SINS OF PEOPLE
2 TIMOTHY 3:1-5
1 This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.
2 For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,
3 Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good,
4 Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God;
5 Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.
CLINTON ORGASTRATED WACO PERSONALLY...THE TRUTH IS OUT BILL CLINTON
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sHANum4fKUY&feature=player_embedded
READ STORY LNKS
http://www.infowars.com/dick-morris-bill-clinton-personally-orchestrated-the-1993-waco-texas-tragedy/
DANIEL 7:23-24
23 Thus he said, The fourth beast(THE EU,REVIVED ROME) shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth,(7TH WORLD EMPIRE) which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces.(TR BLOCKS)
24 And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise:(10 NATIONS) and another shall rise after them;(#11 SPAIN) and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings.(BE HEAD OF 3 KINGS OR NATIONS).
Spain urges Israel to support Mediterranean Union
Thu Apr 22, 4:13 pm ET
MADRID (AFP) – Spain called on Israel Thursday to support the nascent Mediterranean Union as well as efforts to reach peace in the Middle East during a visit to Madrid by Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman.Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos asked Lieberman for Israel's full cooperation with the Mediterranean Union, which is of maximum interest to Spain and all of its Euro-Mediterranean partners,the foreign ministry said in a statement.Moratinos also reiterated Spain's full support for the efforts of the administration of US President President Barack Obama to reach peace in the Middle East, it added.The 43-nation Mediterranean Union, whose headquarters is in Barcelona, was established in 2008 in Paris by France and Egypt.It groups all 27 EU member states with countries in North Africa, the Balkans, the Arab world as well as Israel in a bid to foster cooperation in one of the world's most volatile regions.Earlier this month talks in Barcelona between Mediterranean Union members aimed at adopting a water management strategy for the region ended in failure due to a row between Israel and Arab countries over a reference to the Palestinian territories.The stalemate was seen as a strong blow against the body, which will hold its first summit in Barcelona in June.
Ashton set for conciliatory dinner with defence ministers
HONOR MAHONY Today APR 23,10 @ 17:55 CET
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton is to hold an informal dinner with defence ministers on Sunday evening in what is being seen by some diplomats as a chance to draw a line under a frosty start in relations.The two sides got off on the wrong foot last month when Ms Ashton, mandated by EU foreign ministers, attended the inauguration of the Ukrainian president rather than an informal meeting of defence ministers in Spain.Defence ministers registered their annoyance with her non-appearance in the meeting itself, through statements to the press and in the case of the Dutch defence minister via Twitter.Speaking about the extent of the polemic caused by the decision, a French diplomat said Ms Ashton suggested this meeting as an informal gesture towards the ministers.This dinner is a sign of confidence towards ministers of defence, the diplomat continued, although the gathering has long been planned.Over the meal, there is expected to be a discussion about how defence ministers view the new diplomatic service, due to be up and running later this year, and what it will mean for them.
Under Ms Ashton's blueprint, the EU's key military and civilian crisis management units - civilian planning (CPCC), crisis managment (CMPD), military staff (EUMS) and intelligence gathering (SitCen) - are all incorporated into the service.One large-country diplomat, explaining the set-up, said these units are ring-fenced within the service.The diplomat noted that this could potentially give the EU a competitive advantage over other powers as it should lead to more coherence between policy and operations.But the diplomat stressed that this will be done without messing with military command.Ministers are also likely to discuss the new format of defence meetings. This will mean that defence ministers are presided over by Catherine Ashton - previously they were chaired by the defence minister of the rotating presidency of the time - and in future will be able to meet separately, but under the auspices of the foreign affairs council, and take formal decisions.While not creating a formal defence council, the set-up, which could be eventually extended to ministers meeting on different days to their foreign counterparts, has important symbolic value. It was strongly pushed for by France.Ministers may discuss how often such meetings could take place - some member states are keen to meet more regularly -and the topics that could be discussed. Speaking about the new set-up, Ms Ashton recently said it would enable defence ministers to take decisions, for instance on capabilities development.For Sunday, the EU foreign policy chief is hoping for a "constructive and positive meeting with the defence ministers,said a spokesperson.
The following day, the ministers will meet representatives of the European Defence Agency and will discuss the situation in Afghanistan with Nato secretary-general Anders Fogh Rasmussen as well the EU mission in Bosnia and the proposed EU Somalia training mission in Uganda due to start next month.
Member states to signal broad backing for diplomatic service blueprint
HONOR MAHONY Today APR 23,10 @ 09:28 CET
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - EU foreign ministers meeting on Monday (26 April) are expected to send a signal of broad backing for foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton's blueprint for a diplomatic service, but a formal decision on the matter depends on the - as yet unimpressed - European Parliament.The overwhelming sense is that the proposal is in the right place, said a diplomat from a large country. Another diplomat noted that while some questions still remained, there is a broad agreement for the outline. For her part, Ms Ashton is expected to try and seek as great a degree of convergence as possible on Monday.Among the remaining issues is the extent to which the service can offer consular services. While the fairly explicit language on this in the proposal is welcomed by small member states, others, such as Britain, believes it goes too far and want vaguer language. Member states are also keen to make sure that they win their fair share of national diplomats in the service amid concerns it will initially be dominated by commission and Council officials. A key point for governments here is to make sure that national experts seconded from member states to deal with specific issues are not counted as part of the overall general quota. There are also questions over the chain of command in certain instances, with the commission keen to be able to issue orders directly to delegations when it involves areas within its powers. Also up in the air is the extent to which heads of delegation are responsible for delegations' budgets. But even if member states were to work their way through all the discussion points by late Monday, a formal political decision on the service cannot be taken until the parliament gives its opinion on the matter.To quite a large extent we are in the hands of the parliament,said a diplomat adding: The parliament can certainly for a while refuse to give [its] opinion.MEPs can hold progress on the diplomatic service to hostage by not giving its opinion now. But it also wields power in later stages because it has co-decision on changing the staff and financial rules to accommodate the service and establishing a budget for the service.
