NUTCASES THINK THATS OK,BUT SHOOT A WOLF OR A SPOTTED OWL AND YOUR THE SCUM OF THE EARTH. THESE SICKO ENVIROMENTALISTS AND ANIMAL RIGHTS NUTCASES BETTER GET THEIR MORALS STRAIGHT.
JUST LIKE THE GAYS THIS ASHLEY JUDD IS PROUD TO GO AGAINST SARAH,MY BIBLE SAYS THE PROUD WILL BE BROUGHT DOWN FROM THEIR NOSE IN THE AIR PROUDNESS.IT SEEMS MUSLIMS AND ANIMAL RIGHTS AND ENVIROMENTALCASES CAN SAY ANYTHING AND DO ANYTHING THEY WANT,BUT LET A CHRISTIAN QUOTE A SCRIPTURE TO THESE GODLESS PEOPLE ABOUT JESUS AND HELL AND GAYS AND ABORTION AND WERE CLASSIFIED AS HATERS.......INTERESTING JUSTICE IN THIS WORLD THESE DAYS.
Friday, February 06, 2009 Ashley Judd: Clown in Wolf Guardian's Clothing
by Michelle Malkin
Actress Ashley Judd has finally earned her Hollywood stripes and provided award-winning comic relief. With Washington poised to shove a trillion-dollar stimulus pork pie down our throats, we need all the distractions we can get. I give Judd's unintentionally entertaining performance in a new Sarah Palin-bashing animal rights ad two diversionary thumbs up.The Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund sponsored the YouTube video starring Judd. They've dubbed their campaign, launched this week, Eye on Palin. With all the serious, socially responsible celebrity earnestness she could muster, Judd decried the aerial hunting of wolves in Alaska, the GOP governor's state. It is time to stop Sarah Palin and stop this senseless savagery, Judd intoned.
Casting herself as an environmental expert, Judd attacked Palin for casting aside science and championing the slaughter of wildlife. The video shows a wolf being shot, writhing in pain, with an ominous soundtrack throbbing and menacing photos of Palin flashing across the screen. Riddled with gunshots, biting at their backs in agony, they die (pause for quiver) a brutal death, Judd enunciates slowly as wolf squeals punctuate the video. Defenders of Wildlife assails Gov. Palin for proposing a $150 bounty for every wolf killed by aerial hunters. She's cruel and bloodthirsty, and she must be stopped! It's a compelling black-and-white storyline. But like the world Judd inhabits, this plot is make-believe.
Fact is, the policy is intended to protect other animals -- moose and caribou -- from overpopulation of wolves. Alaskans rely on caribou and moose for food. Not all Americans care to live on environmentally correct starlet diets of tofu salad and Pinkberry yogurt. Neither Palin nor the aerial hunters in those scary low-flying planes that have Judd quivering promote the program out of malice and animal insensitivity. On the contrary, they are the true compassionate conservationists. The bounty helped state biologists collecting wolf age data and provided incentives to reduce the wolf population when wildlife management efforts had fallen behind. This is about predator control. But to liberal, gun-control zealots thousands of miles away, it's all heartless murder. Federal law makes specific exceptions to aerial hunting for the protection of land, water, wildlife, livestock, domesticated animals, human life or crops. Targets are not limited to wolves. And, as Alaska wildlife officials note, the process is tightly controlled and designed to sustain wolf populations in the future.No matter. As Judd proclaimed, It is time to stop Sarah Palin. That is the true aim of left-wing lobbying groups and their allies in Hollywood. Palin is a threat not to Alaska's wolves, but to the liberal establishment's wolves. Defenders of Wildlife isn't targeting the ads in states affected by these policies. They're running the Judd-fronted ads across battleground states. It's about electoral interests, not wildlife interests. The eco-Kabuki theater is just plain laughable.
On a deadly serious note, Judd's selective concern for savagery is not lost on longtime observers of the activist entertainer's political forays. A militant, pro-choice feminist, Judd lashed out at the Republican ticket during the campaign: [A] woman voting for McCain and Palin is like a chicken voting for Colonel Sanders. Yet, not a peep has been heard from Judd about the serial predators of Planned Parenthood who have been caught on tape urging young girls to cover up statutory rape to facilitate abortion procedures. And she won't be starring in any YouTube ads decrying grisly late-term abortion procedures. In a starlet's world, senseless savagery only applies to the poster pet of the month.
February 6, 2009 Why does Sarah Palin support shooting wolves in Alaska?
If we really want more moose, we should be shooting bears instead, says a Vermont wildlife biologist By Brendan Borrell
The state of Alaska may no longer loom as large in the American consciousness as it did during the presidential election, but enviros won't let us forget failed GOP veep candidate Gov. Sarah Palin's support for aerial wolf hunting. Conservation watchdog Defenders of Wildlife this week launched the Eye on Palin Web site to spotlight the moose-hunting Alaska chief exec's Anti-Wolf, Anti-Wildlife Agenda.I am outraged by Sarah Palin's promotion of this cruel, unscientific and senseless practice, which has no place in modern America, actress and animal activist Ashley Judd said in a press release. Because she is apparently determined to continue and expand this horrific program, I am grateful that Defenders will aggressively fight to stop her. I am proud to be a part of that effort.
Palin took the attack as an affront to her state's livelihood.
Alaskans depend on wildlife for food and cultural practices which can't be sustained when predators are allowed to decimate moose and caribou populations, she said in a statement, Our predator-control programs are scientific and successful at protecting vulnerable wildlife.According to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, predators kill more than 80 percent of the moose and caribou that die there in a given year. To keep predator populations in check, the state currently has five wolf-control programs covering about 9.4 percent of the state's land area. Successful programs allow humans to take more moose, its Web site claims, and healthy populations of wolves continue to thrive in Alaska.The agency lumps bears and wolves together as effective and efficient predators of caribou, moose, deer and other wildlife, but it fails to explain why only wolves are targeted—or exactly how the predators affect moose, the most sought after big game animal in Alaska.To find out more, we asked Shawn Haskell, a wildlife biologist at the Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department in Saint Johnsbury, who has studied caribou and wolf populations in Alaska and now manages Vermont deer populations.
Why do we need to manage wildlife populations?
We are humans, and we have existed for hundreds of thousands of years as just a small part of nature—but in the past couple hundred years we've become a large part of nature. We influence nature simply by existing. That's the reason wildlife management is now necessary to conserve the wildlife populations we affect.
How do biologists determine if a population needs to be culled?
First, there's the biological carrying capacity. Animals, including humans—though we don't always recognize it—sometimes become too numerous for their own good. That's when they eat themselves out of house and home: Their body condition goes down, reproductive rates go down, and fawns and calves starve to death during their first week of life because their dams [mothers] have no milk.Then, there's what we call cultural carrying capacity, when animal populations become too numerous or too few for human liking. Deer become too many when they are eating your gardens excessively, and you're hitting them with your cars excessively. They become too few when you can't find any to hunt. So, there's a happy medium somewhere from a cultural perspective.
Why do Sarah Palin and her Alaskan neighbors want to shoot their wolves?
My guess is the areas where they want to aerial hunt and cull wolves are areas where rural residents are saying We used to have more moose, we used to have more caribou.
They want caribou and moose to eat, and predators can be their direct competition. It really is that simple. You'll find lots of scientific studies driven by data that show you can increase prey populations by shooting predators. You can look at the habitat and say that a range could support three moose per square mile, yet we have less than one. It's a no-brainer really.Wolves, however, aren't necessarily the big problem. Bears can be a bigger issue than wolves when it comes to the survival of moose young.
Bears? Why aren't people shooting bears from planes?
The whole predator control focus seems to be aimed at wolves from a general standpoint. I'm not sure that's always appropriate.Bears are held to a different standard. You have to hire a guide to hunt a bear if you are a nonresident—it's a big business in Alaska. They are also less visible. Wolves exist in packs. They howl at night when they are hunting. When I'm out moose hunting in the Alaska range, I hear wolves but not the bears. Bears are a very good predator. They are very smart and capable. They are omnivores, which is one reason they don't get as much attention. Black bears and grizzly bears know when the fawn crop hits the ground. They kill a lot of moose calves. Studies have shown that bears are as big or a bigger issue for moose in south central Alaska.Wolves are more tied to caribou. When a caribou calf hits the ground, its up and running. If you've ever seen the Planet Earth videos, you'll see a wolf chasing a three-week old caribou calf for miles on end. The little sucker can run. A bear can't catch them. Moose calves have a hider strategy. They hide in the vegetation, and that makes them susceptible to bears.
That's why I find it very interesting that people want to increase moose populations, but they talk about culling wolves. I've questioned that myself. It doesn't have to do with science, it's just the way it is.
So it might make sense to kill wolves if managers were just interested in boosting caribou populations?
It's actually possible that culling the wolf colony on the North Slope of Alaska created conditions that gave rise to the caribou now called the Central Arctic Herd. They didn't used to exist until wolves were moved from that area. Wolves and caribou calving grounds don't mix. Wolves exhibit surplus killing behavior. They kill every calf they find, even if they don't eat them.Alaska had an aerial wolf eradication campaign in the 1950s; the oil fields came in with exploration in the 1960s, and then the government established the native village of Nuiqsut in the 1970s. This reduced the wolf population on the North Slope to the point where all of the sudden it became feasible for it to be a caribou calving ground. It's speculation, but it's very interesting.But caribou herds also migrate: They come and go in space and time in very big ways. You can manage them but they are certainly a lot less manageable than moose populations.
Friday, February 06, 2009
SARKOZY PLEDGES G-20 RESULTS
MUSLIM NATIONS
EZEKIEL 38:1-12
1 And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
2 Son of man, set thy face against Gog,(RULER) the land of Magog,(RUSSIA) the chief prince of Meshech(MOSCOW)and Tubal,(TOBOLSK) and prophesy against him,
3 And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech(MOSCOW) and Tubal:
4 And I will turn thee back, and put hooks into thy jaws,(GOD FORCES THE RUSSIA-MUSLIMS TO MARCH) and I will bring thee forth, and all thine army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed with all sorts of armour, even a great company with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords:
5 Persia,(IRAN,IRAQ) Ethiopia, and Libya with them; all of them with shield and helmet:
6 Gomer,(GERMANY) and all his bands; the house of Togarmah (TURKEY)of the north quarters, and all his bands:(SUDAN,AFRICA) and many people with thee.
7 Be thou prepared, and prepare for thyself, thou, and all thy company that are assembled unto thee, and be thou a guard unto them.
8 After many days thou shalt be visited: in the latter years thou shalt come into the land that is brought back from the sword, and is gathered out of many people, against the mountains of Israel, which have been always waste: but it is brought forth out of the nations, and they shall dwell safely all of them.
9 Thou shalt ascend and come like a storm, thou shalt be like a cloud to cover the land, thou, and all thy bands, and many people with thee.(RUSSIA-EGYPT AND MUSLIMS)
10 Thus saith the Lord GOD; It shall also come to pass, that at the same time shall things come into thy mind, and thou shalt think an evil thought:
11 And thou shalt say, I will go up to the land of unwalled villages; I will go to them that are at rest, that dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates,
12 To take a spoil, and to take a prey; to turn thine hand upon the desolate places that are now inhabited, and upon the people that are gathered out of the nations, which have gotten cattle and goods, that dwell in the midst of the land.
ISAIAH 17:1
1 The burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap.
PSALMS 83:3-7
3 They (ARABS,MUSLIMS) have taken crafty counsel against thy people,(ISRAEL) and consulted against thy hidden ones.
4 They have said, Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance.
5 For they have consulted together with one consent: they are confederate against thee:(TREATIES)
6 The tabernacles of Edom,and the Ishmaelites;(ARABS) of Moab, and the Hagarenes;
7 Gebal, and Ammon,(JORDAN) and Amalek;(SYRIA) the Philistines (PALESTINIANS) with the inhabitants of Tyre;(LEBANON)
DANIEL 11:40-43
40 And at the time of the end shall the king of the south( EGYPT) push at him:(EU DICTATOR IN ISRAEL) and the king of the north (RUSSIA AND MUSLIM HORDES OF EZEK 38+39) shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter into the countries, and shall overflow and pass over.
41 He shall enter also into the glorious land, and many countries shall be overthrown: but these shall escape out of his hand, even Edom, and Moab, and the chief of the children of Ammon.(JORDAN)
42 He shall stretch forth his hand also upon the countries: and the land of Egypt shall not escape.
43 But he shall have power over the treasures of gold and of silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt: and the Libyans and the Ethiopians shall be at his steps.
EZEKIEL 39:1-8
1 Therefore, thou son of man, prophesy against Gog,(LEADER OF RUSSIA) and say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech (MOSCOW) and Tubal: (TUBOLSK)
2 And I will turn thee back, and leave but the sixth part of thee, and will cause thee to come up from the north parts,(RUSSIA) and will bring thee upon the mountains of Israel:
3 And I will smite thy bow out of thy left hand, and will cause thine arrows to fall out of thy right hand.
4 Thou shalt fall upon the mountains of Israel, thou, and all thy bands,( ARABS) and the people that is with thee: I will give thee unto the ravenous birds of every sort, and to the beasts of the field to be devoured.
5 Thou shalt fall upon the open field: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord GOD.
6 And I will send a fire on Magog,(NUCLEAR BOMB) and among them that dwell carelessly in the isles: and they shall know that I am the LORD.
7 So will I make my holy name known in the midst of my people Israel; and I will not let them pollute my holy name any more: and the heathen shall know that I am the LORD, the Holy One in Israel.
8 Behold, it is come, and it is done, saith the Lord GOD; this is the day whereof I have spoken.
JOEL 2:3,20,30-31
3 A fire(NUCLEAR BOMB) devoureth before them;(RUSSIA-ARABS) and behind them a flame burneth: the land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; yea, and nothing shall escape them.
20 But I will remove far off from you the northern army,(RUSSIA,MUSLIMS) and will drive him into a land barren and desolate, with his face toward the east sea, and his hinder part toward the utmost sea, and his stink shall come up, and his ill savour shall come up, because he hath done great things.(SIBERIAN DESERT)
30 And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.(NUCLEAR BOMB)
31 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come.
WALID SHOEBAT ON BBC AUDIO
http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/worldservice/whys/whys_20090205-1800a.mp3
WALIDS WEBSITE
http://www.shoebat.com/index.php
Zero hour approaches Posted: February 06, 2009
1:00 am Eastern 2009 WND
We've been counting down to the year that Iran will finally become a nuclear power ever since Iranian dissidents exposed the Iranian nuclear program in 2002. European intelligence estimated it would take Iran until 2012 to achieve this. Israeli intelligence figured late 2007. Last year's National Intelligence Estimate completely undercut the Bush administration's Iran foreign policy when it estimated Iran was still many years from being able to build a bomb. The NIE predicted: … with moderate confidence that the earliest possible date Iran would be technically capable of producing enough HEU [highly enriched uranium] for a weapon is late 2009, but that is very unlikely.Unlikely though it may have been, the International Atomic Energy Agency found that Iran had enriched enough uranium to make its first atomic bomb on Nov. 21, 2008. By now, as it brings new centrifuges online, Tehran may well have enough for a second. The head of Russia's state nuclear corporation, Sergei Kiriyenko, was quoted from the Kremlin on Wednesday confirming the launch of the Bushehr reactor later this year. Iran's nuclear ambitions are no longer even remotely unclear. Yet, knowing this, Moscow fully intends to supply Iran with all the nuclear material it needs.
In Gaza, Hamas is claiming victory on the same ground as did Hezbollah in 2006. It survived, and Israel pulled out without meeting all its objectives. Rockets continue to rain down on Israel from Gaza, and Hamas continues to hold Israeli solider Gilad Shalit hostage. To the north, either out of nervous tension or tactical plan, Hezbollah launched several rockets into Israel. Syrian troops opened fire with small arms on Israeli troops on their side of the border near Sheba Farms. In a couple of days, Israeli voters are likely to return Benjamin Netanyahu to power, which changes the whole equation in the region. WorldNetDaily reported yesterday of a secret message sent by Netanyahu to Hamas' top leadership saying that if they don't stop the rocket attacks against Israel, he will order the IDF to wipe them out.Netanyahu makes three specific promises to voters upon the strength of which he is expected to win. The first is the destruction of Hamas. The Jerusalem Post quoted Netanyahu speaking from the site of a Grad missile strike in Ashkelon on Monday, saying: A government under my leadership will overthrow the Hamas rule in Gaza and bring about a cessation of rocket fire, he said. The policy of blindness followed in the past years has brought us to this situation.The second is the destruction of Hezbollah and Syrian influence over Lebanon. The third promise is left deliberately vague: Iran will not be allowed to possess nuclear weapons. Netanyahu doesn't elaborate on exactly how Israel will prevent it. But notice something curious about that. Not many Israelis want him to. Taking a step back and looking at the Big Picture, it is hard not to miss the fact that events are developing in concert with the ancient prophecies of Scripture. The Prophet Isaiah foretold the burden of Damascus (Isaiah 17:1) in which the prophet predicts the overnight destruction of that great city in the last days: At evening time, behold there is terror! Before morning they are no more. Such will be the portion of those who plunder us, and the lot of those who pillage us.(Isaiah 17:14)
The Prophet Ezekiel predicts an alliance between Russia and an Islamic confederacy headed by Iran, or Persia. Hamas continues to attack Israel with rocket attacks for the sheer joy of the violence of it all. Related to this, the Prophet Obadiah pronounced this verdict against Edom, who is one of the forefathers of the people of Hamas, saying, Because of violence to your brother Jacob, you will be covered with shame, and you will be cut off forever. Interestingly, the word translated as violence in this Scripture is the Hebrew word, chamac, pronounced hamas.Of all the generations in history, it is to this generation that the prophecies of the last days are addressed. Previous generations looked for the signs given by Scripture, but only this generation can truly see them all come together at one time – which is itself a key fulfillment of prophecy. The Prophet Daniel predicted these conditions: And I heard, but I understood not: then said I, O my Lord, what shall be the end of these things? And he said, Go thy way, Daniel: for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end.(Daniel 12:8-9) We are witnessing the unsealing of the end-times prophecies. The same Spirit that inspired the incredible accuracy of the prophets to this point is not likely to suddenly have a misstep. So what does that mean? The Lord of the Universe is getting ready to judge the world. But before that, He will come for His own. Make sure you are one of them.