To date, deputies have been playing hardball saying the blueprint gives too much weight to governments and not enough to the commission. The proposal currently on the table ... does not promote a genuine European added value but rather the return of intergovernmentalism,said a statement released Wednesday by the main political groups in EU assembly.Unless and until the council and the commission are prepared to initiate real negotiations with parliament, no progress can be made on this important issue.Among the chief concerns of the parliament is having full budgetary oversight over the service - something member states say is not in dispute. Governments are less sanguine about demands to incorporate service more into the commission, fearing it will give both the EU executive and parliament powers in areas where they do not have it such as foreign policy and defence.However, Ms Ashton has tackled one concern of MEPs by suggesting the creation of a board of three directors to run the service. Deputies had previously complained that her original idea of having one secretary general would put too much power in the hands of one person, with German MEP Elmar Brok memorably referring to a spider sitting at the top of a web.With no formal decision on Monday and complex negotiations between the commission, member states, council, Ms Ashton and parliament still to come, one diplomat estimated that the whole package [will be] in place by autumn.
Netanyahu: Iran provoking Israel-Syria conflict
Thu Apr 22, 1:57 pm ET
JERUSALEM – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Iran is trying to provoke a war between Israel and Syria.Netanyahu says Iran is trying to convince Syria that an Israeli attack is imminent, which he says is a lie.Tensions have been high recently between Israel and Syria. The sides have traded threats, and last week Israel accused Syria of smuggling powerful rockets to the Lebanese guerillas of Hezbollah. Syria denied the charge.Speaking in an interview Thursday with Israel's Channel 2 TV, Netanyahu repeated the charge that Syria and Iran are arming Hezbollah.
The Israeli leader also called on the U.S. to impose sanctions to block Iran's nuclear program.
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,(WORLD SOCIALISM) 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/
CNBC VIDEOS
http://www.cnbc.com/id/15839263/site/14081545/?tabid=15839796&tabheader=false
HALF HOUR DOW RESULTS FR APR 23,2010
09:30 AM -3.73
10:00 AM +26.08
10:30 AM +24.94
11:00 AM +15.10
11:30 AM +4.78
12:00 PM +0.63
12:30 PM +17.46
01:00 PM +27.21
01:30 PM +20.48
02:00 PM +24.26
02:30 PM +29.10
03:00 PM +44.82
03:30 PM +49.88
04:00 PM +69.99 11,204.28
S&P 500 1217.28 +8.61
NASDAQ 2430.15 +11.08
GOLD 1,156.70 +13.70
OIL 85.07 +1.37
TSE 300 12,239.60 +78.80
CDNX 1670.92 +18.97
S&P/TSX/60 717.52 +4.05
MORNING,NEWS,STATS
YEAR TO DATE PERFORMANCE
Dow -14 points at 4 minutes of trading today.
Dow -32 points at low today.
Dow +52 points at high today so far.
GOLD opens at $1,136.90.OIL opens at $83.19 today.
AFTERNOON,NEWS,STATS
Dow -27 points at low today so far.
Dow +73 points at high today so far.
WRAPUP,NEWS,STATS
Dow -27 points at low today.
Dow +73 points at high today.
AMERICA (POLITICAL BABYLON)
EZEKIEL 39:21
21 And I will set my glory among the heathen, and all the heathen shall see my judgment that I have executed, and my hand that I have laid upon them.
ISAIAH 18:1-2
1 Woe to the land shadowing with wings, which is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia:
2 That sendeth ambassadors by the sea, even in vessels of bulrushes upon the waters, saying, Go, ye swift messengers, to a nation scattered and peeled, to a people terrible from their beginning hitherto; a nation meted out and trodden down, whose land the rivers have spoiled!
JEREMIAH 50:11,37,12
11 Because ye were glad, because ye rejoiced, O ye destroyers of mine heritage, because ye are grown fat as the heifer at grass, and bellow as bulls;(BACKSLIDERS)
37 A sword is upon their horses, and upon their chariots, and upon all the mingled people that are in the midst of her; and they shall become as women: a sword is upon her treasures; and they shall be robbed.(A NATION OF MINGLED PEOPLE)
12 Your mother shall be sore confounded; she that bare you shall be ashamed:(MOTHER ENGLAND) behold, the hindermost of the nations shall be a wilderness, a dry land, and a desert.
JEREMIAH 51:13,7,53
13 O thou that dwellest upon many waters, abundant in treasures, thine end is come, and the measure of thy covetousness.
7 Babylon hath been a golden cup in the LORD's hand, that made all the earth drunken: the nations have drunken of her wine; therefore the nations are mad.
53 Though Babylon should mount up to heaven, and though she should fortify the height of her strength, yet from me shall spoilers come unto her, saith the LORD.
REVELATION 18:3,5,7
3 For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies.
5 For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities.
7 How much she hath glorified herself, and lived deliciously, so much torment and sorrow give her: for she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow.
JEREMIAH 50:3,24
3 For out of the north there cometh up a nation against her, which shall make her land desolate, and none shall dwell therein: they shall remove, they shall depart, both man and beast.
24 I have laid a snare for thee, and thou art also taken, O Babylon, and thou wast not aware: thou art found, and also caught, because thou hast striven against the LORD. (RUSSIA A SNEAK ATTACK ON AMERICA)
REVELATION 18:9-11,15-21
9 And the kings of the earth, who have committed fornication and lived deliciously with her, shall bewail her, and lament for her, when they shall see the smoke of her burning,(NUKE ATTACK I BELIEVE)
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.
11 And the merchants of the earth shall weep and mourn over her; for no man buyeth their merchandise any more:
15 The merchants of these things, which were made rich by her, shall stand afar off for the fear of her torment, weeping and wailing,
16 And saying, Alas, alas that great city, that was clothed in fine linen, and purple, and scarlet, and decked with gold, and precious stones, and pearls!
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,
18 And cried when they saw the smoke of her burning, saying, What city is like unto this great city!
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.
20 Rejoice over her, thou heaven, and ye holy apostles and prophets; for God hath avenged you on her.
21 And a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone, and cast it into the sea, saying, Thus with violence shall that great city Babylon be thrown down, and shall be found no more at all.
NOW WE KNOW WHY AMERICA IS GOING TO BE NUKED FOR THE KLLING OF INNOCENT PEOPLE NOT JUST MURDER BY ABORTION.AMERICA WILL PAY IN JUDGEMENT LIKE THESE SCRIPTURES SAY FOR THE SINS OF THE GOVERNMENT.
STORY VIDEOS ABOUT 7 COMING DOWN
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C3E-26oVIIs&feature=player_embedded
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FNEoiOP76QQ&feature=player_embedded
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CwjmqkjwnvQ&feature=player_embedded
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nvx904dAw0o&feature=player_embedded
READ LINKS
http://www.infowars.com/bombshell-silverstein-wanted-to-demolish-building-7-on-911/
Bombshell: Silverstein Wanted To Demolish Building 7 On 9/11
Paul Joseph Watson Prison Planet.com Friday, April 23, 2010
Preface from Alex Jones: To truly grasp the magnitude of this story, you really have to read the entire article. Immediately after the pull it controversy, debunkers claimed there was no plan to conduct a controlled demolition of the building. Now the fact that officials were considering blowing up the building is established, Silverstein’s consistent denial that this took place is a huge smoking gun. How did Silverstein expect to demolish the building safely when such a process takes weeks or even months to properly set up, even without the additional chaos surrounding WTC 7 on 9/11? This new revelation is astounding and it needs to be investigated immediately. A Fox News hit piece against Jesse Ventura and the 9/11 truth movement written by former Washington D.C. prosecutor Jeffrey Scott Shapiro inadvertently reveals a shocking truth, that World Trade Center leaseholder Larry Silverstein, who collected nearly $500 million dollars in insurance as a result of the collapse of Building 7, a 47-story structure that was not hit by a plane but collapsed within seven seconds on September 11, was on the phone to his insurance carrier attempting to convince them that the building should be brought down via controlled demolition.
Writing for Fox News, Jeffrey Scott Shapiro states,I was working as a journalist for Gannett News at Ground Zero that day, and I remember very clearly what I saw and heard.Shortly before the building collapsed, several NYPD officers and Con-Edison workers told me that Larry Silverstein, the property developer of One World Financial Center was on the phone with his insurance carrier to see if they would authorize the controlled demolition of the building – since its foundation was already unstable and expected to fall.In February of 2002 Silverstein Properties won $861 million from Industrial Risk Insurers to rebuild on the site of WTC 7. Silverstein Properties’ estimated investment in WTC 7 was $386 million. This building’s collapse alone resulted in a payout of nearly $500 million, based on the contention that it was an unforeseen accidental event.A controlled demolition would have minimized the damage caused by the building’s imminent collapse and potentially save lives. Many law enforcement personnel, firefighters and other journalists were aware of this possible option. There was no secret. There was no conspiracy,writes Shapiro.However, obviously aware of how it would impact his insurance claim, Larry Silverstein has consistently denied that there was ever a plan to intentionally demolish Building 7.In June 2005, Silverstein told New York Post journalist Sam Smith that his infamous pull it comment, which has been cited as proof that Silverstein planned to take down the building with explosives, meant something else.
In January 2006, Silverstein’s spokesperson Dara McQuillan told the U.S. State Department that the pull it comment meant to withdraw firefighters from the building (despite the fact that there were no firefighters inside WTC 7 as we shall later cover). There was no mention whatsoever of any plan to demolish the building before it fell.Shapiro’s faux pas has unwittingly let the cat out of the bag on the fact that Silverstein was aggressively pushing for the building to be intentionally demolished, a claim that he has always vociferously denied, presumably to safeguard against putting in doubt the massive insurance payout he received on the basis that the collapse was accidental.For over five years since the infamous PBS documentary was aired in which Silverstein states that the decision was made to pull the building, a construction term for controlled demolition, debunkers have attempted to perform all kinds of mental gymnastics in fudging the meaning behind the WTC leaseholder’s comments.I remember getting a call from the fire department commander, telling me that they were not sure they were gonna be able to contain the fire, and I said, We’ve had such terrible loss of life, maybe the smartest thing to do is pull it. And they made that decision to pull and we watched the building collapse, said Silverstein.Debunkers attempted to claim that Silverstein meant to pull the firefighters from the building due to the danger the structure was in, and this explanation was also later claimed by Silverstein’s spokesman, however, both the FEMA report, the New York Times and even Popular Mechanics reported that there were no firefighting actions taken inside WTC 7.