THESE MUSLIM LEADERS ARE SICK PROMOTING VIOLENCE AGAINST MUSLIM WOMEN.C'MON MUSLIM WOMEN WAKE UP CHOOSE KING JESUS AND CHRISTIANITY THE ONE AND ONLY TRUE PERSONAL RELATIONSHIP WITH THE FATHER,SON AND HOLY SPIRIT (ONE GOD)OF ISRAEL AND THE WHOLE WORLD.THE ONLY NAME JESUS THAT SALVATION IS GUARENTEED FOREVER ON EARTH RULING WITH THE TRUE KING OF KINGS.
Muslim cleric: Here's how to beat wives,He's tried admonishing, he's tried banishment – but nothing February 05, 2009 11:50 pm Eastern 2009 WorldNetDaily
An Egyptian Muslim cleric has instructed that husbands should not beat their wives to the point that their beauty is scarred or bones are broken, but that it should be clear that: A word would be enough for any wife with lofty morals, but with you, words do not help.The instruction comes from Egyptian Cleric Galal Al-Khatib, whose sermon was broadcast on All-Rahma Television on Dec. 24, 2008. It has been interpreted by MEMRI, the Middle East Media Research Institute, an independent nonprofit that provides translations of media reports from the Middle East and analysis of those reports.He explains there are three stages of discipline for wives under Islam: Admonishment, banishment and beating. The Prophet Muhammad said that the beatings should be light, and that one should avoid the face, or the sensitive areas, which might lead to broken bones, or might leave a mark that would spoil her beauty, whether on her face or anywhere on her body,the cleric advises. MEMRI also has posted a video of the sermon on its website, which requires viewers to participate in a free registration and login. Khatid explains that the husband first must understand what disobedience in a wife is.
Egypitan cleric preaching on the beating of wives
Disobedience is to leave the house without the husband's permission, to refuse to obey the husband in bed, to speak to the husband impolitely, or to do the opposite of what he likes. All these are forms of disobedience, he said. The first measure for reforming a disobedient wife is to admonish her. The husband should talk to her gently, reminding her of God, and reminding her that if she wants to enter Paradise, she must obey him. He must tell her that by pleasing her husband, she pleases God, and that his rights supersede the rights of her parents, he said. Okay, if admonishing doesn't work, the next measure is banishment. Some say that the wife should be banished from his bed, while others say he should refrain from having sex with her, although I do not agree with the latter view, because having sex is one of the rights of the husband, so how can he discipline her by depriving himself of sex? Khatid said. It's enough if he refrains from smiling and saying nice things to her, and instead, he gives her the cold shoulder, but he has the right to have sex with her, even during banishment.He continued with his lesson on Islamic family relations: Okay, he's tried admonishing, he's tried banishment – but nothing. Her emotions are numb, and she says: Good riddance. So what is the next measure? ..and beat them.Beating,he said. He cited a light slap on her shoulder, or maybe a not-so-light pinch and examples of what should be done. Ultimately, he said, the message is, With you, I have reached a stage which is only appropriate for inhumane people – the stage of beating. By beating his wife, the husband is saying: You've committed a grave sin that merits beatings, he said.
GLOBAL JIHAD U.S. Jewish targets listed on Muslim website Give them the Islamic message, demands New York-based extremist February 05, 2009 5:03 pm Eastern
By Aaron Klein 2009 WorldNetDaily
JERUSALEM – A U.S. jihadi website has issued a series of videos targeting the New York headquarters of Chabad, a Jewish outreach movement, just two months after the group was rocked by a deadly terrorist attack in Mumbai, India. The videos also ask viewers to give the Islamic message to Yeshiva University, a Manhattan-based Jewish college, as well as Jewish Federation buildings all over the U.S. in response to the institutions' purported funding for Israel amid its recent offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. The Islamic threats already resulted in a New York Police Department investigation and a beefed-up police presence outside the Chabad headquarters, WND has learned. When an atrocity is done like what was done in Gaza, indiscriminately killing women and children, we know who the source is, stated Yousef Al-Khattab, the CEO of RevolutionMuslim.com in a video address posted on the website. These are definitely the sources, Khattab stated, citing Chabad and the other Jewish institutions. We think it's imperative to hold these people responsible, speak in front of their homes, give them the Islamic message. Leave them the message of Islam. That's not a threat, that's what it is,Khattab said in the video.
While Khattab, who spoke to WND today, claimed his website is not issuing threats against Jewish groups, a second video posted on the site contains what can easily be interpreted as lightly veiled threats of violence against Chabad. The video features a slideshow of images of wounded Palestinians and then repeatedly switches to pictures of Chabad's main headquarters in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. It then presents a picture of a blood-stained Jewish prayer book taken from inside a Jerusalem seminary following a deadly shooting massacre there last March that killed eight Jews.
The video ends with the sound of gunshots.
Asked whether the video montage was implying Chabad's headquarters should be targeted by Islamic violence, Khattab told WND, It is what it is.Khattab said he did not have the authority to issue a directive to carry out specific attacks. Further petitioned to explain the intended meaning of the blood-soaked prayer book interspersed with images of Chabad's headquarters, Khattab replied, Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.He told WND he supports Hamas' suicide bombings against Israelis, including attacks targeting cafes, restaurants and nightclubs. There is no such thing as Israeli civilian,he said.I pray to Allah for the complete destruction of Israel.In a video on his website, Khattab states he normally advises others to just ignore [the Jews]. That's not racist. We don't like to deal with them ... but when there is a terrorist war of destruction, killing of kids ... [Israeli] genocide, then we have to take to the forefront.
Security bolstered at Chabad headquarters
Motti Seligson, a spokesman for Chabad, told WND although not all threats are serious, his organization is work[ing] closely with law enforcement to ensure that all threats are handled properly, as safety is of paramount concern.Immediately following RevolutionMuslim's first posting about Chabad two weeks ago, the NYPD stationed a large police presence, including NYPD vans, outside the Jewish group's headquarters. NYPD Commissioner Raymond Kelley called Chanina Sperlin, vice president of the Crown Heights Jewish Community Council, to assure him the police were looking into the situation and were taking any threats seriously. Khattab said he was questioned by NYPD investigators.
Expert: Take threats seriously
One Chabad official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said he was not particularly concerned about the alleged threats. But U.S. terrorism expert Steve Emerson said videos like those posted on RevolutionMuslim.com should be taken seriously. Any site that advocates violence or provides incitement to violence has to be taken seriously,he told WND.
We appreciate support of American progressives
Realizing his statement may attract the attention of U.S. law enforcement agencies, Khattab delivered a direct message to the NYPD, CIA and FBI: You can put me in jail for the rest of my life. As long as I got that information out there for people, I did something. I didn't sit on my behind.Khattab also lashed out against any website that may pick up on his statement. It just attracts Drudge, the JAWA report, Atlas Shrugs (blog), and Robert Spencer (Jihad Watch blog) and just other whining little queers and stuff like that.But he celebrated what he said is his website's non-Muslim following of progressive Americans, socialists, anarchists, communists ... people who can really contribute, they give us dialogue and send us nice e-mails.
Khattab, a 39-year-old New York taxi driver who converted to Islam from Judaism, said he launched RevolutionMuslim.com with the mission of preserving Islamic culture,calling people to the oneness of God and asking them to support the beloved Sheik Abdullah Faisal, who's preaching the religion of Islam and serving as a spiritual guide. He told WND his site's main goal is to establish worldwide Islamic dominance. He runs the site from his home in Queens, N.Y., and even advertises his personal phone number. Faisal, the website's spiritual adviser, was convicted in the UK in 2003 for urging his followers to kill Jews, Hindus and Westerners. In videotaped recordings, Faisal was taped delivering sermons calling on Muslims to use chemical weapons to exterminate unbelievers and cut the throat of the Kaffars (nonbelievers) with (a) machete.FoxNews.com previously reported Faisal's sermons may have influenced shoe bomber Richard Reid, who attended mosques where Faisal preached. Khattab's website is no stranger to controversy. In the past it featured a video praising al-Qaida's beheading of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl under the banner Daniel Pearl I am Happy Your Dead :),and a puppet show making light of U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq.
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.
Fires to follow floods as wild weather hits Australia – Fri Feb 6, 3:31 am ET
SYDNEY (AFP) – Eastern Australia braced for more fires and floods Friday as the south faced extreme heat and heavy rain threatened to swell floodwaters ravaging the north.A once-in-a-century heatwave was forecast to intensify over the weekend with high temperatures and dry winds producing the worst wildfire conditions in 25 years, authorities said.We're talking about fire danger that hasn't been seen since Ash Wednesday coming up on Saturday, said Ron Patterson, an environment department spokesman from Victoria state.The Ash Wednesday fires of 1983 killed 75 people and devastated large areas of Australia's southeast, wiping out some 2,500 homes.The mercury is expected to top 44 degrees in Sydney, Australia's largest city, on Sunday, with temperatures in excess of 46 degrees forecast for inland areas.Much of the southeast has sweltered under record temperatures this summer, with wildfires destroying at least 29 homes last week and dozens of mainly elderly people dying of heat-related stress.The temperature in the South Australian capital Adelaide soared to above 42 degrees on Friday and authorities warned of worse to come.The fire danger forecast for Saturday may be as extreme as we've seen in South Australia for a number of years, said fire service spokesman Euan Ferguson.A 120-hectare blaze was Friday threatening to break containment lines and threaten property in Victoria's Gippsland region, with the state's premier John Brumby describing conditions as tinder-dry.Almost 40 separate fires raged in the neighbouring state of New South Wales, where 70,000 volunteer firefighters will be on standby throughout the weekend.
Adding to the fear is the knowledge that many of Australia's wildfires are lit by arsonists.Police are hunting fire starters believed to have sparked last week's fire that destroyed nearly 30 homes in Victoria state.The government's Australian Institute of Criminology released a report on Sunday which said half of the nation's 20,000 to 30,000 bushfires each year are deliberately lit.But in the northeast, floodwaters have devastated more than one million square kilometres (385,000 square miles), inundating homes, destroying at least a fifth of the region's sugar cane fields and stranding tens of thousands of cattle.There are cattle suffering pretty seriously, said Cattle Council of Australia president Greg Brown.There is some mortality rate, just how great that is at this stage is pretty hard to tell, but it's going to be, I think, substantial.Farmers unable to move produce due to the floods were facing millions of dollars in losses, while the army was preparing to drop food into some towns that have been cut off for up to a week.The deluge, which followed two recent cyclones, hit almost 3,000 homes, forcing dozens of evacuations and leaving scores of people stranded. Some towns in the Gulf of Carpentaria region could remain inaccessible by road for another six weeks, authorities have warned.
Further heavy rains are expected, as a tropical low hovers off the coast, the weather bureau said.Meteorologists have warned the extreme temperatures and downpours -- a common feature of Australian summers -- would only increase as a result of climate change.
Weather satellite blasts off from SoCal coast FEB 6,09
VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. – A rocket carrying a U.S. global weather satellite has blasted off from California's Vandenberg Air Force Base.The NOAA-N Prime satellite was launched aboard a Delta 2 rocket from the central coast base at 2:22 a.m. Friday.The launch had been planned for Wednesday but it was postponed because of launch pad technical problems.NOAA-N Prime is the last in a series of polar-orbiting satellites that have been observing Earth's weather since 1960. Its data will be used for long-range weather and climate forecasts.The satellite also carries sensors that can receive distress signals from mariners and hikers.The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration manages the $564 million mission. The satellite was built by Lockheed Martin Space Systems Co.
Weekend warmth to give Northeast respite from cold By Haitham Haddadin FEB 6,09
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Americans in the Northeast should get some respite from this winter's frigid temperatures with a much-welcomed warm spell this weekend that just may last into next week, forecasters say.The unseasonal warmth, which could see thermometer readings rising by Sunday to the 40s Fahrenheit (4 Celsius) in some parts of the Northeast from the current below zero to 20s, could mean less demand for home heating oil in the world's largest market for the fuel.Ahead of the warmer temperatures -- as a result of the inflow of warm air masses from the west and southwest into the region -- a chilly day was in store Friday for the region, AccuWeather.com said.The Northeast will have to wait another day, until Saturday, before warm air pours in, AccuWeather meteorologist Katie Storbeck said on the company's website.High temperatures will jump as much as 20 degrees between today and Saturday. Thermometers will read in the 40s as far north as southern New England by the first half of the weekend, Storbeck added.DTN Meteorlogix forecast that in the Northeastern states temperatures will be 6 to 10 F above normal on Sunday, return to 4 to 8 F below normal Monday and Tuesday before warmer temperatures return.
In its 6- to 10-day outlook, DTN said temperatures will be near to above normal for the region.The heating load is expected to average above normal Friday, near to below normal Saturday, below normal Sunday, near to above normal Monday and Tuesday, DTN added.Heating oil futures were sharply lower on the New York Mercantile Exchange on Friday, with the March contract down 6.07 cents, or 4.44 percent, at $1.3065 per gallon, amid a decline in other energy futures.Among other forecasters, Weather Channel's Weather.com said that afternoon highs this weekend could reach the 50s or even 60s over the southern mid-Atlantic region which borders the Northeast.
Elsewhere, AccuWeather said temperatures will rise into the 50s as far north as Chicago by Saturday, with much of the southern Plains and Southeast warming to about 60 degrees.Meanwhile, the states along the Gulf Coast will enjoy temperatures in the 70s over the weekend,it said.(Editing by John Picinich)
FITNA ISLAM
VIDEO - http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7961200236915885171&ei=Unl3SYqPApPSjgKmzbilDw&q=fitna
PALESTINIAN MEDIA WATCH
http://www.pmw.org.il/
YAHOO NEWS VIDEO
http://news.yahoo.com/video
MIDEAST CONFLICT NEWS
http://news.yahoo.com/video/1874;_ylt=A0wNcxFdg6xIgbkAwD6z174F
ABC NEWS VIDEO
http://news.yahoo.com/video/2461
FOX NEWS VIDEO
http://news.yahoo.com/video/3074
FOX BUSINESS VIDEO
http://news.yahoo.com/video/3045
AP NEWS VIDEO
http://news.yahoo.com/video/2529
BBC NEWS VIDEO
http://news.yahoo.com/video/2918
REUTERS VIDEO NEWS
http://news.yahoo.com/video/2704
AFP NEWS VIDEO
http://news.yahoo.com/video/3091
CNBC NEWS VIDEO
http://news.yahoo.com/video/3245
HOARDING OF GOLD AND SILVER
DOCTOR DOCTORIAN FROM ANGEL OF GOD
then the angel said, Financial crisis will come to Asia. I will shake the world.
JAMES 5:1-3
1 Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you.
2 Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten.
3 Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days.
REVELATION 18:10,17,19
10 Standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come.
17 For in one hour so great riches is come to nought. And every shipmaster, and all the company in ships, and sailors, and as many as trade by sea, stood afar off,
19 And they cast dust on their heads, and cried, weeping and wailing, saying, Alas, alas that great city, wherein were made rich all that had ships in the sea by reason of her costliness! for in one hour is she made desolate.
EZEKIEL 7:19
19 They shall cast their silver in the streets, and their gold shall be removed: their silver and their gold shall not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the LORD: they shall not satisfy their souls, neither fill their bowels: because it is the stumblingblock of their iniquity.
REVELATION 13:16-18
16 And he(FALSE POPE) causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:(CHIP IMPLANT)
17 And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
18 Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.(6-6-6) A NUMBER SYSTEM
WORLD MARKET RESULTS
http://money.cnn.com/data/world_markets/
HALF HOUR DOW RESULTS FRI FEB 06,2009
09:30 AM +11.21
10:00 AM +149.10
10:30 AM +138.03
11:00 AM +160.65
11:30 AM +170.68
12:00 PM +177.21
12:30 PM +156.54
01:00 PM +181.83
01:30 PM +231.69
02:00 PM +226.28
02:30 PM +226.60
03:00 PM +212.82
03:30 PM +200.31
04:00 PM +217.52 +8280.59
S&P 500 868.60 +22.75
NASDAQ 1591.71 +45.47
GOLD 912.00 -2.00
OIL 40.14 -1.03
TSE 300 9020.24 +159.26
CDNX 909.27 +11.05
S&P/TSX/60 544.98 +9.13
MORNING,NEWS,STATS
YEAR TO DATE PERFORMANCE
Dow -8.13%
S&P -6.35%
Nasdaq -1.95%
TSX Advances 615,declines 522,unchanged 208,Volume 938,272,420.
TSX Venture Exchange Advances 372,Declines 325,Unchanged 304,Volume 127,439,110.
Dow +33 points at 4 minutes of trading today.
Dow +6 points at low today.
Dow +160 points at high today so far.
29 of 30 Dow stocks open higher today.
Oil opens at $39.01 today,Gold opens at $911.30 today.
Stimulus talks help global markets rise today.
China markets +4% to highest level since OCTOBER.
Most banks +3%-5% at start of trading today.
Hartford Financial -22%,Posts loss,Slashes dividends.
JP Morgan:GE could see a credit rating downgrade soon.
Fitch cuts ratings on CITI preferred shares to JUNK rating of BB.
Watch & Jewelry sales -29%,Wine & Spirits -11%.
TOYOTA TUMBLES
-Q3 net losses totaled $1.81 BILLION,first time since 1950.
-warns of $3.8 BILLION net loss for fiscal year.
-Moody's cuts AAA credit rating.
AFTERNOON,NEWS,STATS
Dow -4 points at low today so far.
Dow +205 points at high today so far.
DAY TODAY PERFORMANCE - 12:30PM STATS
NYSE Advances 2,804,declines 841,unchanged 76,New Highs 11,New Lows 59.
Volume 3,085,927,655
NASDAQ Advances 1,757,declines 831,unchanged 127,New highs 5,New Lows 54.
Volume 1,010,286,832
TSX Advances 625,declines 365,unchanged 242,Volume 485,869,782.
TSX Venture Exchange Advances 258,Declines 232,Unchanged 276,Volume 55,719,683.
WRAPUP,NEWS,STATS
Dow -4 points at low today.
Dow +256 points at high today.
Dow +2.70% today Volume 396,264,393.
Dow year to date -5.65%
Dow has biggest one day gain since JANUARY 21,2009.
Dow up 3% this week.
Dow 52 week range 7,449.38 - 13,136.69,low-high.
Nasdaq +2.94% today Volume 2,147,483,648.
Nasdaq up 7.8% this week.
Nasdaq erases 2009 losses.
Nasdaq at 1-month high.
Nasdaq year to date +0.93%
Nasdaq 52 week range 1,295.48 - 2,551.47,low-high.
S&P up 5% this week.
S&P year to date -3.84%
S&P 52 week range 741.02 - 1,440.24,low-high
Stocks break 4-week losing streak.
Financials lead stocks higher.
Major averages move higher after biggest job losses in 34 years.
CANADAS WEEK ENDING STATS
TSX Advances 768,Declines 401,Unchanged 224 Volume 1,002,074,841.
TSX Venture Advances 390,Declines 315,Unchanged 318 Volume 125,467,076.
BANKS TO BE NATIONALISED,END OF DOLLAR - VIDEO
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTYnlcZW8_8&eurl=http://www.infowars.com/
keiser-us-dollar-the-roach-motel-of-global-currencies/&feature=player_embedded
Sarkozy pledges results at G20 economic crisis meeting
ELITSA VUCHEVA Today FEB 6,09 @ 09:28 CET
EU countries should forge a common position on the need to reform and regulate the financial system, and they should speak with one voice at the upcoming G20 summit, French President Nicolas Sarkozy has said.He underlined that a meeting between France, Germany,Italy, the UK, Spain and the Netherlands on 22 February ahead of the G20 meeting that will take place on 2 April in London will be essential.
It is not possible that, in such a situation, Europe does not take the initiative, Mr Europe must have a common position on the summit of the G20, said the president in a special programme aimed at reassuring the French people about their government's actions in the face of the financial crisis.Asked by the journalists interviewing him how he would assess the action of the current Czech EU presidency, as well as of the European Commission, to counter the crisis, the president said: One should not be especially angry with them [the Czechs]. They are doing what they can.But in veiled criticism to Prague's presidency, he added: It is not possible that, in such a situation, Europe does not take the initiative to ensure co-ordination.The Czech Republic took over the rotating EU presidency from France on 1 January, but is already facing criticism for not doing enough compared to its pro-active predecessor.
No negotiations – we want results
During his 90-minute address, Mr Sarkozy cited a number of areas where he saw an urgent need of reform and where he was hoping to obtain greater European backing.In particular, no financial institution should be able to escape controls, said the French president, who also expressed scepticism regarding bad banks which would buy the toxic assets owned by financial institutions.I do not see why I would make the taxpayer pay for the mistakes of private banks, he pointed out.A reform of financial market traders' pay and a look into credit rating agencies which did an appalling job by failing to warn of the dangers in the financial system are also needed, according to Mr Sarkozy.He said the topic would be raised during his meeting with German chancellor Angela Merkel on Saturday, and expressing confidence that the chancellor would have a similar position.I have always thought that these are Ms Merkel's ideas, too, he said.We will go to the 2 April London [G20] summit to obtain structural decisions, this is clear ... My negotiating margin on hedge funds, on regulation, on the remuneration of financial institutions, on tax havens, will be zero. We want results,he added.He also said France would review its relations with neighbouring financial havens such as Luxembourg, Andorra and Monaco – which is not a tax haven but where things need to be straightened out.
Falling popularity
Mr Sarkozy's intervention comes amid drooping popularity at home.Rising unemployment and a generally worsening economic situation propelled 2.5 million people to the streets in France last week, protesting against the government's reaction to the crisis.The French president announced he would still continue with planned reforms, but also promised to scrap a so-called professional tax – a local corporate tax – next year, in a bid to stop key French industries, notably the auto sector, from moving elsewhere.
Jobless rate 7.6 pct; 598K job cuts most since 74 By JEANNINE AVERSA, AP Economics Writer FEB 6,09
WASHINGTON – Recession-battered employers eliminated 598,000 jobs in January, the most since the end of 1974, and catapulted the unemployment rate to 7.6 percent. The grim figures were further proof that the nation's job climate is deteriorating at an alarming clip with no end in sight.The Labor Department's report, released Friday, showed the terrible toll the drawn-out recession is having on workers and companies. It also puts even more pressure on Congress and President Barack Obama's administration to revive the economy through a stimulus package and a revamped financial bailout plan, both of which are nearing completion.These numbers, and the very real suffering of American workers they represent, reinforce the need for bold fiscal action, said Christina Romer, chief of the White House's Council of Economic Advisers. If we fail to act, we are likely to lose millions more jobs and the unemployment rate could reach double digits.The latest net total of job losses was far worse than the 524,000 that economists expected. Job reductions in November and December also were deeper than previously reported.With cost-cutting employers in no mood to hire, the unemployment rate bolted to 7.6 percent in January, the highest since September 1992. The increase in the jobless rate from 7.2 percent in December also was worse than the 7.5 percent rate economists expected.All told, the economy has lost a staggering 3.6 million jobs since the recession began in December 2007. About half of this decline occurred in the past three months.Companies are in survival mode and are really cutting to the bone, said economist Ken Mayland, president of ClearView Economics. They are cutting and cutting hard now out of fear of an uncertain future.
Factories slashed 207,000 jobs in January, the largest one-month drop since October 1982, partly reflecting heavy losses at plants making autos and related parts. Construction companies got rid of 111,000 jobs. Professional and business services chopped 121,000 positions. Retailers eliminated 45,000 jobs. Leisure and hospitality axed 28,000 slots.Those reductions swamped employment gains in education and health services, as well as in the government.Just in the 12 months ending January, an astonishing 3.5 million jobs have vanished, the most on record going back to 1939, although the total number of jobs has grown significantly since then.On Wall Street, investors pushed up stock prices on hopes that the miserable jobs report would get Congress to move quickly on the economic revival package. The Dow Jones industrials gained about 120 points in morning trading and broader stock indicators also rose.
Employers are slashing payrolls and turning to other ways to cut costs — including trimming workers' hours, freezing wages or cutting pay — to cope with shrinking appetites from customers in the U.S. and overseas, who are struggling with their own economic troubles.The average work week in January stayed at 33.3 hours, matching the record low set in December.With no place to go, the number of unemployed workers climbed to 11.6 million. In addition, 7.8 million people were working part time — a category that includes those who would like to work full time but whose hours were cut back, or those who were unable to find full-time work.
Job hunters also are facing longer searches for work.
The average time it took for an unemployed person to find any job — full or part time — rose to 19.8 weeks in January, compared with 17.5 weeks a year ago, underscoring the increasing difficulty the out-of-work are having in finding a new job.
Workers with jobs saw modest wage gains.
Average hourly earnings rose to $18.46 in January, up 0.3 percent from the previous month. Over the year, wages have risen 3.9 percent. An avalanche of layoffs is slamming the nation from a wide swath of employers. Caterpillar Inc., Pfizer Inc., Microsoft Corp., Estee Lauder Cos., Time Warner Cable Inc., and Sprint Nextel Corp. are among the companies slicing payrolls. Manufacturers — especially car makers — construction companies and retailers have been particularly hard hit by the recession. Talbots Inc., Liz Claiborne Inc., Macy's Inc. and Home Depot Inc. are all cutting jobs. So are Detroit's General Motors Corp. and Ford Motor Co. Americans cut back sharply on spending at the end of last year, thrusting the economy into its worst backslide in a quarter-century. The tailspin could well accelerate in the current January-March quarter to a rate of 5 percent or more as the recession drags on into a second year, and consumers and businesses burrow deeper. Vanishing jobs and evaporating wealth from tanking home values, 401(k)s and other investments have forced consumers to retrench, which has required companies to pull back. It's a vicious cycle where the economy's problems feed on each other, perpetuating a downward spiral. Many economists predict the current quarter — in terms of lost economic growth — will be the worst of the recession. With fallout from the housing, credit and financial crises — the worst since the 1930s — ripping through the economy, analysts predict 3 million or more jobs will vanish this year even if lawmakers quickly approve Obama's stimulus plan, which has ballooned to more than $900 billion in the Senate.
Obama has repeatedly pressed Congress to swiftly enact a package of increased government spending, including big public works projects and tax cuts, to revive the economy and create jobs. He says his plan will save or create more than 3 million jobs in the next two years. But the recession has proven stubborn. Despite record low interest rates ordered by the Federal Reserve and a raft of radical programs, including a $700 billion financial bailout, consumers and businesses face high hurdles to borrow money. Foreclosures are skyrocketing, home prices are sinking and Wall Street remains on edge.
EU puts energy hopes into Turkmenistan black hole
PHILIPPA RUNNER Today FEB 6,09 @ 07:43 CET
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - The European Commission and the Czech EU presidency are turning the screw on the European Parliament to upgrade relations with Turkmenistan, despite question marks over the country's viability as an EU energy supplier.Unless the EU engages more now, including through the upgrading of contractual relations, we leave the field open to other actors in the region who care little about improving the human rights situation, external relations commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner wrote on 26 January in a private letter to German left-wing MEP Helmuth Markov.Taking such a step should not be seen as a reward to Turkmenistan, but a pragmatic choice in our own interests.The Czech EU presidency sent a similar letter to MEPs in recent days, voicing fears that Russia will entrench its monopoly on Turkmenistan gas exports, complicating EU plans to tap the country's resources with its own Nabucco pipeline.Mr Markov chairs the European Parliament's trade committee, which has in the past made the signing of a basic trade deal with the post-Soviet dictatorship conditional on human rights benchmarks. Parliament's position on the Interim Trade Agreement (ITA) will come up for a vote at the 9 March plenary. But despite Turkmenistan making no real progress on political reform, the conservative and socialist groups - which form a house majority - have already drafted a resolution clearing the ITA.The parliament decision comes amid a charm offensive by the Czech Republic to enlist Nabucco suppliers in the wake of the Russia-Ukraine gas crisis.Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek will visit Ashgabat on 13 February. The Czech EU presidency hopes to bring the Turkmen foreign minister to a meeting in Brussels on 16 March if the ITA gets through. Turkmenistan leader Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov is also invited to a summit of Nabucco countries in Prague on 7 May.The initiative risks staining the Czech Republic and the European Parliament's record as watchdogs of EU ethical foreign policy.NGOs suspect that the pro-ITA line -that new legal relations will help the EU push for reform via formal human rights clauses - is a fig leaf for a simple gas grab.How does the commission substantiate its argument that the EU is better positioned to affect change in Turkmenistan by concluding an ITA, rather than requiring concrete rights improvements in advance of it? Human Rights Watch analyst Veronika Szente Goldston said.
Beyond ethics
Beyond ethical questions, there are concerns that Turkmenistan will do little to improve EU energy security even if European energy firms sign big contracts with the regime in the context of a diplomatic rapprochement.Turkmenistan is one of the most closed countries in the world. Ordinary people are forbidden to travel abroad. Even the Red Cross has no access to political prisoners and the fate of about 50 people who vanished after a failed coup in 2002 remains unclear. MEPs have not visited for over two years. The European Commission has no staff in Ashgabat, beyond six sub-contracted workers at a cultural centre. And despite the presence of four EU member state embassies, Brussels does not know if a gun battle in Ashgabat last September was another attempt to overthrow the government. NGO Global Witness says that under the late president Saparmurat Niyazov, all income from the gas trade was put into off-budget funds held mainly in Deutsche Bank in Frankfurt. There is no evidence the country's finances are any more normal today.It seems very short-sighted of the EU to think it can get around the Russia-Ukraine problem by turning to a country with virtually no standards of good governance, Global Witness' Tom Mayne said. We could find ourselves feeding into a black hole of opacity and corruption.
Huge drop in demand for European steel
ANDREW WILLIS Today FEB 6,09 @ 09:25 CET
Eurofer, the European confederation of iron and steel industries, said Thursday (5 January) it is bracing itself for a fall in demand for steel in the range of 15 percent for 2009.The EU steel market is severely impacted by the recession and will be facing an unprecedented downturn this year, said the confederation in a statement. The drop in car production is the main factor in the reduced demand for steel the confederation said, but the downturn in the construction, steel tube and engineering sectors will also have significant negative impacts. Apparent consumption will drop by 29 percent year-on-year in the first quarter and by a further 23 percent in the second quarter, Eurofer said, with decline slowing somewhat in the second half of 2009 as the market corrects itself. Bruno Bolfo, chairman and owner of Duferco, the world's biggest steel trading company told the Financial Times over the weekend that any steel company expecting an upturn in the sector in late-2009 was deluding itself.The official line from the big companies is that a mild recovery of sorts could start in the second half. Of course, they have to say this – but really there's not much hope. An upturn so soon is just not on the cards, he told the newspaper.Mr Bolfo continued that any pick-up in global steel demand in 2010 would be small stuff.Eurofer also warned that pressure from steel imports would remain high because of the much stronger sacrifice the domestic producers are making in order to enable the market to reach a new equilibrium.The European steel industry is the largest in the world with a turnover of €160bn and direct employment of 430 thousand people producing over 200 million tons of steel a year, 15 percent of the global output. Faced with the current crisis, large steelmakers across the globe such as world leader ArcelorMittal have announced job cuts and reduced hour working weeks to combat the fall in demand. Despite the problems faced by the sector, the commission said on Thursday that it is considering starting anti-trust procedures against a number of unnamed steel companies on grounds they acted as a cartel. The companies received notification from the commission last October and the commission is now considering their responses. If found guilty, the companies could be fined up to 10 percent of their yearly turnover.
Across the Atlantic, US senators will Friday (6 February) resume the debate on the proposed $900bn stimulus plan whose Buy American article, excluding EU steel, appears to have been softened.
Kissinger Sent to Russia to Cut New World Order Deal Kurt Nimmo Infowars February 6, 2009
It is yet another glaring example there is no difference between Bush, Obama, or anybody else anointed by the global elite to serve as presidential window dressing — the Daily Telegraph reports this morning that former Reichsminister of State and Rockefeller minion Henry Kissinger was dispatched by the Obama administration to talk with Russian president Dmitry Medvedev about reducing stockpiles of nuclear warheads.Kissinger met with Putin at the Russian Prime Minister’s country house outside of Moscow.The decision to send Mr. Kissinger to Moscow, taken by Mr Obama when he was still president-elect, is part of a plan to overcome probable Republican objections in Congress, reports Adrian Blomfield, Moscow correspondent for the British newspaper. It is said the secret negotiations were conducted in December.
Obama, of course, runs nothing and the reprehensible octogenarian war criminal Kissinger was dispatched on orders of the elite, not Obama. It is said Kissinger had a sit-down with former Russian boss Vladimir Putin at his country house outside of Moscow. While the details of the ambitious initiative are yet to be revealed, the proposal to return to the negotiating table after eight years of reluctance in Washington has been welcomed in Britain and elsewhere, reports the Daily Telegraph.
No doubt a fly on the wall of Putin’s country house would reveal other topics of discussion, as the elite and the military-industrial complex have made trillions on the phony Cold War and its subsequent permutations over the decades and really has no desire to slash nuclear warheads, not unless they can make a bunch of money in the process. Mr Obama apparently chose Mr Kissinger for his consummate diplomatic skills and his popularity in Moscow, an affection earned by his open acknowledgment of Russia’s international resurgence.Kissinger’s consummate diplomatic skills are well-known — over the years he has micromanaged the bombing of small and defense countries and is responsible for the murder of millions of people, most notably a few million Vietnamese, Cambodians, and Indonesians. It is absurd to think Obama chose Kissinger or anybody else for that matter. Obama, like all previous presidents in the modern era, is little more than a wind-up doll with notable oratory skills and a knack for reading teleprompters. Along with Obama foreign policy guru and notorious Russia-hater Zbigniew Brzezinski, Kissinger is a Rockefeller functionary and Trilateral Commission member. He is also a prominent Bilderberg member and long time member of the Council on Foreign Relations. He worked for the Rockefeller Brothers Fund as director of its Special Studies Project.The CFR, Trilateral Commission, and the Bilderbergers have one objective — to create world government under the guise of a New World Order. It is safe to say the meeting with Medvedev and Putin had more to do with the New World Order than reducing the number of nukes in Russia and the United States. Last month, Kissinger went on the pages of the International Herald Tribune and called for a New World Order. During an interview with CNBC’s Mark Haines and Erin Burnett on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Kissinger said the anointment of Barack Obama represents an opportunity to create a New World Order at a moment when there is upheaval in many parts of the world simultaneously,never mind the fact these upheavals are orchestrated by the elite and the international bankers.
Of more immediate importance than any number of nuclear warheads is Russia’s strategic relationship with China and Iran and its relations with Cuba, Venezuela and Brazil. Moreover, Putin and the Russians have vehemently opposed the Soros/Freedom House/CIA sponsored revolutions in former Soviet republics and have signaled their intention to resist these globalist sponsored so-called revolutions. A system of permanent revolutions, rose revolutions or some others, is the most dangerous, Putin told Interfax on December 23, 2004, well before the U.S. orchestrated provocation in South Ossetia. It is no secret, as well, the globalists are irked by Russia’s nationalization of the Yukos oil-producing division by Rosnfet. Putin became somewhat of a hero to the anti-globalist movement when he wrestled power from multinational corporations, multilateral institutions, and the global economic system they promote, as Liliana N. Proskuryakova described it. In addition, the Russians have consistently resisted the loan-sharking operations of the global elite, most notably in regard to the IMF and the World Bank. Between 2000 and 2004, Putin persistently refused to borrow from these institutions. Now that the banksters and neolibs have managed to knock Russia and other oil-producing nations down a few notches — due largely to artificially induced falling oil prices — it is time for them to strike a new deal with Russia as the New World Order scheme gains momentum. Thus it is fair to say Kissinger’s meeting with Medvedev and Putin had less to do with nuclear stockpiles than it had to do with offering a deal the Russians may not be able to refuse. In short, Kissinger’s trip was likely what it appears to be — a meeting between mob bosses as they set about to carve up their respective spheres of influence.