Another clip from the same documentary clearly illustrates that the term pull is industry jargon for a controlled demolition.While I was talking with a fellow reporter and several NYPD officers, Building 7 suddenly collapsed, and before it hit the ground, not a single sound emanated from the tower area. There were no explosives; I would have heard them. In fact, I remember that in those few seconds, as the building sank to the ground that I was stunned by how quiet it was,writes Shapiro in his Fox News hit piece.Shapiro’s contention that the 47-story building simply collapsed into its own footprint within seven seconds without making a sound, a feat only ever witnessed in world history on 9/11 alone, is contradicted by numerous other first-hand eyewitnesses.Contradicting Shapiro’s claim that the collapse of the building was quiet, NYPD officer Craig Bartmer stated that he clearly heard bombs tear down Building 7 as he ran away from its collapse.I walked around it (Building 7). I saw a hole. I didn’t see a hole bad enough to knock a building down, though. Yeah there was definitely fire in the building, but I didn’t hear any… I didn’t hear any creaking, or… I didn’t hear any indication that it was going to come down. And all of a sudden the radios exploded and everyone started screaming get away, get away, get away from it!… It was at that moment… I looked up, and it was nothing I would ever imagine seeing in my life. The thing started pealing in on itself… Somebody grabbed my shoulder and I started running, and the shit’s hitting the ground behind me, and the whole time you’re hearing boom, boom, boom, boom, boom.I think I know an explosion when I hear it… Yeah it had some damage to it, but nothing like what they’re saying… Nothing to account for what we saw… I am shocked at the story we’ve heard about it to be quite honest,said Bartmer.
EMT Indira Singh, a Senior Consultant for JP Morgan Chase in Information Technology and Risk Management, told the Pacifica show Guns and Butter,After midday on 9/11 we had to evacuate that because they told us Building 7 was coming down. If you had been there, not being able to see very much just flames everywhere and smoke – it is entirely possible – I do believe that they brought Building 7 down because I heard that they were going to bring it down because it was unstable because of the collateral damage.The host asked Singh,Did they actually use the word brought down and who was it that was telling you this?,to which Singh responded, The fire department. And they did use the words we’re gonna have to bring it down and for us there observing the nature of the devastation it made total sense to us that this was indeed a possibility, given the subsequent controversy over it I don’t know.
Another EMT named Mike who wished to remain anonymous wrote in a letter to the Loose Change film crew that emergency responders were told Building 7 was about to be pulled and that a 20 second radio countdown preceded its collapse.There were bright flashes up and down the sides of Building 7, you could see them through the windows…and it collapsed. We all knew it was intentionally pulled… they told us,he stated.
Following news reports in the days after the attack that Building 7 had collapsed due to fire damage, Mike fully expected this mistake to be corrected after the chaos had subsided, but was astonished when it became part of the official story.Mike’s report of a countdown preceding the collapse of WTC 7 was backed up by Former Air Force Special Operations for Search and Rescue, Kevin McPadden, who said that he heard the last few seconds of the countdown on a nearby police radio.In addition, the language used by firefighters and others at ground zero shortly before the building fell strongly indicates that the building was deliberately demolished with explosives, and not that it fell unaided.It’s blowin boy.… Keep your eye on that building, it’ll be coming down soon.…The building is about to blow up, move it back. … Here we are walking back. There’s a building, about to blow up…Photo and video evidence of the collapse of Building 7 shows classic indications of a controlled demolition. The standard crimp in the center-left top of the building and the subsequent squibs of smoke as it collapses clearly represent explosive demolition.
Veteran news anchor Dan Rather shared the view that the building looked like a controlled demolition during news coverage of the event on CBS.Several news agencies, including the BBC and CNN, reported that the building had already collapsed 26 minutes and as much as over an hour before it actually fell.
Just about every sentence of Shapiro’s hit piece is contradicted by numerous other eyewitnesses, so his feigned righteous indignation in ranting, I was there. I know what happened, and there is no single credible piece of evidence that implicates the United States of America in the Sept. 11 attacks,fails to ring true.However, the most damning aspect of the article is Shapiro’s inadvertent revelation that Larry Silverstein was on the phone to his insurance company pushing for the building to be demolished, which is precisely what happened later in the day, and as innumerable eyewitnesses as well as video footage and physical evidence prove, the collapse of WTC 7 could have been nothing else than a controlled demolition, which would place Silverstein’s $500 million insurance payout in severe jeopardy if ever acknowledged.
Shapiro’s testimony, intended to debunk questions surrounding the official story behind 9/11, has only succeeded in raising more, because it completely contradicts Larry Silverstein’s insistence that he never considered deliberately demolishing WTC 7 with explosives.
European big business admits to lobbying Washington, but not Brussels
LEIGH PHILLIPS 22.04.2010 @ 09:28 CET
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - Many of Europe's biggest corporations are avoiding registering their lobbying activities in Brussels even as they admit to the scale of their operations in Washington where registration of lobbyists is required by law, according to a new study.As a result of the different registry frameworks between the two legislative capitals - in Brussels, the European Commission's lobby registry is a voluntary affair - European big business on the whole is able to make it appear that it is engaged in much more lobbying in Washington than in Brussels. This is the conclusion of a new study by lobbying watchdogs that analyses what the EU's 50 biggest corporations say they are spending on influencing policy.A total of 20 of these 50 EU-based firms are not signed up to the commission's lobby register, according to the report, published by Friends of the Earth, itself an environmental lobby group.And yet many companies, Vodafone, Deutsche Bank, Nestle and E.ON, are known to have a very strong presence in Brussels.But crucially, the EU companies that are signed up are declaring what the report authors say are unfeasibly low budgets for their lobbying in the European capital. Comparing what firms say they spend in Brussels and what they say they spend in Washington, where the figures registered are checked for accuracy, the researchers found a counterintuitive situation whereby, for example, British Petroleum has declared that its lobby expenditure is 17 times higher in the US than in the EU and ING, the Dutch bank, says that its expenditure is eight times greater in the US.