Cold warrior Henry Kissinger woos Russia for Barack Obama Henry Kissinger, the pioneer of Cold War detente during the Nixon era, has made a return to frontline politics after President Barack Obama reportedly sent him to Moscow to win backing from Vladimir Putin's government for a nuclear disarmament initiative. By Adrian Blomfield, Moscow Correspondent 2:14AM GMT 06 Feb 2009
The Daily Telegraph has learned that the 85-year-old former US secretary of state met President Dmitry Medvedev for secret negotiations in December. According to Western diplomats, during two days of talks the octogenarian courted Russian officials to win their support for Mr Obama's initiative, which could see Russia and the United States each slashing their nuclear warheads to 1,000 warheads. The decision to send Mr Kissinger to Moscow, taken by Mr Obama when he was still president-elect, is part of a plan to overcome probable Republican objections in Congress. Mr Kissinger is believed to have won a verbal rather than written undertaking for the deal. Tom Graham, a senior associate at Kissinger Associates and a former member of the national security council in the White House, on Thursday confirmed that Mr Kissinger had met Mr Medvedev but denied that any negotiations had taken place and said he had not met with Mr Putin. However, a diplomatic source said that Mr Kissinger held two days of talks with Mr Putin at his country house near Moscow. While the details of the ambitious initiative are yet to be revealed, the proposal to return to the negotiating table after eight years of reluctance in Washington has been welcomed in Britain and elsewhere. Mr Obama apparently chose Mr Kissinger for his consummate diplomatic skills and his popularity in Moscow, an affection earned by his open acknowledgment of Russia's international resurgence.
Despite his pariah status with many Left-wingers in Mr Obama's Democratic Party, the president forged relations with Mr Kissinger during his campaign. The compliment was returned when the 85-year-old veteran of the Nixon and Ford administrations said last month that the young president was in a position to create a new world order by shifting US foreign policy away from the hostile stance of the Bush administration. He publicly supported Mr Obama's notion of unconditional talks with Iran, though not at the presidential level. Further demonstrating his willingness to work with his opponents on foreign policy issues, Mr Obama turned to two veteran Republicans steeped in Cold War experience to press home his plans. Shortly after Mr Kissinger's trip, Richard Lugar, a Republican senator from Indiana who has worked on nuclear disarmament issues for 30 years, also visited Moscow. George Schultz, another former secretary of state, has also played a vital role. Observers say signs of progress towards a new treaty could come as early as this weekend, when senior government officials meet at a security conference in Munich. Joe Biden, the US vice president, is expected to address the conference and diplomats hinted he could announce the suspension of plans to erect a missile defence shield in central Europe, a project that has been frequently denounced in Moscow. Despite widespread praise for the proposals, many European officials are privately urging the United States to be cautious, aware that Kremlin policy towards the West in recent years has been characterized by reversals. Apart from worries over Russia's increasingly belligerent international policies, there is also little doubt a disarmament deal would benefit Moscow more than Washington even if the Kremlin has threatened to stall talks on a new treaty in the past. Russia has long called for a new agreement to replace the 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START), which expires on Dec 5. Under START, the two Cold War adversaries agreed to halve their stockpiles to 5,000 warheads apiece. An addendum negotiated in 2002 under the START framework saw both sides agree to cut the number of warheads in service to between 1,700 and 2,200 each.
Despite pressure from Moscow, the Bush Administration was reluctant to begin negotiations on a successor to START because it feared losing the flexibility needed to respond to potential challenges from rising nuclear powers such as China. The Kremlin, on the other hand, has been desperate for a new treaty because Russia's dilapidated nuclear stockpile is no longer sustainable either financially or practically. Despite developing a new class of intercontinental ballistic missiles, the bulk of Russia's arsenal has passed its sell-by date. Even though many warheads have been kept alive artificially, Russia has long been aware that most of its missiles will have to be decommissioned much faster than they can be replaced.
Nuclear parity, the crux of Moscow's defence policy, is therefore fiction in all but name. A new treaty, however, would allow Russia to compete and free up money for other armament programmes. In return for a new disarmament deal, Mr Putin has demanded that the United States delay Nato membership for Ukraine and Georgia as well as shelving the missile shield, which Moscow believes is directed at Russia rather than Iran. The United States is reportedly ready to accept those demands after Mr Kissinger, who is deeply respected for his recognition of Russia's resurgence, may have won concessions of his own, a diplomatic source said. Frequent visits by Mr Kissinger to Russia since 2000 have largely gone unreported in the Western press. But in 2007, the Russian news agency Novosti reported that Mr Kissinger and Yevgeny Primakov, a former KGB master, were appointed by Mr Putin to co-chair a bilateral working group of Russian and American political insiders to tackle issues such as global terrorism, nuclear proliferation, and nuclear threats.
Mr Putin is understood to have signalled his willingness to drop Russian objections over tougher sanctions against Iran and could also suspend the sale of sophisticated air defence missiles to Teheran which Washington fears could hamper a military strike against the country's nuclear installations.
EZEKIEL 38:1-12
1 And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
2 Son of man, set thy face against Gog,(RULER) the land of Magog,(RUSSIA) the chief prince of Meshech(MOSCOW)and Tubal,(TOBOLSK) and prophesy against him,
3 And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech(MOSCOW) and Tubal:
4 And I will turn thee back, and put hooks into thy jaws,(GOD FORCES THE RUSSIA-MUSLIMS TO MARCH) and I will bring thee forth, and all thine army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed with all sorts of armour, even a great company with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords:
5 Persia,(IRAN,IRAQ) Ethiopia, and Libya with them; all of them with shield and helmet:
6 Gomer,(GERMANY) and all his bands; the house of Togarmah (TURKEY)of the north quarters, and all his bands:(SUDAN,AFRICA) and many people with thee.
7 Be thou prepared, and prepare for thyself, thou, and all thy company that are assembled unto thee, and be thou a guard unto them.
8 After many days thou shalt be visited: in the latter years thou shalt come into the land that is brought back from the sword, and is gathered out of many people, against the mountains of Israel, which have been always waste: but it is brought forth out of the nations, and they shall dwell safely all of them.
9 Thou shalt ascend and come like a storm, thou shalt be like a cloud to cover the land, thou, and all thy bands, and many people with thee.(RUSSIA-EGYPT AND MUSLIMS)
10 Thus saith the Lord GOD; It shall also come to pass, that at the same time shall things come into thy mind, and thou shalt think an evil thought:
11 And thou shalt say, I will go up to the land of unwalled villages; I will go to them that are at rest, that dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates,
12 To take a spoil, and to take a prey; to turn thine hand upon the desolate places that are now inhabited, and upon the people that are gathered out of the nations, which have gotten cattle and goods, that dwell in the midst of the land.
ISAIAH 17:1
1 The burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap.
PSALMS 83:3-7
3 They (ARABS,MUSLIMS) have taken crafty counsel against thy people,(ISRAEL) and consulted against thy hidden ones.
4 They have said, Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance.
5 For they have consulted together with one consent: they are confederate against thee:(TREATIES)
6 The tabernacles of Edom,and the Ishmaelites;(ARABS) of Moab, and the Hagarenes;
7 Gebal, and Ammon,(JORDAN) and Amalek;(SYRIA) the Philistines (PALESTINIANS) with the inhabitants of Tyre;(LEBANON)
DANIEL 11:40-43
40 And at the time of the end shall the king of the south( EGYPT) push at him:(EU DICTATOR IN ISRAEL) and the king of the north (RUSSIA AND MUSLIM HORDES OF EZEK 38+39) shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter into the countries, and shall overflow and pass over.
41 He shall enter also into the glorious land, and many countries shall be overthrown: but these shall escape out of his hand, even Edom, and Moab, and the chief of the children of Ammon.(JORDAN)
42 He shall stretch forth his hand also upon the countries: and the land of Egypt shall not escape.
43 But he shall have power over the treasures of gold and of silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt: and the Libyans and the Ethiopians shall be at his steps.
EZEKIEL 39:1-8
1 Therefore, thou son of man, prophesy against Gog,(LEADER OF RUSSIA) and say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech (MOSCOW) and Tubal: (TUBOLSK)
2 And I will turn thee back, and leave but the sixth part of thee, and will cause thee to come up from the north parts,(RUSSIA) and will bring thee upon the mountains of Israel:
3 And I will smite thy bow out of thy left hand, and will cause thine arrows to fall out of thy right hand.
4 Thou shalt fall upon the mountains of Israel, thou, and all thy bands,( ARABS) and the people that is with thee: I will give thee unto the ravenous birds of every sort, and to the beasts of the field to be devoured.
5 Thou shalt fall upon the open field: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord GOD.
6 And I will send a fire on Magog,(NUCLEAR BOMB) and among them that dwell carelessly in the isles: and they shall know that I am the LORD.
7 So will I make my holy name known in the midst of my people Israel; and I will not let them pollute my holy name any more: and the heathen shall know that I am the LORD, the Holy One in Israel.
8 Behold, it is come, and it is done, saith the Lord GOD; this is the day whereof I have spoken.
JOEL 2:3,20,30-31
3 A fire(NUCLEAR BOMB) devoureth before them;(RUSSIA-ARABS) and behind them a flame burneth: the land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; yea, and nothing shall escape them.
20 But I will remove far off from you the northern army,(RUSSIA,MUSLIMS) and will drive him into a land barren and desolate, with his face toward the east sea, and his hinder part toward the utmost sea, and his stink shall come up, and his ill savour shall come up, because he hath done great things.(SIBERIAN DESERT)
30 And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.(NUCLEAR BOMB)
31 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come.
WALID SHOEBAT ON BBC AUDIO
http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/worldservice/whys/whys_20090205-1800a.mp3
WALIDS WEBSITE
http://www.shoebat.com/index.php
Zero hour approaches Posted: February 06, 2009
1:00 am Eastern 2009 WND
We've been counting down to the year that Iran will finally become a nuclear power ever since Iranian dissidents exposed the Iranian nuclear program in 2002. European intelligence estimated it would take Iran until 2012 to achieve this. Israeli intelligence figured late 2007. Last year's National Intelligence Estimate completely undercut the Bush administration's Iran foreign policy when it estimated Iran was still many years from being able to build a bomb. The NIE predicted: … with moderate confidence that the earliest possible date Iran would be technically capable of producing enough HEU [highly enriched uranium] for a weapon is late 2009, but that is very unlikely.Unlikely though it may have been, the International Atomic Energy Agency found that Iran had enriched enough uranium to make its first atomic bomb on Nov. 21, 2008. By now, as it brings new centrifuges online, Tehran may well have enough for a second. The head of Russia's state nuclear corporation, Sergei Kiriyenko, was quoted from the Kremlin on Wednesday confirming the launch of the Bushehr reactor later this year. Iran's nuclear ambitions are no longer even remotely unclear. Yet, knowing this, Moscow fully intends to supply Iran with all the nuclear material it needs.
In Gaza, Hamas is claiming victory on the same ground as did Hezbollah in 2006. It survived, and Israel pulled out without meeting all its objectives. Rockets continue to rain down on Israel from Gaza, and Hamas continues to hold Israeli solider Gilad Shalit hostage. To the north, either out of nervous tension or tactical plan, Hezbollah launched several rockets into Israel. Syrian troops opened fire with small arms on Israeli troops on their side of the border near Sheba Farms. In a couple of days, Israeli voters are likely to return Benjamin Netanyahu to power, which changes the whole equation in the region. WorldNetDaily reported yesterday of a secret message sent by Netanyahu to Hamas' top leadership saying that if they don't stop the rocket attacks against Israel, he will order the IDF to wipe them out.Netanyahu makes three specific promises to voters upon the strength of which he is expected to win. The first is the destruction of Hamas. The Jerusalem Post quoted Netanyahu speaking from the site of a Grad missile strike in Ashkelon on Monday, saying: A government under my leadership will overthrow the Hamas rule in Gaza and bring about a cessation of rocket fire, he said. The policy of blindness followed in the past years has brought us to this situation.The second is the destruction of Hezbollah and Syrian influence over Lebanon. The third promise is left deliberately vague: Iran will not be allowed to possess nuclear weapons. Netanyahu doesn't elaborate on exactly how Israel will prevent it. But notice something curious about that. Not many Israelis want him to. Taking a step back and looking at the Big Picture, it is hard not to miss the fact that events are developing in concert with the ancient prophecies of Scripture. The Prophet Isaiah foretold the burden of Damascus (Isaiah 17:1) in which the prophet predicts the overnight destruction of that great city in the last days: At evening time, behold there is terror! Before morning they are no more. Such will be the portion of those who plunder us, and the lot of those who pillage us.(Isaiah 17:14)
The Prophet Ezekiel predicts an alliance between Russia and an Islamic confederacy headed by Iran, or Persia. Hamas continues to attack Israel with rocket attacks for the sheer joy of the violence of it all. Related to this, the Prophet Obadiah pronounced this verdict against Edom, who is one of the forefathers of the people of Hamas, saying, Because of violence to your brother Jacob, you will be covered with shame, and you will be cut off forever. Interestingly, the word translated as violence in this Scripture is the Hebrew word, chamac, pronounced hamas.Of all the generations in history, it is to this generation that the prophecies of the last days are addressed. Previous generations looked for the signs given by Scripture, but only this generation can truly see them all come together at one time – which is itself a key fulfillment of prophecy. The Prophet Daniel predicted these conditions: And I heard, but I understood not: then said I, O my Lord, what shall be the end of these things? And he said, Go thy way, Daniel: for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end.(Daniel 12:8-9) We are witnessing the unsealing of the end-times prophecies. The same Spirit that inspired the incredible accuracy of the prophets to this point is not likely to suddenly have a misstep. So what does that mean? The Lord of the Universe is getting ready to judge the world. But before that, He will come for His own. Make sure you are one of them.
THESE MUSLIM LEADERS ARE SICK PROMOTING VIOLENCE AGAINST MUSLIM WOMEN.C'MON MUSLIM WOMEN WAKE UP CHOOSE KING JESUS AND CHRISTIANITY THE ONE AND ONLY TRUE PERSONAL RELATIONSHIP WITH THE FATHER,SON AND HOLY SPIRIT (ONE GOD)OF ISRAEL AND THE WHOLE WORLD.THE ONLY NAME JESUS THAT SALVATION IS GUARENTEED FOREVER ON EARTH RULING WITH THE TRUE KING OF KINGS.
Muslim cleric: Here's how to beat wives,He's tried admonishing, he's tried banishment – but nothing February 05, 2009 11:50 pm Eastern 2009 WorldNetDaily
An Egyptian Muslim cleric has instructed that husbands should not beat their wives to the point that their beauty is scarred or bones are broken, but that it should be clear that: A word would be enough for any wife with lofty morals, but with you, words do not help.The instruction comes from Egyptian Cleric Galal Al-Khatib, whose sermon was broadcast on All-Rahma Television on Dec. 24, 2008. It has been interpreted by MEMRI, the Middle East Media Research Institute, an independent nonprofit that provides translations of media reports from the Middle East and analysis of those reports.He explains there are three stages of discipline for wives under Islam: Admonishment, banishment and beating. The Prophet Muhammad said that the beatings should be light, and that one should avoid the face, or the sensitive areas, which might lead to broken bones, or might leave a mark that would spoil her beauty, whether on her face or anywhere on her body,the cleric advises. MEMRI also has posted a video of the sermon on its website, which requires viewers to participate in a free registration and login. Khatid explains that the husband first must understand what disobedience in a wife is.
Egypitan cleric preaching on the beating of wives
Disobedience is to leave the house without the husband's permission, to refuse to obey the husband in bed, to speak to the husband impolitely, or to do the opposite of what he likes. All these are forms of disobedience, he said. The first measure for reforming a disobedient wife is to admonish her. The husband should talk to her gently, reminding her of God, and reminding her that if she wants to enter Paradise, she must obey him. He must tell her that by pleasing her husband, she pleases God, and that his rights supersede the rights of her parents, he said. Okay, if admonishing doesn't work, the next measure is banishment. Some say that the wife should be banished from his bed, while others say he should refrain from having sex with her, although I do not agree with the latter view, because having sex is one of the rights of the husband, so how can he discipline her by depriving himself of sex? Khatid said. It's enough if he refrains from smiling and saying nice things to her, and instead, he gives her the cold shoulder, but he has the right to have sex with her, even during banishment.He continued with his lesson on Islamic family relations: Okay, he's tried admonishing, he's tried banishment – but nothing. Her emotions are numb, and she says: Good riddance. So what is the next measure? ..and beat them.Beating,he said. He cited a light slap on her shoulder, or maybe a not-so-light pinch and examples of what should be done. Ultimately, he said, the message is, With you, I have reached a stage which is only appropriate for inhumane people – the stage of beating. By beating his wife, the husband is saying: You've committed a grave sin that merits beatings, he said.
GLOBAL JIHAD U.S. Jewish targets listed on Muslim website Give them the Islamic message, demands New York-based extremist February 05, 2009 5:03 pm Eastern
By Aaron Klein 2009 WorldNetDaily
JERUSALEM – A U.S. jihadi website has issued a series of videos targeting the New York headquarters of Chabad, a Jewish outreach movement, just two months after the group was rocked by a deadly terrorist attack in Mumbai, India. The videos also ask viewers to give the Islamic message to Yeshiva University, a Manhattan-based Jewish college, as well as Jewish Federation buildings all over the U.S. in response to the institutions' purported funding for Israel amid its recent offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. The Islamic threats already resulted in a New York Police Department investigation and a beefed-up police presence outside the Chabad headquarters, WND has learned. When an atrocity is done like what was done in Gaza, indiscriminately killing women and children, we know who the source is, stated Yousef Al-Khattab, the CEO of RevolutionMuslim.com in a video address posted on the website. These are definitely the sources, Khattab stated, citing Chabad and the other Jewish institutions. We think it's imperative to hold these people responsible, speak in front of their homes, give them the Islamic message. Leave them the message of Islam. That's not a threat, that's what it is,Khattab said in the video.
While Khattab, who spoke to WND today, claimed his website is not issuing threats against Jewish groups, a second video posted on the site contains what can easily be interpreted as lightly veiled threats of violence against Chabad. The video features a slideshow of images of wounded Palestinians and then repeatedly switches to pictures of Chabad's main headquarters in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. It then presents a picture of a blood-stained Jewish prayer book taken from inside a Jerusalem seminary following a deadly shooting massacre there last March that killed eight Jews.
The video ends with the sound of gunshots.
Asked whether the video montage was implying Chabad's headquarters should be targeted by Islamic violence, Khattab told WND, It is what it is.Khattab said he did not have the authority to issue a directive to carry out specific attacks. Further petitioned to explain the intended meaning of the blood-soaked prayer book interspersed with images of Chabad's headquarters, Khattab replied, Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.He told WND he supports Hamas' suicide bombings against Israelis, including attacks targeting cafes, restaurants and nightclubs. There is no such thing as Israeli civilian,he said.I pray to Allah for the complete destruction of Israel.In a video on his website, Khattab states he normally advises others to just ignore [the Jews]. That's not racist. We don't like to deal with them ... but when there is a terrorist war of destruction, killing of kids ... [Israeli] genocide, then we have to take to the forefront.
Security bolstered at Chabad headquarters
Motti Seligson, a spokesman for Chabad, told WND although not all threats are serious, his organization is work[ing] closely with law enforcement to ensure that all threats are handled properly, as safety is of paramount concern.Immediately following RevolutionMuslim's first posting about Chabad two weeks ago, the NYPD stationed a large police presence, including NYPD vans, outside the Jewish group's headquarters. NYPD Commissioner Raymond Kelley called Chanina Sperlin, vice president of the Crown Heights Jewish Community Council, to assure him the police were looking into the situation and were taking any threats seriously. Khattab said he was questioned by NYPD investigators.
Expert: Take threats seriously
One Chabad official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said he was not particularly concerned about the alleged threats. But U.S. terrorism expert Steve Emerson said videos like those posted on RevolutionMuslim.com should be taken seriously. Any site that advocates violence or provides incitement to violence has to be taken seriously,he told WND.
We appreciate support of American progressives
Realizing his statement may attract the attention of U.S. law enforcement agencies, Khattab delivered a direct message to the NYPD, CIA and FBI: You can put me in jail for the rest of my life. As long as I got that information out there for people, I did something. I didn't sit on my behind.Khattab also lashed out against any website that may pick up on his statement. It just attracts Drudge, the JAWA report, Atlas Shrugs (blog), and Robert Spencer (Jihad Watch blog) and just other whining little queers and stuff like that.But he celebrated what he said is his website's non-Muslim following of progressive Americans, socialists, anarchists, communists ... people who can really contribute, they give us dialogue and send us nice e-mails.
Khattab, a 39-year-old New York taxi driver who converted to Islam from Judaism, said he launched RevolutionMuslim.com with the mission of preserving Islamic culture,calling people to the oneness of God and asking them to support the beloved Sheik Abdullah Faisal, who's preaching the religion of Islam and serving as a spiritual guide. He told WND his site's main goal is to establish worldwide Islamic dominance. He runs the site from his home in Queens, N.Y., and even advertises his personal phone number. Faisal, the website's spiritual adviser, was convicted in the UK in 2003 for urging his followers to kill Jews, Hindus and Westerners. In videotaped recordings, Faisal was taped delivering sermons calling on Muslims to use chemical weapons to exterminate unbelievers and cut the throat of the Kaffars (nonbelievers) with (a) machete.FoxNews.com previously reported Faisal's sermons may have influenced shoe bomber Richard Reid, who attended mosques where Faisal preached. Khattab's website is no stranger to controversy. In the past it featured a video praising al-Qaida's beheading of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl under the banner Daniel Pearl I am Happy Your Dead :),and a puppet show making light of U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq.
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.
Fires to follow floods as wild weather hits Australia – Fri Feb 6, 3:31 am ET
SYDNEY (AFP) – Eastern Australia braced for more fires and floods Friday as the south faced extreme heat and heavy rain threatened to swell floodwaters ravaging the north.A once-in-a-century heatwave was forecast to intensify over the weekend with high temperatures and dry winds producing the worst wildfire conditions in 25 years, authorities said.We're talking about fire danger that hasn't been seen since Ash Wednesday coming up on Saturday, said Ron Patterson, an environment department spokesman from Victoria state.The Ash Wednesday fires of 1983 killed 75 people and devastated large areas of Australia's southeast, wiping out some 2,500 homes.The mercury is expected to top 44 degrees in Sydney, Australia's largest city, on Sunday, with temperatures in excess of 46 degrees forecast for inland areas.Much of the southeast has sweltered under record temperatures this summer, with wildfires destroying at least 29 homes last week and dozens of mainly elderly people dying of heat-related stress.The temperature in the South Australian capital Adelaide soared to above 42 degrees on Friday and authorities warned of worse to come.The fire danger forecast for Saturday may be as extreme as we've seen in South Australia for a number of years, said fire service spokesman Euan Ferguson.A 120-hectare blaze was Friday threatening to break containment lines and threaten property in Victoria's Gippsland region, with the state's premier John Brumby describing conditions as tinder-dry.Almost 40 separate fires raged in the neighbouring state of New South Wales, where 70,000 volunteer firefighters will be on standby throughout the weekend.
Adding to the fear is the knowledge that many of Australia's wildfires are lit by arsonists.Police are hunting fire starters believed to have sparked last week's fire that destroyed nearly 30 homes in Victoria state.The government's Australian Institute of Criminology released a report on Sunday which said half of the nation's 20,000 to 30,000 bushfires each year are deliberately lit.But in the northeast, floodwaters have devastated more than one million square kilometres (385,000 square miles), inundating homes, destroying at least a fifth of the region's sugar cane fields and stranding tens of thousands of cattle.There are cattle suffering pretty seriously, said Cattle Council of Australia president Greg Brown.There is some mortality rate, just how great that is at this stage is pretty hard to tell, but it's going to be, I think, substantial.Farmers unable to move produce due to the floods were facing millions of dollars in losses, while the army was preparing to drop food into some towns that have been cut off for up to a week.The deluge, which followed two recent cyclones, hit almost 3,000 homes, forcing dozens of evacuations and leaving scores of people stranded. Some towns in the Gulf of Carpentaria region could remain inaccessible by road for another six weeks, authorities have warned.
Further heavy rains are expected, as a tropical low hovers off the coast, the weather bureau said.Meteorologists have warned the extreme temperatures and downpours -- a common feature of Australian summers -- would only increase as a result of climate change.
Weather satellite blasts off from SoCal coast FEB 6,09
VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. – A rocket carrying a U.S. global weather satellite has blasted off from California's Vandenberg Air Force Base.The NOAA-N Prime satellite was launched aboard a Delta 2 rocket from the central coast base at 2:22 a.m. Friday.The launch had been planned for Wednesday but it was postponed because of launch pad technical problems.NOAA-N Prime is the last in a series of polar-orbiting satellites that have been observing Earth's weather since 1960. Its data will be used for long-range weather and climate forecasts.The satellite also carries sensors that can receive distress signals from mariners and hikers.The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration manages the $564 million mission. The satellite was built by Lockheed Martin Space Systems Co.
Weekend warmth to give Northeast respite from cold By Haitham Haddadin FEB 6,09
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Americans in the Northeast should get some respite from this winter's frigid temperatures with a much-welcomed warm spell this weekend that just may last into next week, forecasters say.The unseasonal warmth, which could see thermometer readings rising by Sunday to the 40s Fahrenheit (4 Celsius) in some parts of the Northeast from the current below zero to 20s, could mean less demand for home heating oil in the world's largest market for the fuel.Ahead of the warmer temperatures -- as a result of the inflow of warm air masses from the west and southwest into the region -- a chilly day was in store Friday for the region, AccuWeather.com said.The Northeast will have to wait another day, until Saturday, before warm air pours in, AccuWeather meteorologist Katie Storbeck said on the company's website.High temperatures will jump as much as 20 degrees between today and Saturday. Thermometers will read in the 40s as far north as southern New England by the first half of the weekend, Storbeck added.DTN Meteorlogix forecast that in the Northeastern states temperatures will be 6 to 10 F above normal on Sunday, return to 4 to 8 F below normal Monday and Tuesday before warmer temperatures return.
In its 6- to 10-day outlook, DTN said temperatures will be near to above normal for the region.The heating load is expected to average above normal Friday, near to below normal Saturday, below normal Sunday, near to above normal Monday and Tuesday, DTN added.Heating oil futures were sharply lower on the New York Mercantile Exchange on Friday, with the March contract down 6.07 cents, or 4.44 percent, at $1.3065 per gallon, amid a decline in other energy futures.Among other forecasters, Weather Channel's Weather.com said that afternoon highs this weekend could reach the 50s or even 60s over the southern mid-Atlantic region which borders the Northeast.
Elsewhere, AccuWeather said temperatures will rise into the 50s as far north as Chicago by Saturday, with much of the southern Plains and Southeast warming to about 60 degrees.Meanwhile, the states along the Gulf Coast will enjoy temperatures in the 70s over the weekend,it said.(Editing by John Picinich)
FITNA ISLAM
VIDEO - http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7961200236915885171&ei=Unl3SYqPApPSjgKmzbilDw&q=fitna
PALESTINIAN MEDIA WATCH
http://www.pmw.org.il/
YAHOO NEWS VIDEO
http://news.yahoo.com/video
MIDEAST CONFLICT NEWS
http://news.yahoo.com/video/1874;_ylt=A0wNcxFdg6xIgbkAwD6z174F
ABC NEWS VIDEO
http://news.yahoo.com/video/2461
FOX NEWS VIDEO
http://news.yahoo.com/video/3074
FOX BUSINESS VIDEO
http://news.yahoo.com/video/3045
AP NEWS VIDEO
http://news.yahoo.com/video/2529
BBC NEWS VIDEO
http://news.yahoo.com/video/2918
REUTERS VIDEO NEWS
http://news.yahoo.com/video/2704
AFP NEWS VIDEO
http://news.yahoo.com/video/3091
CNBC NEWS VIDEO
http://news.yahoo.com/video/3245
HOARDING OF GOLD AND SILVER
DOCTOR DOCTORIAN FROM ANGEL OF GOD
then the angel said, Financial crisis will come to Asia. I will shake the world.
JAMES 5:1-3
1 Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you.
2 Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten.
3 Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days.
REVELATION 18:10,17,19
10 Standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come.
17 For in one hour so great riches is come to nought. And every shipmaster, and all the company in ships, and sailors, and as many as trade by sea, stood afar off,
19 And they cast dust on their heads, and cried, weeping and wailing, saying, Alas, alas that great city, wherein were made rich all that had ships in the sea by reason of her costliness! for in one hour is she made desolate.
EZEKIEL 7:19
19 They shall cast their silver in the streets, and their gold shall be removed: their silver and their gold shall not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the LORD: they shall not satisfy their souls, neither fill their bowels: because it is the stumblingblock of their iniquity.
REVELATION 13:16-18
16 And he(FALSE POPE) causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:(CHIP IMPLANT)
17 And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
18 Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.(6-6-6) A NUMBER SYSTEM
WORLD MARKET RESULTS
http://money.cnn.com/data/world_markets/
HALF HOUR DOW RESULTS FRI FEB 06,2009
09:30 AM +11.21
10:00 AM +149.10
10:30 AM +138.03
11:00 AM +160.65
11:30 AM +170.68
12:00 PM +177.21
12:30 PM +156.54
01:00 PM +181.83
01:30 PM +231.69
02:00 PM +226.28
02:30 PM +226.60
03:00 PM +212.82
03:30 PM +200.31
04:00 PM +217.52 +8280.59
S&P 500 868.60 +22.75
NASDAQ 1591.71 +45.47
GOLD 912.00 -2.00
OIL 40.14 -1.03
TSE 300 9020.24 +159.26
CDNX 909.27 +11.05
S&P/TSX/60 544.98 +9.13
MORNING,NEWS,STATS
YEAR TO DATE PERFORMANCE
Dow -8.13%
S&P -6.35%
Nasdaq -1.95%
TSX Advances 615,declines 522,unchanged 208,Volume 938,272,420.
TSX Venture Exchange Advances 372,Declines 325,Unchanged 304,Volume 127,439,110.
Dow +33 points at 4 minutes of trading today.
Dow +6 points at low today.
Dow +160 points at high today so far.
29 of 30 Dow stocks open higher today.
Oil opens at $39.01 today,Gold opens at $911.30 today.
Stimulus talks help global markets rise today.
China markets +4% to highest level since OCTOBER.
Most banks +3%-5% at start of trading today.
Hartford Financial -22%,Posts loss,Slashes dividends.
JP Morgan:GE could see a credit rating downgrade soon.
Fitch cuts ratings on CITI preferred shares to JUNK rating of BB.
Watch & Jewelry sales -29%,Wine & Spirits -11%.
TOYOTA TUMBLES
-Q3 net losses totaled $1.81 BILLION,first time since 1950.
-warns of $3.8 BILLION net loss for fiscal year.
-Moody's cuts AAA credit rating.
AFTERNOON,NEWS,STATS
Dow -4 points at low today so far.
Dow +205 points at high today so far.
DAY TODAY PERFORMANCE - 12:30PM STATS
NYSE Advances 2,804,declines 841,unchanged 76,New Highs 11,New Lows 59.
Volume 3,085,927,655
NASDAQ Advances 1,757,declines 831,unchanged 127,New highs 5,New Lows 54.
Volume 1,010,286,832
TSX Advances 625,declines 365,unchanged 242,Volume 485,869,782.
TSX Venture Exchange Advances 258,Declines 232,Unchanged 276,Volume 55,719,683.
WRAPUP,NEWS,STATS
Dow -4 points at low today.
Dow +256 points at high today.
Dow +2.70% today Volume 396,264,393.
Dow year to date -5.65%
Dow has biggest one day gain since JANUARY 21,2009.
Dow up 3% this week.
Dow 52 week range 7,449.38 - 13,136.69,low-high.
Nasdaq +2.94% today Volume 2,147,483,648.
Nasdaq up 7.8% this week.
Nasdaq erases 2009 losses.
Nasdaq at 1-month high.
Nasdaq year to date +0.93%
Nasdaq 52 week range 1,295.48 - 2,551.47,low-high.
S&P up 5% this week.
S&P year to date -3.84%
S&P 52 week range 741.02 - 1,440.24,low-high
Stocks break 4-week losing streak.
Financials lead stocks higher.
Major averages move higher after biggest job losses in 34 years.
CANADAS WEEK ENDING STATS
TSX Advances 768,Declines 401,Unchanged 224 Volume 1,002,074,841.
TSX Venture Advances 390,Declines 315,Unchanged 318 Volume 125,467,076.
BANKS TO BE NATIONALISED,END OF DOLLAR - VIDEO
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTYnlcZW8_8&eurl=http://www.infowars.com/
keiser-us-dollar-the-roach-motel-of-global-currencies/&feature=player_embedded
Sarkozy pledges results at G20 economic crisis meeting
ELITSA VUCHEVA Today FEB 6,09 @ 09:28 CET
EU countries should forge a common position on the need to reform and regulate the financial system, and they should speak with one voice at the upcoming G20 summit, French President Nicolas Sarkozy has said.He underlined that a meeting between France, Germany,Italy, the UK, Spain and the Netherlands on 22 February ahead of the G20 meeting that will take place on 2 April in London will be essential.
It is not possible that, in such a situation, Europe does not take the initiative, Mr Europe must have a common position on the summit of the G20, said the president in a special programme aimed at reassuring the French people about their government's actions in the face of the financial crisis.Asked by the journalists interviewing him how he would assess the action of the current Czech EU presidency, as well as of the European Commission, to counter the crisis, the president said: One should not be especially angry with them [the Czechs]. They are doing what they can.But in veiled criticism to Prague's presidency, he added: It is not possible that, in such a situation, Europe does not take the initiative to ensure co-ordination.The Czech Republic took over the rotating EU presidency from France on 1 January, but is already facing criticism for not doing enough compared to its pro-active predecessor.
No negotiations – we want results
During his 90-minute address, Mr Sarkozy cited a number of areas where he saw an urgent need of reform and where he was hoping to obtain greater European backing.In particular, no financial institution should be able to escape controls, said the French president, who also expressed scepticism regarding bad banks which would buy the toxic assets owned by financial institutions.I do not see why I would make the taxpayer pay for the mistakes of private banks, he pointed out.A reform of financial market traders' pay and a look into credit rating agencies which did an appalling job by failing to warn of the dangers in the financial system are also needed, according to Mr Sarkozy.He said the topic would be raised during his meeting with German chancellor Angela Merkel on Saturday, and expressing confidence that the chancellor would have a similar position.I have always thought that these are Ms Merkel's ideas, too, he said.We will go to the 2 April London [G20] summit to obtain structural decisions, this is clear ... My negotiating margin on hedge funds, on regulation, on the remuneration of financial institutions, on tax havens, will be zero. We want results,he added.He also said France would review its relations with neighbouring financial havens such as Luxembourg, Andorra and Monaco – which is not a tax haven but where things need to be straightened out.
Falling popularity
Mr Sarkozy's intervention comes amid drooping popularity at home.Rising unemployment and a generally worsening economic situation propelled 2.5 million people to the streets in France last week, protesting against the government's reaction to the crisis.The French president announced he would still continue with planned reforms, but also promised to scrap a so-called professional tax – a local corporate tax – next year, in a bid to stop key French industries, notably the auto sector, from moving elsewhere.