Despite the moves by EU lawmakers to impose stricter regulation on the financial sector in the wake of the economic crisis, according to their entries in the register, European banks and insurance firms in 2008 spent up to €2.75 million in Brussels, but €18.5 million lobbying in the Washington.The oil industry shows a surprising law of decreasing lobbying: the bigger the company, the less it spends on lobbying,said the report authors.Indeed, in the same year, three out of the 50 companies declared spending more than a million euros on attempting to gain influence amongst decision makers, while 10 did so in the US.A total of 13 of the 21 companies that are signed up to both the EU and the US lobby registers declare higher lobbying expenditures in Washington.The way firms have reported their lobbying expenditure in Europe makes it look as though some NGOs are spending more than oil companies on lobbying. The data thus suggests that the Eurogroup for Animals, the European Council on Refugees and Exiles and Friends of the Countryside spend more than twice as much as the biggest oil companies Shell and BP and defence consortium EADS, and more than three times as much as Total, Arcelor Mittal, GDF, or Enel.In its current form the European Commission's lobby register fails in its goal to safeguard reliable information and to end the culture of secrecy around lobbying in Brussels,said Friends of the Earth's Paul de Clerck.
Galbraith: Economists Should Move into Background, and Criminologists to the Forefront Washington’s Blog April 23, 2010
TARP overseer Elizabeth Warren suspects fraud as the cause of the crisis. University of Texas economics professor James K. Galbraith previously said that fraud caused the financial crisis: You had fraud in the origination of the mortgages, fraud in the underwriting, fraud in the ratings agencies.Senator Kaufman said last month:
Fraud and potential criminal conduct were at the heart of the financial crisis.
Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur says that there was rampant fraud leading up to the crash (see this and this). TARP overseer Elizabeth Warren suspects fraud as the cause of the crisis.Yves Smith has shown that fraud largely caused the subprime crisis. Janet Tavakoli says that rampant fraud and Ponzi schemes caused the financial crisis.
According to economist Max Wolff:The securitization process worked by packag(ing), sell(ing), repack(aging) and resell(ing) mortages making what was a small housing bubble, a gigantic (one) and making what became an American financial problem very much a global one by selling mortgage bundles worldwide without full disclosure of the lack of underlying assets or risks.Buyers accepted them on good faith, failed in their due diligence, and rating agencies were negligent, even criminal, in overvaluing and endorsing junk assets that they knew were high-risk or toxic. The whole process was corrupt at its core.William Black – professor of economics and law, and former head of prosecution during the S&L crisis – says that massive fraud by is what caused this economic crisis. Specifically, he says that companies, auditors, rating agencies and regulators all committed fraud which helped blow the bubble and sowed the seeds of the inevitable crash. And see this. Black and economist Simon Johnson also state that the banks committed fraud by making loans to people that they knew would default, to make huge profits during the boom, knowing that the taxpayers would bail them out when things went bust.
As Black told Congress on Tuesday: Let’s start with the repos. We have known since the Enron in 2001 that this is a common scam, in which every major bank that was approached by Enron agreed to help them deceive creditors and investors by doing these kind of transactions. And so what happened? There was a proposal in 2004 to stop it. And the regulatory heads — there was an interagency effort — killed it. They came out with something pathetic in 2006, and stalled its implication until 2007, but it ’s meaningless. We have known for decades that these are frauds. We have known for a decade how to stop them. All of the major regulatory agencies were complicit in that statement, in destroying it. We have a self-fulfilling policy of regulatory failure because of the leadership in this era. We have the Fed, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, finding that this is three card monty. Well what would you do, as a regulator, if you knew that one of the largest enterprises in the world, when the nation is on the brink of economic collapse, is engaged in fraud, three card monty? Would you continue business as usual?
That’s what was done. So who should we talk to about fixing the economic crisis?
Not the economists.As economist James Galbraith told Dan Froomkin this week:Once you understand the implications of massively fraudulent practices, it changes the professional community that has the principal say about interpreting the crisis.
Economists, he said, should move into the background — and criminologists to the forefront.Bill Black agrees:Criminologists, Black said, are trained to identify the environments that produce epidemics of fraud — and in the case of the financial crisis, the culprit is obvious.We’re looking at incentive structures, he told HuffPost.Not people suddenly becoming evil. Not people suddenly becoming crazy. But people reacting to perverse incentive structures.CEOs can’t send out a memo telling their front-line professionals to commit fraud, but you can send the same message with your compensations system, and you can do it without going to jail,Black said.
Criminologists ask fundamentally different types of question than the ones being asked.First we ask: Does this business activity, the way they’re conducting it, make any sense for an honest firm? And we see many activities that make no sense for an honest firm.One example is the liar’s loans.With something like 90 percent of them turning out to be fraudulent, they are not profitable loans to make — unless you’re getting paid based on volume, and unless the idea is to sell them off to someone else. We also ask: How it is possible that they were able to sell this stuff? When it comes to toxic assets — or securities built on top of them — all standard economic explanations say it should have been impossible to sell them.The answer, in this crisis, is the financial version of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell,Black said. Incentives for short-term profits and the resulting bonuses were so great that buyers preferred booking the revenue than looking too closely at what they were buying.Black is concerned that the financial legislation currently being debated on Capitol Hill doesn’t change the rules enough. He’s concerned about loopholes in derivative regulation and thinks that demanding skin in the game won’t actually help curb fraud.
Yes,skin in the game means that companies could go bankrupt if they place bad bets. But, he said. if the corporation gets destroyed, that’s not a failure of the fraud scheme.Former Lehman Brother CEO Richard Fuld, for instance, walked away with hundreds of millions of net worth that would never have been created but for the fraud.Black would like to see reform that ends regulatory black holes and that requires not just rules but approving regulators with teeth, to enforce them. Regulators should not be cozy with the entities they regulate; they should be skeptical.Some of us have to stay skeptical, so that everyone else can trust,he said.