Jobless rate 7.6 pct; 598K job cuts most since 74 By JEANNINE AVERSA, AP Economics Writer FEB 6,09
WASHINGTON – Recession-battered employers eliminated 598,000 jobs in January, the most since the end of 1974, and catapulted the unemployment rate to 7.6 percent. The grim figures were further proof that the nation's job climate is deteriorating at an alarming clip with no end in sight.The Labor Department's report, released Friday, showed the terrible toll the drawn-out recession is having on workers and companies. It also puts even more pressure on Congress and President Barack Obama's administration to revive the economy through a stimulus package and a revamped financial bailout plan, both of which are nearing completion.These numbers, and the very real suffering of American workers they represent, reinforce the need for bold fiscal action, said Christina Romer, chief of the White House's Council of Economic Advisers. If we fail to act, we are likely to lose millions more jobs and the unemployment rate could reach double digits.The latest net total of job losses was far worse than the 524,000 that economists expected. Job reductions in November and December also were deeper than previously reported.With cost-cutting employers in no mood to hire, the unemployment rate bolted to 7.6 percent in January, the highest since September 1992. The increase in the jobless rate from 7.2 percent in December also was worse than the 7.5 percent rate economists expected.All told, the economy has lost a staggering 3.6 million jobs since the recession began in December 2007. About half of this decline occurred in the past three months.Companies are in survival mode and are really cutting to the bone, said economist Ken Mayland, president of ClearView Economics. They are cutting and cutting hard now out of fear of an uncertain future.
Factories slashed 207,000 jobs in January, the largest one-month drop since October 1982, partly reflecting heavy losses at plants making autos and related parts. Construction companies got rid of 111,000 jobs. Professional and business services chopped 121,000 positions. Retailers eliminated 45,000 jobs. Leisure and hospitality axed 28,000 slots.Those reductions swamped employment gains in education and health services, as well as in the government.Just in the 12 months ending January, an astonishing 3.5 million jobs have vanished, the most on record going back to 1939, although the total number of jobs has grown significantly since then.On Wall Street, investors pushed up stock prices on hopes that the miserable jobs report would get Congress to move quickly on the economic revival package. The Dow Jones industrials gained about 120 points in morning trading and broader stock indicators also rose.
Employers are slashing payrolls and turning to other ways to cut costs — including trimming workers' hours, freezing wages or cutting pay — to cope with shrinking appetites from customers in the U.S. and overseas, who are struggling with their own economic troubles.The average work week in January stayed at 33.3 hours, matching the record low set in December.With no place to go, the number of unemployed workers climbed to 11.6 million. In addition, 7.8 million people were working part time — a category that includes those who would like to work full time but whose hours were cut back, or those who were unable to find full-time work.
Job hunters also are facing longer searches for work.
The average time it took for an unemployed person to find any job — full or part time — rose to 19.8 weeks in January, compared with 17.5 weeks a year ago, underscoring the increasing difficulty the out-of-work are having in finding a new job.
Workers with jobs saw modest wage gains.
Average hourly earnings rose to $18.46 in January, up 0.3 percent from the previous month. Over the year, wages have risen 3.9 percent. An avalanche of layoffs is slamming the nation from a wide swath of employers. Caterpillar Inc., Pfizer Inc., Microsoft Corp., Estee Lauder Cos., Time Warner Cable Inc., and Sprint Nextel Corp. are among the companies slicing payrolls. Manufacturers — especially car makers — construction companies and retailers have been particularly hard hit by the recession. Talbots Inc., Liz Claiborne Inc., Macy's Inc. and Home Depot Inc. are all cutting jobs. So are Detroit's General Motors Corp. and Ford Motor Co. Americans cut back sharply on spending at the end of last year, thrusting the economy into its worst backslide in a quarter-century. The tailspin could well accelerate in the current January-March quarter to a rate of 5 percent or more as the recession drags on into a second year, and consumers and businesses burrow deeper. Vanishing jobs and evaporating wealth from tanking home values, 401(k)s and other investments have forced consumers to retrench, which has required companies to pull back. It's a vicious cycle where the economy's problems feed on each other, perpetuating a downward spiral. Many economists predict the current quarter — in terms of lost economic growth — will be the worst of the recession. With fallout from the housing, credit and financial crises — the worst since the 1930s — ripping through the economy, analysts predict 3 million or more jobs will vanish this year even if lawmakers quickly approve Obama's stimulus plan, which has ballooned to more than $900 billion in the Senate.
Obama has repeatedly pressed Congress to swiftly enact a package of increased government spending, including big public works projects and tax cuts, to revive the economy and create jobs. He says his plan will save or create more than 3 million jobs in the next two years. But the recession has proven stubborn. Despite record low interest rates ordered by the Federal Reserve and a raft of radical programs, including a $700 billion financial bailout, consumers and businesses face high hurdles to borrow money. Foreclosures are skyrocketing, home prices are sinking and Wall Street remains on edge.
EU puts energy hopes into Turkmenistan black hole
PHILIPPA RUNNER Today FEB 6,09 @ 07:43 CET
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - The European Commission and the Czech EU presidency are turning the screw on the European Parliament to upgrade relations with Turkmenistan, despite question marks over the country's viability as an EU energy supplier.Unless the EU engages more now, including through the upgrading of contractual relations, we leave the field open to other actors in the region who care little about improving the human rights situation, external relations commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner wrote on 26 January in a private letter to German left-wing MEP Helmuth Markov.Taking such a step should not be seen as a reward to Turkmenistan, but a pragmatic choice in our own interests.The Czech EU presidency sent a similar letter to MEPs in recent days, voicing fears that Russia will entrench its monopoly on Turkmenistan gas exports, complicating EU plans to tap the country's resources with its own Nabucco pipeline.Mr Markov chairs the European Parliament's trade committee, which has in the past made the signing of a basic trade deal with the post-Soviet dictatorship conditional on human rights benchmarks. Parliament's position on the Interim Trade Agreement (ITA) will come up for a vote at the 9 March plenary. But despite Turkmenistan making no real progress on political reform, the conservative and socialist groups - which form a house majority - have already drafted a resolution clearing the ITA.The parliament decision comes amid a charm offensive by the Czech Republic to enlist Nabucco suppliers in the wake of the Russia-Ukraine gas crisis.Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek will visit Ashgabat on 13 February. The Czech EU presidency hopes to bring the Turkmen foreign minister to a meeting in Brussels on 16 March if the ITA gets through. Turkmenistan leader Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov is also invited to a summit of Nabucco countries in Prague on 7 May.The initiative risks staining the Czech Republic and the European Parliament's record as watchdogs of EU ethical foreign policy.NGOs suspect that the pro-ITA line -that new legal relations will help the EU push for reform via formal human rights clauses - is a fig leaf for a simple gas grab.How does the commission substantiate its argument that the EU is better positioned to affect change in Turkmenistan by concluding an ITA, rather than requiring concrete rights improvements in advance of it? Human Rights Watch analyst Veronika Szente Goldston said.
Beyond ethics
Beyond ethical questions, there are concerns that Turkmenistan will do little to improve EU energy security even if European energy firms sign big contracts with the regime in the context of a diplomatic rapprochement.Turkmenistan is one of the most closed countries in the world. Ordinary people are forbidden to travel abroad. Even the Red Cross has no access to political prisoners and the fate of about 50 people who vanished after a failed coup in 2002 remains unclear. MEPs have not visited for over two years. The European Commission has no staff in Ashgabat, beyond six sub-contracted workers at a cultural centre. And despite the presence of four EU member state embassies, Brussels does not know if a gun battle in Ashgabat last September was another attempt to overthrow the government. NGO Global Witness says that under the late president Saparmurat Niyazov, all income from the gas trade was put into off-budget funds held mainly in Deutsche Bank in Frankfurt. There is no evidence the country's finances are any more normal today.It seems very short-sighted of the EU to think it can get around the Russia-Ukraine problem by turning to a country with virtually no standards of good governance, Global Witness' Tom Mayne said. We could find ourselves feeding into a black hole of opacity and corruption.
Huge drop in demand for European steel
ANDREW WILLIS Today FEB 6,09 @ 09:25 CET
Eurofer, the European confederation of iron and steel industries, said Thursday (5 January) it is bracing itself for a fall in demand for steel in the range of 15 percent for 2009.The EU steel market is severely impacted by the recession and will be facing an unprecedented downturn this year, said the confederation in a statement. The drop in car production is the main factor in the reduced demand for steel the confederation said, but the downturn in the construction, steel tube and engineering sectors will also have significant negative impacts. Apparent consumption will drop by 29 percent year-on-year in the first quarter and by a further 23 percent in the second quarter, Eurofer said, with decline slowing somewhat in the second half of 2009 as the market corrects itself. Bruno Bolfo, chairman and owner of Duferco, the world's biggest steel trading company told the Financial Times over the weekend that any steel company expecting an upturn in the sector in late-2009 was deluding itself.The official line from the big companies is that a mild recovery of sorts could start in the second half. Of course, they have to say this – but really there's not much hope. An upturn so soon is just not on the cards, he told the newspaper.Mr Bolfo continued that any pick-up in global steel demand in 2010 would be small stuff.Eurofer also warned that pressure from steel imports would remain high because of the much stronger sacrifice the domestic producers are making in order to enable the market to reach a new equilibrium.The European steel industry is the largest in the world with a turnover of €160bn and direct employment of 430 thousand people producing over 200 million tons of steel a year, 15 percent of the global output. Faced with the current crisis, large steelmakers across the globe such as world leader ArcelorMittal have announced job cuts and reduced hour working weeks to combat the fall in demand. Despite the problems faced by the sector, the commission said on Thursday that it is considering starting anti-trust procedures against a number of unnamed steel companies on grounds they acted as a cartel. The companies received notification from the commission last October and the commission is now considering their responses. If found guilty, the companies could be fined up to 10 percent of their yearly turnover.
Across the Atlantic, US senators will Friday (6 February) resume the debate on the proposed $900bn stimulus plan whose Buy American article, excluding EU steel, appears to have been softened.
Kissinger Sent to Russia to Cut New World Order Deal Kurt Nimmo Infowars February 6, 2009
It is yet another glaring example there is no difference between Bush, Obama, or anybody else anointed by the global elite to serve as presidential window dressing — the Daily Telegraph reports this morning that former Reichsminister of State and Rockefeller minion Henry Kissinger was dispatched by the Obama administration to talk with Russian president Dmitry Medvedev about reducing stockpiles of nuclear warheads.Kissinger met with Putin at the Russian Prime Minister’s country house outside of Moscow.The decision to send Mr. Kissinger to Moscow, taken by Mr Obama when he was still president-elect, is part of a plan to overcome probable Republican objections in Congress, reports Adrian Blomfield, Moscow correspondent for the British newspaper. It is said the secret negotiations were conducted in December.
Obama, of course, runs nothing and the reprehensible octogenarian war criminal Kissinger was dispatched on orders of the elite, not Obama. It is said Kissinger had a sit-down with former Russian boss Vladimir Putin at his country house outside of Moscow. While the details of the ambitious initiative are yet to be revealed, the proposal to return to the negotiating table after eight years of reluctance in Washington has been welcomed in Britain and elsewhere, reports the Daily Telegraph.
No doubt a fly on the wall of Putin’s country house would reveal other topics of discussion, as the elite and the military-industrial complex have made trillions on the phony Cold War and its subsequent permutations over the decades and really has no desire to slash nuclear warheads, not unless they can make a bunch of money in the process. Mr Obama apparently chose Mr Kissinger for his consummate diplomatic skills and his popularity in Moscow, an affection earned by his open acknowledgment of Russia’s international resurgence.Kissinger’s consummate diplomatic skills are well-known — over the years he has micromanaged the bombing of small and defense countries and is responsible for the murder of millions of people, most notably a few million Vietnamese, Cambodians, and Indonesians. It is absurd to think Obama chose Kissinger or anybody else for that matter. Obama, like all previous presidents in the modern era, is little more than a wind-up doll with notable oratory skills and a knack for reading teleprompters. Along with Obama foreign policy guru and notorious Russia-hater Zbigniew Brzezinski, Kissinger is a Rockefeller functionary and Trilateral Commission member. He is also a prominent Bilderberg member and long time member of the Council on Foreign Relations. He worked for the Rockefeller Brothers Fund as director of its Special Studies Project.The CFR, Trilateral Commission, and the Bilderbergers have one objective — to create world government under the guise of a New World Order. It is safe to say the meeting with Medvedev and Putin had more to do with the New World Order than reducing the number of nukes in Russia and the United States. Last month, Kissinger went on the pages of the International Herald Tribune and called for a New World Order. During an interview with CNBC’s Mark Haines and Erin Burnett on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Kissinger said the anointment of Barack Obama represents an opportunity to create a New World Order at a moment when there is upheaval in many parts of the world simultaneously,never mind the fact these upheavals are orchestrated by the elite and the international bankers.
Of more immediate importance than any number of nuclear warheads is Russia’s strategic relationship with China and Iran and its relations with Cuba, Venezuela and Brazil. Moreover, Putin and the Russians have vehemently opposed the Soros/Freedom House/CIA sponsored revolutions in former Soviet republics and have signaled their intention to resist these globalist sponsored so-called revolutions. A system of permanent revolutions, rose revolutions or some others, is the most dangerous, Putin told Interfax on December 23, 2004, well before the U.S. orchestrated provocation in South Ossetia. It is no secret, as well, the globalists are irked by Russia’s nationalization of the Yukos oil-producing division by Rosnfet. Putin became somewhat of a hero to the anti-globalist movement when he wrestled power from multinational corporations, multilateral institutions, and the global economic system they promote, as Liliana N. Proskuryakova described it. In addition, the Russians have consistently resisted the loan-sharking operations of the global elite, most notably in regard to the IMF and the World Bank. Between 2000 and 2004, Putin persistently refused to borrow from these institutions. Now that the banksters and neolibs have managed to knock Russia and other oil-producing nations down a few notches — due largely to artificially induced falling oil prices — it is time for them to strike a new deal with Russia as the New World Order scheme gains momentum. Thus it is fair to say Kissinger’s meeting with Medvedev and Putin had less to do with nuclear stockpiles than it had to do with offering a deal the Russians may not be able to refuse. In short, Kissinger’s trip was likely what it appears to be — a meeting between mob bosses as they set about to carve up their respective spheres of influence.
Cold warrior Henry Kissinger woos Russia for Barack Obama Henry Kissinger, the pioneer of Cold War detente during the Nixon era, has made a return to frontline politics after President Barack Obama reportedly sent him to Moscow to win backing from Vladimir Putin's government for a nuclear disarmament initiative. By Adrian Blomfield, Moscow Correspondent 2:14AM GMT 06 Feb 2009
The Daily Telegraph has learned that the 85-year-old former US secretary of state met President Dmitry Medvedev for secret negotiations in December. According to Western diplomats, during two days of talks the octogenarian courted Russian officials to win their support for Mr Obama's initiative, which could see Russia and the United States each slashing their nuclear warheads to 1,000 warheads. The decision to send Mr Kissinger to Moscow, taken by Mr Obama when he was still president-elect, is part of a plan to overcome probable Republican objections in Congress. Mr Kissinger is believed to have won a verbal rather than written undertaking for the deal. Tom Graham, a senior associate at Kissinger Associates and a former member of the national security council in the White House, on Thursday confirmed that Mr Kissinger had met Mr Medvedev but denied that any negotiations had taken place and said he had not met with Mr Putin. However, a diplomatic source said that Mr Kissinger held two days of talks with Mr Putin at his country house near Moscow. While the details of the ambitious initiative are yet to be revealed, the proposal to return to the negotiating table after eight years of reluctance in Washington has been welcomed in Britain and elsewhere. Mr Obama apparently chose Mr Kissinger for his consummate diplomatic skills and his popularity in Moscow, an affection earned by his open acknowledgment of Russia's international resurgence.
Despite his pariah status with many Left-wingers in Mr Obama's Democratic Party, the president forged relations with Mr Kissinger during his campaign. The compliment was returned when the 85-year-old veteran of the Nixon and Ford administrations said last month that the young president was in a position to create a new world order by shifting US foreign policy away from the hostile stance of the Bush administration. He publicly supported Mr Obama's notion of unconditional talks with Iran, though not at the presidential level. Further demonstrating his willingness to work with his opponents on foreign policy issues, Mr Obama turned to two veteran Republicans steeped in Cold War experience to press home his plans. Shortly after Mr Kissinger's trip, Richard Lugar, a Republican senator from Indiana who has worked on nuclear disarmament issues for 30 years, also visited Moscow. George Schultz, another former secretary of state, has also played a vital role. Observers say signs of progress towards a new treaty could come as early as this weekend, when senior government officials meet at a security conference in Munich. Joe Biden, the US vice president, is expected to address the conference and diplomats hinted he could announce the suspension of plans to erect a missile defence shield in central Europe, a project that has been frequently denounced in Moscow. Despite widespread praise for the proposals, many European officials are privately urging the United States to be cautious, aware that Kremlin policy towards the West in recent years has been characterized by reversals. Apart from worries over Russia's increasingly belligerent international policies, there is also little doubt a disarmament deal would benefit Moscow more than Washington even if the Kremlin has threatened to stall talks on a new treaty in the past. Russia has long called for a new agreement to replace the 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START), which expires on Dec 5. Under START, the two Cold War adversaries agreed to halve their stockpiles to 5,000 warheads apiece. An addendum negotiated in 2002 under the START framework saw both sides agree to cut the number of warheads in service to between 1,700 and 2,200 each.
Despite pressure from Moscow, the Bush Administration was reluctant to begin negotiations on a successor to START because it feared losing the flexibility needed to respond to potential challenges from rising nuclear powers such as China. The Kremlin, on the other hand, has been desperate for a new treaty because Russia's dilapidated nuclear stockpile is no longer sustainable either financially or practically. Despite developing a new class of intercontinental ballistic missiles, the bulk of Russia's arsenal has passed its sell-by date. Even though many warheads have been kept alive artificially, Russia has long been aware that most of its missiles will have to be decommissioned much faster than they can be replaced.
Nuclear parity, the crux of Moscow's defence policy, is therefore fiction in all but name. A new treaty, however, would allow Russia to compete and free up money for other armament programmes. In return for a new disarmament deal, Mr Putin has demanded that the United States delay Nato membership for Ukraine and Georgia as well as shelving the missile shield, which Moscow believes is directed at Russia rather than Iran. The United States is reportedly ready to accept those demands after Mr Kissinger, who is deeply respected for his recognition of Russia's resurgence, may have won concessions of his own, a diplomatic source said. Frequent visits by Mr Kissinger to Russia since 2000 have largely gone unreported in the Western press. But in 2007, the Russian news agency Novosti reported that Mr Kissinger and Yevgeny Primakov, a former KGB master, were appointed by Mr Putin to co-chair a bilateral working group of Russian and American political insiders to tackle issues such as global terrorism, nuclear proliferation, and nuclear threats.
Mr Putin is understood to have signalled his willingness to drop Russian objections over tougher sanctions against Iran and could also suspend the sale of sophisticated air defence missiles to Teheran which Washington fears could hamper a military strike against the country's nuclear installations.
Thursday, February 05, 2009
SOLAR STORMS - EMP RESULTS LIKE 2012
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.
FEARFUL SIGHTS AND GREAT SIGNS FROM HEAVEN
LUKE 21:11
11 And great earthquakes shall be in divers places, and famines, and pestilences; and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven.
Powerful Solar Storm Could Shut Down U.S. for Months Friday, January 09, 2009 | FoxNews.com By Robert Roy Britt
Solar storms can cause colorful auroras, often seen in higher latitudes on Earth.A new study from the National Academy of Sciences outlines grim possibilities on Earth for a worst-case scenario solar storm.Damage to power grids and other communications systems could be catastrophic, the scientists conclude, with effects leading to a potential loss of governmental control of the situation.The prediction is based in part on a major solar storm in 1859 that caused telegraph wires to short out in the United States and Europe,igniting widespread fires.
POWER OUTAGE
REVELATION 16:10-11
10 And the fifth angel poured out his vial upon the seat of the beast; and his kingdom was full of darkness; and they gnawed their tongues for pain,
11 And blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, and repented not of their deeds.
FIRES AND EXPLOSIONS
REVELATION 8:7
7 The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth: and the third part of trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up.
It was perhaps the worst in the past 200 years, according to the new study, and with the advent of modern power grids and satellites, much more is at risk.A contemporary repetition of the [1859] event would cause significantly more extensive (and possibly catastrophic) social and economic disruptions, the researchers conclude.
Command and control might be lost
When the sun is in the active phase of its 11-year cycle, it can unleash powerful magnetic storms that disable satellites, threaten astronaut safety, and even disrupt communication systems on Earth.
OZONE DEPLETION
ISAIAH 30:26-27
26 Moreover the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold, as the light of seven days, in the day that the LORD bindeth up the breach of his people, and healeth the stroke of their wound.
27 Behold, the name of the LORD cometh from far, burning with his anger, and the burden thereof is heavy: his lips are full of indignation, and his tongue as a devouring fire:
MATTHEW 24:21-22,29
21 For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.
22 And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened (Daylight hours shortened)
29 Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:
REVELATION 16:7-9
7 And I heard another out of the altar say, Even so, Lord God Almighty, true and righteous are thy judgments.
8 And the fourth angel poured out his vial upon the sun; and power was given unto him to scorch men with fire.
9 And men were scorched with great heat, and blasphemed the name of God, which hath power over these plagues: and they repented not to give him glory.
The worst storms can knock out power grids by inducing currents that melt transformers.Modern power grids are so interconnected that a big space storm — the type expected to occur about once a century — could cause a cascade of failures that would sweep across the United States, cutting power to 130 million people or more in this country alone, the new report concludes.Such widespread power outages, though expected to be a rare possibility, would affect other vital systems.
POWER OUTAGE
REVELATION 16:10-11
10 And the fifth angel poured out his vial upon the seat of the beast; and his kingdom was full of darkness; and they gnawed their tongues for pain,
11 And blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, and repented not of their deeds.
Impacts would be felt on interdependent infrastructures with, for example, potable water distribution affected within several hours; perishable foods and medications lost in 12-24 hours; immediate or eventual loss of heating/air conditioning, sewage disposal, phone service, transportation, fuel resupply and so on,the report states.
FAMINE
REVELATION 6:5-6
5 And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand.
6 And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine.(A DAYS WAGES FOR A LOAF OF BREAD)
FAMINE
MATTHEW 24:7-8
7 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.
8 All these are the beginning of sorrows.
MARK 13:8
8 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be earthquakes in divers places, and there shall be famines and troubles: these are the beginnings of sorrows.
LUKE 21:11
11 And great earthquakes shall be in divers places, and famines, and pestilences; and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven.
Outages could take months to fix, the researchers say. Banks might close, and trade with other countries might halt.Emergency services would be strained, and command and control might be lost, write the researchers, led by Daniel Baker, director of the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics at the University of Colorado in Boulder.Whether it is terrestrial catastrophes or extreme space weather incidents, the results can be devastating to modern societies that depend in a myriad of ways on advanced technological systems, Baker said in a statement released with the report.
FEARFUL SIGHTS AND GREAT SIGNS FROM HEAVEN
LUKE 21:11
11 And great earthquakes shall be in divers places, and famines, and pestilences; and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven.
KNOWLEGE AND WORLD TRAVEL INCREASED
DANIEL 12:4
4 But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro,(WORLD TRAVEL,IMMIGRATION) and knowledge shall be increased.(COMPUTERS MICROCHIPS ETC)
Stormy past
Solar storms have had significant effects in modern time:
— In 1989, the sun unleashed a tempest that knocked out power to all of Quebec, Canada.
— A remarkable 2003 rampage included 10 major solar flares over a two-week period, knocking out two Earth-orbiting satellites and crippling an instrument aboard a Mars orbiter.
Obviously, the sun is Earth's life blood,said Richard Fisher, director of the Heliophysics division at NASA. To mitigate possible public safety issues, it is vital that we better understand extreme space weather events caused by the sun's activity.Space weather can produce solar storm electromagnetic fields that induce extreme currents in wires, disrupting power lines, causing wide-spread blackouts and affecting communication cables that support the Internet,the report states. Severe space weather also produces solar energetic particles and the dislocation of the Earth's radiation belts, which can damage satellites used for commercial communications, global positioning and weather forecasting.
Rush to prepare
The race is on for better forecasting abilities, as the next peak in solar activity is expected to come around 2012.While the sun is in a lull now, activity can flare up at any moment, and severe space weather — how severe, nobody knows — will ramp up a year or two before the peak.Some scientists expect the next peak to bring more severe events than other recent peaks.A catastrophic failure of commercial and government infrastructure in space and on the ground can be mitigated through raising public awareness, improving vulnerable infrastructure and developing advanced forecasting capabilities, the report states. Without preventive actions or plans, the trend of increased dependency on modern space-weather sensitive assets could make society more vulnerable in the future.The report was commissioned and funded by NASA. Experts from around the world in industry, government and academia participated. It was released this week.2009 Imaginova Corp.
The Great Storm: Solar Tempest of 1859 Revealed
By Robert Roy Britt Senior Science Writer 06:00 am ET 27 October 2003
A pair of strong solar storms that hit Earth late last week were squalls compared to the torrent of electrons that rained down in the perfect space storm of 1859. And sooner or later, experts warn, the Sun will again conspire again send earthlings a truly destructive bout of space weather. If it happens anytime soon, we won't know exactly what to expect until it's over, and by then some modern communication systems could be like beachfront houses after a hurricane.In early September in 1859, telegraph wires suddenly shorted out in the United States and Europe, igniting widespread fires. Colorful aurora, normally visible only in polar regions, were seen as far south as Rome and Hawaii. The event 144 years ago was three times more powerful than the strongest space storm in modern memory, one that cut power to an entire Canadian province in 1989. A new account of the 1859 event, from research led by Bruce Tsurutani of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, details the most powerful onslaught of solar energy in recorded history.
Solar conspiracy
Space storms are created when the Sun erupts, sending charged particles racing outward, an expanding bubble of hot gas called plasma.In 1859, four crucial events conspired at one moment, Tsurutani told SPACE.com.The plasma blob that was ejected from the Sun hit the Earth, he said. That's a relatively routine event. What preceded the strike was more unusual. The blob came at exceptionally high speeds. It took only 17 hours and 40 minutes to go from the Sun to Earth. Solar storms typically take two to four days to traverse the 93 million miles (150 million kilometers).The magnetic fields in the blob, called a coronal mass ejection, were exceptionally intense, Tsurutani said. And the fourth, most important, ingredient was that the magnetic fields of the blob were opposite in direction from the Earth's fields.Earth's magnetic field normally protects the surface of the planet from a continual flow of charged particles, called the solar wind, and even does a pretty good job defending against some storms. When a storm swept past Earth last Friday, it met up with magnetic field pointed in such a way that it thwarted the storm's effects. That's not always the case.
In 1859, the planet's defenses were overwhelmed.
That was then
Society back then did not notice the storm the way it would today. The telegraph was 15 years old. There were no satellite TV feeds, no automated teller machines relying on orbiting relay stations, and no power grids. Tsurutani said scientists can't yet accurately measure or predict what the strength or direction of Earth's magnetic field will be when a storm arrives. The storms themselves can be predicted. And Tsurutani says there will eventually be another one like 1859.It could very well be even more intense than what transpired in 1859, he says. As for when, we simply do not know.Bernhard Fleck, the European Space Agency's project scientist for the Sun-watching SOHO spacecraft, says the next super space storm will be detectable, but that's only half the story.A monster event of the magnitude described [by Tsurutani] we would easily recognize as something extraordinary with SOHO and other solar instruments, Fleck said in an e-mail interview. But, he added, We certainly wouldn't know its full extent until arrival.During the 1859 flare-up, solar observers logged almost an entire minute during which the amount of sunlight doubled at the region of the flare.Such a strong white-light flare has never been seen since, says Paal Brekke, SOHO deputy project scientist. So if this type of flare happened, yes we would know right away. But he adds that the orientation of Earth's magnetic field would not be known. Future space-based observatories could address this blind spot in space weather forecasting.
Meanwhile, the blind spot became clear on Friday.
Forecasters at NOAA's Space Environment Center, relying on SOHO pictures and data, warned of an impending set of storms that could disrupt communications and might set off colorful aurora Friday and Saturday. The forecast, along with two Jupiter-sized sunspots at the roots of the storms, gained widespread media attention. But the first and larger of the storms passed by with far less effect than one might have been led to expect. In fact, they were both comparative drops in the space weather bucket.
Extreme measures
To get an idea of the strength of the 1859 storm, you have to wade into nT's for a moment.A space storm's impact is measured in nano-Teslas (nT), Brekke explained. The lower the figure, the more powerful the storm. A moderate storm can be around -100 nT; extreme and damaging storms have been logged at around -300 nT. The 1989 coronal mass ejection that knocked out power to all of Quebec, Canada measured -589 nT, Brekke said. The 1859 perfect storm was estimated to have been -1,760 nT. Brekke used three exclamation points in his e-mail delivering that number.People on the ground are generally safe even in the worst space weather. But technology could be in trouble when the next super storm hits.In 1859, the technology was quite low in comparison to today's technology, Tsurutani said. However the technology that we rely on today is much more vulnerable.A strong storm does its damage in part by inducing currents on power and communication lines, leading to potential overloads. Obviously, there are a lot more wires on Earth today, so one might expect much worse problems if it occurred today.The charged particles can also zap satellites, as has occurred with handful of storms in recent years -- events with far fewer charged particles than in 1859. A space storm also heats the upper level of Earth's atmosphere, causing it to expand. That's no good for satellites that can get caught up in air that didn't used to be there.This can lead to enhanced satellite drag and possible loss of these to the atmosphere, Tsurutani said. Tsurutani and his colleagues -- Walter Gonzalez of the Brazilian National Space Institute and Gurbax Lakhina and Sobhana Alex of the India Institute of Geomagnetism -- reviewed known observations of the 1859 event's solar and aurora output, plus accounts from the ground. They also used recently rediscovered historic data on Earth's magnetic field from the Colaba Observatory in India.The findings were published in a recent issue of the Journal of Geophysical Research.This article is part of SPACE.com's weekly Mystery Monday series.
POWERFUL MAGNETIC STORMS
http://www.space.com/php/multimedia/imagegallery/igviewer.php?
imgid=145&gid=10&index=0
SUN STORMS VIDEO
http://www.space.com/common/media/video/player.php?videoRef=sun_storm
DANGER SOLAR STORM - VIDEO
http://www.space.com/common/media/video/player.php?videoRef=b041217_solar_storm_promo
OZONE DEPLETION
ISAIAH 30:26-27
26 Moreover the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold, as the light of seven days, in the day that the LORD bindeth up the breach of his people, and healeth the stroke of their wound.
27 Behold, the name of the LORD cometh from far, burning with his anger, and the burden thereof is heavy: his lips are full of indignation, and his tongue as a devouring fire:
MATTHEW 24:21-22,29
21 For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.
22 And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened (Daylight hours shortened)
29 Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:
REVELATION 16:7-9
7 And I heard another out of the altar say, Even so, Lord God Almighty, true and righteous are thy judgments.
8 And the fourth angel poured out his vial upon the sun; and power was given unto him to scorch men with fire.
9 And men were scorched with great heat, and blasphemed the name of God, which hath power over these plagues: and they repented not to give him glory.
BEST IMAGES OF THE SUN
http://www.space.com/bestimg/index.php?cat=bestsun
ALL ABOUT THE SUN
http://www.space.com/sun/
http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/xtreme_flare_031105.html
http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/sun_update_050816.html
SOLAR STORM SMACKS A COMET
http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/mystery_monday_041206.html
http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/050524_solar_surprise.html
http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/050412_inside_sun.html
http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/star_quakes_40728.html
http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/hugesunspots_040723.html
http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/solar_flare_031029.html
http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/060223_solar_flares.html
http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/050420_alien_asteroid.html
MORE SUN SEARCH RESULTS
http://google.space.com/searchq=sun&site=default_collection&client=
default_frontend&proxystylesheet=default_frontend&output=xml_no_dtd
New Flares of Activity Spotted on the Sun
By SPACE.com Staff 07 November 2008 03:22 pm ET
After more than two years of very low sunspot activity and hardly any flares, the sun is ramping up activity now.The sun's activity ebbs and flows on a roughly 11-year cycle. It can range from very quiet to violent space storms that knock out power grids on Earth and disrupt radio and satellite communications. The last peak was in 2000, and scientists have in recent months figured the low point was occurring. Fresh sunspots during October suggest the corner has been turned.I think solar minimum is behind us, said David Hathaway of NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. Last month we counted five sunspot groups.he says.
Sunspots are cool areas on the solar surface where magnetic energy is bottled up. While five groups is not extraordinary, it is significant in comparison to the months of virtually no spots.This represents a real increase in solar activity, Hathaway said in a statement today.The next cycle of activity, which we are presumably now in, is called Solar Cycle 24. The transition, however, is gradual. Hints of it started last year. But the sun holds many secrets that prevent scientists from knowing exactly when, why or how the transition occurs. Spots from the old and new cycles differ in their latitude and magnetic polarity.From January to September, the sun produced 22 sunspot groups, and 82 percent of them belonged to old Cycle 23. Four of the five cycles in October belonged to Cycle 24.On Nov. 3 and again on Nov. 4, a sunspot numbered 1007 unleashed a series of B-class solar flares. These relatively minor events were strong enough to cause fades and surges in ham radio transmissions on Earth. Bigger flares, which could happen any time but will be more likely when the next peak comes in a few years, can disable satellites.We're still years away from solar maximum and, in the meantime, the sun is going to have some more quiet stretches,Hathaway said.
The Enduring Mysteries of the Sun By Charles Q. Choi
Special to SPACE.com 22 October 2007 06:34 am ET
The sun lies at the heart of our solar system, but it still holds back many secrets from science. Unlocking these mysteries could shed light on puzzling activity seen in other stars and even safeguard lives.
An explosive star
The sun is literally bursting with energy, violently exploding with solar flares, coronal mass ejections and other kinds of eruptions up to hundreds of times per year. The number of explosions and sunspots the sun experiences tends to rise and fall in a roughly 11-year-long solar cycle, the roots of which remain uncertain.
Astrophysicists generally agree the solar cycle is driven by the solar dynamo—the flowing, electrically charged gas within the sun that generates its magnetic field—and that magnetic fluctuations trigger solar explosions. But which of the many dynamo models is right is uncertain,said solar physicist Paul Charbonneau of the University of Montreal.Shedding light on the solar dynamo could help predict when solar explosions happen, which can endanger astronauts and satellites in space and damage power lines on Earth, Charbonneau said. But whether or not scientists can ever predict the solar cycle remains unknown—some claim it is physically impossible to predict.
The super-hot corona
Just as a fire feels warmer the closer one gets to it, so is the core of the sun hotter than its surface. Mysteriously, however, the corona—the sun's atmosphere—is also far hotter than its surface.The sun's surface is roughly 5,500 degrees Celsius. The corona, on the other hand, is one to three million degrees C or more.Why the corona is super-hot is hotly debated. Some researchers suggest the sun's magnetic fields heat the corona, while others propose that waves from the sun do. I wouldn't be surprised if these mechanisms are at work together. They're not mutually exclusive, said Bernhard Fleck, project scientist for the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) spacecraft.
The Maunder Minimum
Oddly, the solar cycle once seemed to go on vacation for roughly 70 years. Only 50 sunspots were seen during this Maunder Minimum between 1645 to 1715, as opposed to the expected 40,000 to 50,000.Research does suggest that similar phases of suppressed activity have occurred in the past 10,000 years, with the sun in such quiet modes about 15 percent of the time, Charbonneau said. Why these occur remains unclear, although there are models of the sun that suggest the solar dynamo can rev solar cycles up or down.Also, the Maunder Minimum coincided in part with the Little Ice Age, leading to debates over whether or not the sun was the cause of that past climatic shift or the current one the world is undergoing. The agreement of the majority of the scientists is that while the sun has had an influence on Earth's climate in the past, the recent dramatic change in climate is not caused by the sun but due to man-made greenhouse gases,Fleck said.