He also thinks it’s important to address compensation — both for executives and professionals. Black isn’t calling for limits on executive pay, just for executives to keep their own promises to make bonuses based on long-term success, rather than short term. And he means really long-term. The big bonuses, they come after 10 years, when they show it’s real,Black said.Professional compensation has to be changed to prevent conflicts of interest,he said. Appraisers, accountants, ratings agencies and the like need to be rewarded for accuracy rather than amenability. Right now, Black said, cheaters prosper.Forget the economists … call in the criminologists.
FDNY teams with Marines to stage mock suicide bomb, poison gas attacks
BY Barry Paddock DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER Thursday, April 22nd 2010, 4:15 PM
Fevelo for NewsFirefighters and Marines simulate a gas attack during a drill at the FDNY Fire Academy at Randall's Island. Fevelo for NewsFirefighters and Marines simulate a bus bombing. Related NewsArticles Long Island fire chief, NYC firefighter busted in gun threatWe were blacklisted for trying to protect co-workers, two employees of city chargeTraffic forecast for March 26, 2010Computer programmer at Board of Elections is king of overtime in NYC againShoeshine stand employee busted after twice torching Bryant Park booth They staged the unthinkable.The city's fire department teamed up with Marines Thursday morning to respond to simultaneous mock suicide bomber and poison gas attacks.An FDNY team raced around the mangled shell of an MTA bus, herding wounded victims to a triage area as real fire burned in the street.Other rescue workers raced to pull victims from crushed cars turned on their sides or upside down. About 100 firefighters joined 100 marines in the chillingly realistic exercise at the FDNY Fire Academy on Randall's Island.In a replica of a city subway platform filled with haze, dozens of faux victims screamed for help as they lay among mangled dummies representing the dead.In a disturbing reminder of the dangers of their job, one dummy with a severed leg wore an FDNY uniform. We can't see,subway victims screamed.
Just get me out of here!
Some victims pretended they didn't understand English, forcing rescuers to communicate using hand signs. The emergency workers in full body suits and gas masks led them outside to a yellow decontamination tent, where Marines hosed and sponged them down.I got stepped on a couple times, said Josh Wylie, 23, of Long Beach, LI, an EMT trainee who played the part of a gravely injured gas attack victim.
The situation felt real.Fire Commissioner Salvatore Cassano said the point of the drill was for firefighters and Marines to share expertise and to learn to work more closely together.Earlier in the week, firefighters worked with West Point cadets responding to the aftermath of a simulated earthquake.When they finish this, they'll be tired, worn out, just like they were working a real-life incident, Cassano said. If there's another event in the city, we'll be prepared.The Marines were part of the Chemical Biological Incident Response Force, an elite unit stationed in Indian Head, MD.Several members are New Yorkers.It feels good being back home,said Sgt. Joe Vargas, 23, of East New York, Brooklyn.Whatever this country, or New York, needs, we're going to be there.bpaddock@nydailynews.com
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime/2010/04/22/2010-04-22_fdny_teams_with_marines_to_stage_mock_suicide_bomb_poison_gas_attacks.html#ixzz0lwSsijmD
MEDIA CRASHING THE TEA PARTY
http://www.infowars.com/video-compilation-the-media-crashing-the-tea-party/
Posted on Wednesday, April 21, 2010 email|print|tool nameclose tool goes here Goldman's White House connections raise eyebrows By Greg Gordon | McClatchy Newspapers
WASHINGTON — While Goldman Sachs' lawyers negotiated with the Securities and Exchange Commission over potentially explosive civil fraud charges, Goldman's chief executive visited the White House at least four times. White House logs show that Chief Executive Lloyd Blankfein traveled to Washington for at least two events with President Barack Obama, whose 2008 presidential campaign received $994,795 in donations from Goldman's employees and their relatives. He also met twice with Obama's top economic adviser, Larry Summers.No evidence has surfaced to suggest that Blankfein or any other Goldman executive raised the SEC case with the president or his aides. SEC Chairwoman Mary Schapiro said in a statement Wednesday that the SEC doesn't coordinate enforcement actions with the White House or other political bodies. Meanwhile, however, Goldman is retaining former Obama White House counsel Gregory Craig as a member of its legal team. In addition, when he worked as an investment banker in Chicago a decade ago, White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel advised one client who also retained Goldman as an adviser on the same $8.2 billion deal.
Goldman's connections to the White House and the Obama administration are raising eyebrows at a time when Washington and Wall Street are dueling over how to overhaul regulation of the financial world.Lawrence Jacobs, a University of Minnesota political scientist, said that almost everything that the White House has done has been haunted by the personnel and the money of Goldman . . . as well as the suspicion that the White House, particularly early on, was pulling its punches out of deference to Goldman and its war chest.There's now kind of a magnifying glass on the administration for any sign of interference or conversations with the regulators and the judiciary,Jacobs said.The SEC investigation of Goldman's dealings lasted 18 months and culminated with the SEC filing civil fraud charges against the investment bank last week.According to White House visitor logs, Blankfein was among the business leaders who attended an Obama speech on Feb. 13, 2009, and he also joined more than a dozen bank CEOs in a meeting with Obama on March 27, 2009.Blankfein also was supposed be among the CEOs who met with Obama in December, but he and two others phoned in from New York, blaming inclement weather.He and his wife, Laura, were listed on the logs among 438 presidential guests at the Kennedy Center Honors the previous week.