Erratic siblings
Most stars like the sun actually behave more erratically than our sun. More than half of sun-like stars either have cycles that are slowly increasing or decreasing in how active they are over time instead of remaining steady, or they're completely irregular,said solar physicist Karel Schrijver at Lockheed Martin Advanced Technology Center in Palo Alto, Calif. We don't really know why.NASA's upcoming Solar Dynamic Observatory spacecraft could shed light on the inner workings of the sun and therefore its siblings, Schrijver said, and therefore shed light on these mysteries.
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.
FEARFUL SIGHTS AND GREAT SIGNS FROM HEAVEN
LUKE 21:11
11 And great earthquakes shall be in divers places, and famines, and pestilences; and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven.
Powerful Solar Storm Could Shut Down U.S. for Months Friday, January 09, 2009 | FoxNews.com By Robert Roy Britt
Solar storms can cause colorful auroras, often seen in higher latitudes on Earth.A new study from the National Academy of Sciences outlines grim possibilities on Earth for a worst-case scenario solar storm.Damage to power grids and other communications systems could be catastrophic, the scientists conclude, with effects leading to a potential loss of governmental control of the situation.The prediction is based in part on a major solar storm in 1859 that caused telegraph wires to short out in the United States and Europe,igniting widespread fires.
POWER OUTAGE
REVELATION 16:10-11
10 And the fifth angel poured out his vial upon the seat of the beast; and his kingdom was full of darkness; and they gnawed their tongues for pain,
11 And blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, and repented not of their deeds.
FIRES AND EXPLOSIONS
REVELATION 8:7
7 The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth: and the third part of trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up.
It was perhaps the worst in the past 200 years, according to the new study, and with the advent of modern power grids and satellites, much more is at risk.A contemporary repetition of the [1859] event would cause significantly more extensive (and possibly catastrophic) social and economic disruptions, the researchers conclude.
Command and control might be lost
When the sun is in the active phase of its 11-year cycle, it can unleash powerful magnetic storms that disable satellites, threaten astronaut safety, and even disrupt communication systems on Earth.
OZONE DEPLETION
ISAIAH 30:26-27
26 Moreover the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold, as the light of seven days, in the day that the LORD bindeth up the breach of his people, and healeth the stroke of their wound.
27 Behold, the name of the LORD cometh from far, burning with his anger, and the burden thereof is heavy: his lips are full of indignation, and his tongue as a devouring fire:
MATTHEW 24:21-22,29
21 For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.
22 And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened (Daylight hours shortened)
29 Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:
REVELATION 16:7-9
7 And I heard another out of the altar say, Even so, Lord God Almighty, true and righteous are thy judgments.
8 And the fourth angel poured out his vial upon the sun; and power was given unto him to scorch men with fire.
9 And men were scorched with great heat, and blasphemed the name of God, which hath power over these plagues: and they repented not to give him glory.
The worst storms can knock out power grids by inducing currents that melt transformers.Modern power grids are so interconnected that a big space storm — the type expected to occur about once a century — could cause a cascade of failures that would sweep across the United States, cutting power to 130 million people or more in this country alone, the new report concludes.Such widespread power outages, though expected to be a rare possibility, would affect other vital systems.
POWER OUTAGE
REVELATION 16:10-11
10 And the fifth angel poured out his vial upon the seat of the beast; and his kingdom was full of darkness; and they gnawed their tongues for pain,
11 And blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, and repented not of their deeds.
Impacts would be felt on interdependent infrastructures with, for example, potable water distribution affected within several hours; perishable foods and medications lost in 12-24 hours; immediate or eventual loss of heating/air conditioning, sewage disposal, phone service, transportation, fuel resupply and so on,the report states.
FAMINE
REVELATION 6:5-6
5 And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand.
6 And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine.(A DAYS WAGES FOR A LOAF OF BREAD)
FAMINE
MATTHEW 24:7-8
7 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.
8 All these are the beginning of sorrows.
MARK 13:8
8 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be earthquakes in divers places, and there shall be famines and troubles: these are the beginnings of sorrows.
LUKE 21:11
11 And great earthquakes shall be in divers places, and famines, and pestilences; and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven.
Outages could take months to fix, the researchers say. Banks might close, and trade with other countries might halt.Emergency services would be strained, and command and control might be lost, write the researchers, led by Daniel Baker, director of the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics at the University of Colorado in Boulder.Whether it is terrestrial catastrophes or extreme space weather incidents, the results can be devastating to modern societies that depend in a myriad of ways on advanced technological systems, Baker said in a statement released with the report.
FEARFUL SIGHTS AND GREAT SIGNS FROM HEAVEN
LUKE 21:11
11 And great earthquakes shall be in divers places, and famines, and pestilences; and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven.
KNOWLEGE AND WORLD TRAVEL INCREASED
DANIEL 12:4
4 But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro,(WORLD TRAVEL,IMMIGRATION) and knowledge shall be increased.(COMPUTERS MICROCHIPS ETC)
Stormy past
Solar storms have had significant effects in modern time:
— In 1989, the sun unleashed a tempest that knocked out power to all of Quebec, Canada.
— A remarkable 2003 rampage included 10 major solar flares over a two-week period, knocking out two Earth-orbiting satellites and crippling an instrument aboard a Mars orbiter.
Obviously, the sun is Earth's life blood,said Richard Fisher, director of the Heliophysics division at NASA. To mitigate possible public safety issues, it is vital that we better understand extreme space weather events caused by the sun's activity.Space weather can produce solar storm electromagnetic fields that induce extreme currents in wires, disrupting power lines, causing wide-spread blackouts and affecting communication cables that support the Internet,the report states. Severe space weather also produces solar energetic particles and the dislocation of the Earth's radiation belts, which can damage satellites used for commercial communications, global positioning and weather forecasting.
Rush to prepare
The race is on for better forecasting abilities, as the next peak in solar activity is expected to come around 2012.While the sun is in a lull now, activity can flare up at any moment, and severe space weather — how severe, nobody knows — will ramp up a year or two before the peak.Some scientists expect the next peak to bring more severe events than other recent peaks.A catastrophic failure of commercial and government infrastructure in space and on the ground can be mitigated through raising public awareness, improving vulnerable infrastructure and developing advanced forecasting capabilities, the report states. Without preventive actions or plans, the trend of increased dependency on modern space-weather sensitive assets could make society more vulnerable in the future.The report was commissioned and funded by NASA. Experts from around the world in industry, government and academia participated. It was released this week.2009 Imaginova Corp.
The Great Storm: Solar Tempest of 1859 Revealed
By Robert Roy Britt Senior Science Writer 06:00 am ET 27 October 2003
A pair of strong solar storms that hit Earth late last week were squalls compared to the torrent of electrons that rained down in the perfect space storm of 1859. And sooner or later, experts warn, the Sun will again conspire again send earthlings a truly destructive bout of space weather. If it happens anytime soon, we won't know exactly what to expect until it's over, and by then some modern communication systems could be like beachfront houses after a hurricane.In early September in 1859, telegraph wires suddenly shorted out in the United States and Europe, igniting widespread fires. Colorful aurora, normally visible only in polar regions, were seen as far south as Rome and Hawaii. The event 144 years ago was three times more powerful than the strongest space storm in modern memory, one that cut power to an entire Canadian province in 1989. A new account of the 1859 event, from research led by Bruce Tsurutani of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, details the most powerful onslaught of solar energy in recorded history.
Solar conspiracy
Space storms are created when the Sun erupts, sending charged particles racing outward, an expanding bubble of hot gas called plasma.In 1859, four crucial events conspired at one moment, Tsurutani told SPACE.com.The plasma blob that was ejected from the Sun hit the Earth, he said. That's a relatively routine event. What preceded the strike was more unusual. The blob came at exceptionally high speeds. It took only 17 hours and 40 minutes to go from the Sun to Earth. Solar storms typically take two to four days to traverse the 93 million miles (150 million kilometers).The magnetic fields in the blob, called a coronal mass ejection, were exceptionally intense, Tsurutani said. And the fourth, most important, ingredient was that the magnetic fields of the blob were opposite in direction from the Earth's fields.Earth's magnetic field normally protects the surface of the planet from a continual flow of charged particles, called the solar wind, and even does a pretty good job defending against some storms. When a storm swept past Earth last Friday, it met up with magnetic field pointed in such a way that it thwarted the storm's effects. That's not always the case.
In 1859, the planet's defenses were overwhelmed.
That was then
Society back then did not notice the storm the way it would today. The telegraph was 15 years old. There were no satellite TV feeds, no automated teller machines relying on orbiting relay stations, and no power grids. Tsurutani said scientists can't yet accurately measure or predict what the strength or direction of Earth's magnetic field will be when a storm arrives. The storms themselves can be predicted. And Tsurutani says there will eventually be another one like 1859.It could very well be even more intense than what transpired in 1859, he says. As for when, we simply do not know.Bernhard Fleck, the European Space Agency's project scientist for the Sun-watching SOHO spacecraft, says the next super space storm will be detectable, but that's only half the story.A monster event of the magnitude described [by Tsurutani] we would easily recognize as something extraordinary with SOHO and other solar instruments, Fleck said in an e-mail interview. But, he added, We certainly wouldn't know its full extent until arrival.During the 1859 flare-up, solar observers logged almost an entire minute during which the amount of sunlight doubled at the region of the flare.Such a strong white-light flare has never been seen since, says Paal Brekke, SOHO deputy project scientist. So if this type of flare happened, yes we would know right away. But he adds that the orientation of Earth's magnetic field would not be known. Future space-based observatories could address this blind spot in space weather forecasting.
Meanwhile, the blind spot became clear on Friday.
Forecasters at NOAA's Space Environment Center, relying on SOHO pictures and data, warned of an impending set of storms that could disrupt communications and might set off colorful aurora Friday and Saturday. The forecast, along with two Jupiter-sized sunspots at the roots of the storms, gained widespread media attention. But the first and larger of the storms passed by with far less effect than one might have been led to expect. In fact, they were both comparative drops in the space weather bucket.
Extreme measures
To get an idea of the strength of the 1859 storm, you have to wade into nT's for a moment.A space storm's impact is measured in nano-Teslas (nT), Brekke explained. The lower the figure, the more powerful the storm. A moderate storm can be around -100 nT; extreme and damaging storms have been logged at around -300 nT. The 1989 coronal mass ejection that knocked out power to all of Quebec, Canada measured -589 nT, Brekke said. The 1859 perfect storm was estimated to have been -1,760 nT. Brekke used three exclamation points in his e-mail delivering that number.People on the ground are generally safe even in the worst space weather. But technology could be in trouble when the next super storm hits.In 1859, the technology was quite low in comparison to today's technology, Tsurutani said. However the technology that we rely on today is much more vulnerable.A strong storm does its damage in part by inducing currents on power and communication lines, leading to potential overloads. Obviously, there are a lot more wires on Earth today, so one might expect much worse problems if it occurred today.The charged particles can also zap satellites, as has occurred with handful of storms in recent years -- events with far fewer charged particles than in 1859. A space storm also heats the upper level of Earth's atmosphere, causing it to expand. That's no good for satellites that can get caught up in air that didn't used to be there.This can lead to enhanced satellite drag and possible loss of these to the atmosphere, Tsurutani said. Tsurutani and his colleagues -- Walter Gonzalez of the Brazilian National Space Institute and Gurbax Lakhina and Sobhana Alex of the India Institute of Geomagnetism -- reviewed known observations of the 1859 event's solar and aurora output, plus accounts from the ground. They also used recently rediscovered historic data on Earth's magnetic field from the Colaba Observatory in India.The findings were published in a recent issue of the Journal of Geophysical Research.This article is part of SPACE.com's weekly Mystery Monday series.
POWERFUL MAGNETIC STORMS
http://www.space.com/php/multimedia/imagegallery/igviewer.php?
imgid=145&gid=10&index=0
SUN STORMS VIDEO
http://www.space.com/common/media/video/player.php?videoRef=sun_storm
DANGER SOLAR STORM - VIDEO
http://www.space.com/common/media/video/player.php?videoRef=b041217_solar_storm_promo
OZONE DEPLETION
ISAIAH 30:26-27
26 Moreover the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold, as the light of seven days, in the day that the LORD bindeth up the breach of his people, and healeth the stroke of their wound.
27 Behold, the name of the LORD cometh from far, burning with his anger, and the burden thereof is heavy: his lips are full of indignation, and his tongue as a devouring fire:
MATTHEW 24:21-22,29
21 For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.
22 And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened (Daylight hours shortened)
29 Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:
REVELATION 16:7-9
7 And I heard another out of the altar say, Even so, Lord God Almighty, true and righteous are thy judgments.
8 And the fourth angel poured out his vial upon the sun; and power was given unto him to scorch men with fire.
9 And men were scorched with great heat, and blasphemed the name of God, which hath power over these plagues: and they repented not to give him glory.
BEST IMAGES OF THE SUN
http://www.space.com/bestimg/index.php?cat=bestsun
ALL ABOUT THE SUN
http://www.space.com/sun/
http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/xtreme_flare_031105.html
http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/sun_update_050816.html
SOLAR STORM SMACKS A COMET
http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/mystery_monday_041206.html
http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/050524_solar_surprise.html
http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/050412_inside_sun.html
http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/star_quakes_40728.html
http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/hugesunspots_040723.html
http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/solar_flare_031029.html
http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/060223_solar_flares.html
http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/050420_alien_asteroid.html
MORE SUN SEARCH RESULTS
http://google.space.com/searchq=sun&site=default_collection&client=
default_frontend&proxystylesheet=default_frontend&output=xml_no_dtd
New Flares of Activity Spotted on the Sun
By SPACE.com Staff 07 November 2008 03:22 pm ET
After more than two years of very low sunspot activity and hardly any flares, the sun is ramping up activity now.The sun's activity ebbs and flows on a roughly 11-year cycle. It can range from very quiet to violent space storms that knock out power grids on Earth and disrupt radio and satellite communications. The last peak was in 2000, and scientists have in recent months figured the low point was occurring. Fresh sunspots during October suggest the corner has been turned.I think solar minimum is behind us, said David Hathaway of NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. Last month we counted five sunspot groups.he says.
Sunspots are cool areas on the solar surface where magnetic energy is bottled up. While five groups is not extraordinary, it is significant in comparison to the months of virtually no spots.This represents a real increase in solar activity, Hathaway said in a statement today.The next cycle of activity, which we are presumably now in, is called Solar Cycle 24. The transition, however, is gradual. Hints of it started last year. But the sun holds many secrets that prevent scientists from knowing exactly when, why or how the transition occurs. Spots from the old and new cycles differ in their latitude and magnetic polarity.From January to September, the sun produced 22 sunspot groups, and 82 percent of them belonged to old Cycle 23. Four of the five cycles in October belonged to Cycle 24.On Nov. 3 and again on Nov. 4, a sunspot numbered 1007 unleashed a series of B-class solar flares. These relatively minor events were strong enough to cause fades and surges in ham radio transmissions on Earth. Bigger flares, which could happen any time but will be more likely when the next peak comes in a few years, can disable satellites.We're still years away from solar maximum and, in the meantime, the sun is going to have some more quiet stretches,Hathaway said.
The Enduring Mysteries of the Sun By Charles Q. Choi
Special to SPACE.com 22 October 2007 06:34 am ET
The sun lies at the heart of our solar system, but it still holds back many secrets from science. Unlocking these mysteries could shed light on puzzling activity seen in other stars and even safeguard lives.
An explosive star
The sun is literally bursting with energy, violently exploding with solar flares, coronal mass ejections and other kinds of eruptions up to hundreds of times per year. The number of explosions and sunspots the sun experiences tends to rise and fall in a roughly 11-year-long solar cycle, the roots of which remain uncertain.
Astrophysicists generally agree the solar cycle is driven by the solar dynamo—the flowing, electrically charged gas within the sun that generates its magnetic field—and that magnetic fluctuations trigger solar explosions. But which of the many dynamo models is right is uncertain,said solar physicist Paul Charbonneau of the University of Montreal.Shedding light on the solar dynamo could help predict when solar explosions happen, which can endanger astronauts and satellites in space and damage power lines on Earth, Charbonneau said. But whether or not scientists can ever predict the solar cycle remains unknown—some claim it is physically impossible to predict.
The super-hot corona
Just as a fire feels warmer the closer one gets to it, so is the core of the sun hotter than its surface. Mysteriously, however, the corona—the sun's atmosphere—is also far hotter than its surface.The sun's surface is roughly 5,500 degrees Celsius. The corona, on the other hand, is one to three million degrees C or more.Why the corona is super-hot is hotly debated. Some researchers suggest the sun's magnetic fields heat the corona, while others propose that waves from the sun do. I wouldn't be surprised if these mechanisms are at work together. They're not mutually exclusive, said Bernhard Fleck, project scientist for the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) spacecraft.
The Maunder Minimum
Oddly, the solar cycle once seemed to go on vacation for roughly 70 years. Only 50 sunspots were seen during this Maunder Minimum between 1645 to 1715, as opposed to the expected 40,000 to 50,000.Research does suggest that similar phases of suppressed activity have occurred in the past 10,000 years, with the sun in such quiet modes about 15 percent of the time, Charbonneau said. Why these occur remains unclear, although there are models of the sun that suggest the solar dynamo can rev solar cycles up or down.Also, the Maunder Minimum coincided in part with the Little Ice Age, leading to debates over whether or not the sun was the cause of that past climatic shift or the current one the world is undergoing. The agreement of the majority of the scientists is that while the sun has had an influence on Earth's climate in the past, the recent dramatic change in climate is not caused by the sun but due to man-made greenhouse gases,Fleck said.
Erratic siblings
Most stars like the sun actually behave more erratically than our sun. More than half of sun-like stars either have cycles that are slowly increasing or decreasing in how active they are over time instead of remaining steady, or they're completely irregular,said solar physicist Karel Schrijver at Lockheed Martin Advanced Technology Center in Palo Alto, Calif. We don't really know why.NASA's upcoming Solar Dynamic Observatory spacecraft could shed light on the inner workings of the sun and therefore its siblings, Schrijver said, and therefore shed light on these mysteries.
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