The logs also indicate that Blankfein met twice in 2009, on Feb. 4 and Sept. 30, with Summers, who was undersecretary of the Treasury Department during the Clinton administration when it was headed by Robert Rubin, a former Goldman CEO.Asked whether Goldman executives had talked to administration officials about the SEC inquiry, Goldman spokesman Michael DuVally said that the firm doesn't discuss what conversations we may or may not have had with government officials.Schapiro's statement said that she's disappointed by Republican rhetoric suggesting that the SEC case against Goldman might have been timed to boost legislative prospects for a financial regulation overhaul bill, which Obama plans to pitch in a speech in New York Thursday.We do not coordinate our enforcement actions with the White House, Congress or political committees,Schapiro said.We do not time our cases around political events or the legislative calendar . . . We will neither bring cases, nor refrain from bringing them, because of the political consequences.Obama dismissed any such suggestion as completely false Wednesday, saying in a CNBC television interview that the SEC never discussed with us anything with respect to the charges that would be brought.
While describing Craig, his former counsel, as one of the top lawyers in the country,Obama also said that he'd imposed the toughest ethics rules that any president's ever had.One thing he (Craig) knows is that he cannot talk to the White House,Obama said.He cannot lobby the White House. He cannot in any way use his former position to have any influence on us.Goldman's chief spokesman, Lucas van Praag, said the firm wanted Craig . . . for his wisdom and insight.Craig, now an attorney with the Washington law firm of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagre & Flom, said: I am a lawyer, not a lobbyist. Goldman Sachs has hired me to provide legal advice and to assist in its legal representation.Goldman's nearly $1 million in campaign contributions to Obama's presidential campaign were the most from any single employer except the University of California. Still, they represented only a fraction of the more than $700 million that the campaign raised.The vast majority of the money I got was from small donors all across the country,Obama told CNBC. Moreover, anybody who gave me money during the course of my campaign knew that I was on record in 2007 and 2008 pushing very strongly that we needed to reform how Wall Street did business.One White House insider who knows something about how Wall Street does business is chief of staff Emanuel, who earned millions of dollars in investment banking after he left the Clinton White House. His work for the Chicago-based financial services firm Wasserstein Perella & Co. intersected with Goldman in at least one deal.In 1999, Emanuel was a key player representing Unicom Corp., the parent of Commonwealth Edison, in forging its merger with Peco Energy Co. to create utility giant Exelon Corp. Goldman was also advising Unicom.
The White House declined immediate comment on that connection.
Several former Goldman executives hold senior positions in the Obama administration, including Gary Gensler, the chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission; Mark Patterson, a former Goldman lobbyist who is chief of staff to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner; and Robert Hormats, the undersecretary of state for economic, energy and agricultural affairs.Jacobs of the University of Minnesota said that the administration now risks kind of a feeding frenzy.The administration has to be very careful,he said, because . . . they're seen as the ones who bailed out Wall Street. If there are indications that the administration was talking to regulators or to Justice Department people about when and how Goldman or other firms would be investigated, I think that's going to create almost a mob scene.(Margaret Talev, Steven Thomma and Tish Wells contributed to this article.)Read more: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/04/21/92637/goldmans-connections-to-white.html#ixzz0lwVkP6eU
Greece formally requests EU-IMF aid-Euro area states have pledged to give up to €30 billion this year (Photo: mammal)ANDREW WILLIS Today APR 23,10 @ 14:27 CET
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - Greece has formally placed a request to activate a €40-45 billion EU-IMF aid package, a day after new budget deficit figures revealed the country's 2009 shortfall to be worse than previously forecast. The country's finance minister, George Papaconstantinou, transferred the message on Friday (23 April) in a letter addressed to Eurogroup President Jean-Claude Juncker, EU economy commissioner Olli Rehn and European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet. In accordance with the Statement of the Heads of State and Government of 25 March 2010 to provide financial support to Greece, when needed, and the follow up Statement of the Eurogroup, Greece is hereby requesting the activation of the support mechanism, reads the letter. Earlier, Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou said he would instruct his finance minister to place the request.It is a national and imperative need to officially ask our partners in the EU for the activation of the support mechanism we jointly created,he said in statements broadcast live from the remote Aegean island of Kastellorizo.Our partners will decisively contribute to provide Greece the safe harbour that will allow us to rebuild our ship, said the embattled premier against a picturesque backdrop. Fresh figures released by the EU's statistics office, Eurostat, on Thursday revealed Greece's 2009 deficit to be 13.6 percent of GDP, significantly higher than the previous 12.7 percent forecast. Markets subsequently leapt on the new EU data, sending the yield on 10-year Greek bonds to 8.83 percent, the highest since 1998, and prompting credit rating agency Moody's to cut the country's sovereign rating from A2 to A3. On Friday, bond yields retreated marginally following the formal aid request.
Next steps?
A significant amount of uncertainty remains however. Greece, swamped by a €300-billion debt pile, is currently negotiating the lending terms with EU and IMF officials in Athens, with the talks potentially lasting for several more weeks. An agreement between EU leaders in late March indicated that any request for aid must first be approved by the ECB and the European Commission, before then being formally agreed by euro area states. While governments may be willing to bail-out their profligate partner, doubts remain as to how quickly member states will be able to release the funds, with at least one legal challenge being mounted in Germany against the unpopular transfer to Greece. Responding to questions from MEPs in Strasbourg on Tuesday, Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said several times that he is confident the Greek plan does not breach the EU treaties. The solution found so far is fully in line with the treaty,he said.It is simply wrong to say that it is some kind of bailout.Chancellor Angela Merkel, faced with crucial regional elections in May, has been at pains to stress that any support must be considered ultima ratio, or a last resort.As well as the legal uncertainty, total contributions to the three-year support package have yet to be finalised. Euro area states have agreed to contribute €30 billion, this year, but figures for 2010 and 2011 remain unclear. German central bank chief Axel Weber recently conceded that the numbers are changing all the time, according to reports in the Wall Street Journal, adding that total euro area contributions over the three years could reach as much a €80 billion.
EU agrees to start negotiations with US on bank data transfers
VALENTINA POP Today APR 23,10 @ 17:38 CET
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS – EU home affairs ministers on Friday (23 April) reached a political agreement on negotiations with the US regarding the use of European bank data when searching for terrorism funding. The commission will start exploratory talks with the US in the coming days, home affairs commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom said at a press briefing in Brussels. Formal talks can only start on 10 May, when EU affairs ministers are to rubber-stamp the political agreement, she explained.The reason for the extra delay is mainly linked to the volcanic ash cloud, which caused major travel disruptions and prompted the Spanish EU presidency to move the ministerial meeting from Luxembourg to Brussels and to organise it on Friday instead of Thursday.As a consequence, only nine of the EU's 27 ministers made it to Brussels, an insufficient number to adopt any formal decisions.In addition, European Parliament chief Jerzy Buzek has asked the Spanish EU presidency to wait for a non-binding resolution that could not be voted this week in Strasbourg for the same reasons. The next plenary session is due to take place from 5-6 May in Brussels.
Since the EU legislature has already struck down an interim agreement on this matter, both the Spanish presidency and the European Commission are now particularly forthcoming in respect to any requests coming from MEPs.Yet some of the assembly's demands, for instance not to send bulk data to the US, are technically impossible, since Swift, the company which facilitates international bank transactions, has no capacity to filter individual transactions, Ms Malmstrom said.We hope to find ways how to limit the categories of data sent by Swift, she added.The Swedish commissioner said she hoped an agreement could be finalised by the end of June, so that it could be approved by member states and the EU Parliament before summer recess, insisting that it was a matter of urgency. Ever since the data flow was interrupted in January, the US and Europe are in a security gap in terms of leads on terrorism funding, she said.This situation occurred after Belgium-based Swift decided to stop storing European transactions in its US database, following a 2006 scandal in which it became clear that the American authorities had been secretly screening this data as part of their anti-terrorist policies.
An interim agreement, negotiated by the Swedish EU presidency last year, when Ms Malmstrom was Stockholm's European affairs minister, should have ensured a smooth transition until a final deal was put in place, at the end of this year.But the provisional agreement was struck one day before the coming into force of the Lisbon Treaty, granting the parliament a veto on such matters. And in February, when asked for their consent on the deal, MEPs used that veto right in a first display of power despite high-level lobbying by Washington.Euro-deputies speaking on Wednesday in the plenary on this matter continued to express reservations about the level of privacy safeguards envisaged in the negotiation guidelines presented by Ms Malmstrom, who will lead the talks with the Americans. But none of them said the negotiations should not take place at all.
Further Greek chaos as new figures show EU fiscal mess-The financial crisis drove a large hole in EU government budgets in 2009 (Photo: Jorge Franganillo)
ANDREW WILLIS Today APR 23,10 @ 09:21 CET
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - The deplorable state of EU government finances was laid bare on Thursday (22 April), following the release of 2009 budget deficit figures by the EU's statistics agency, Eurostat. Greece's deficit was shown to have reached 13.6 percent of GDP for the year, considerably higher that the previous 12.7 percent forecast, sending the country's borrowing costs skyward and prompting a new credit rating downgrade from the Moody's credit rating agency. EU officials said the Greek deficit cutting target of four percent for this year still remained in place, but indicated that extra measures would be needed if the debt-ridden country was to successfully bring its deficit below three percent by 2012, as promised to Brussels.
The Eurostat figures underline the urgency to intensify the preparations of structural reforms and additional measures for the coming years,said EU economy commissioner Olli Rehn in a statement. Mr Rehn is in Washington for a meeting of G20 finance ministers (22-23 April), where he is also meeting International Monetary Fund chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn to discuss lending terms for Greece. The extra turmoil on Thursday prompted expectations that Athens will be forced to bring forward an application for emergency funding from a joint euro area and IMF lending package, valued at €40-45 billion.It's our historic obligation to take decisions that will avert the worst for Greece,Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou told his cabinet.
Reactions
Shares tumbled on the Athens stock exchange in response to the new deficit figures, while the euro currency fell to its lowest value against the dollar since last May. As markets closed, Moody's cut Greece's sovereign rating to A3 from A2.The day saw yields on 10-year Greek bonds rising to 8.83 percent, the highest since 1998, as investor concerns over a possible debt default or restructuring intensified. In Athens, the government promised to meet its debt obligations for next month, estimated to be in the region of €10 billion. Greece's final deficit figure for 2009 could increase by a further 0.3-0.5 percent, said Eurostat, due to uncertainties on the surplus of social security funds for 2009, on the classification of some public entities and on the recording of off-market swaps.The commission is currently pushing member states and the European Parliament to give the Luxembourg-based agency greater auditing powers, after revelations last October once again highlighted the dubious nature of the country's statistics.
Contagion?
The Hellenic Republic was not alone in its overspending last year, with EU governments breaking the bloc's deficit and debt rules en masse. The average EU27 government deficit figure rose to 6.8 percent of GDP in 2009, roughly three times higher than the 2.3 percent witnessed in 2008. Debt to GDP ratios rose from 61.6 percent to 73.6 percent over the same period.Ireland topped the list, recording a deficit of 14.3 percent, with the country's economy currently reeling from a burst property bubble that has left banks with billions in bad loans. Greece came second, followed by the UK on 11.5 percent, Spain on 11.2 percent and Portugal on 9.4 percent. Bond yields for all countries rose, coming on the back of an IMF warning on Wednesday that contagion from the Greek crisis could spread to other states. In the near term, the main risk is that, if unchecked, market concerns about sovereign liquidity and solvency in Greece could turn into a full-blown sovereign debt crisis, leading to some contagion,the Washington-based organisation said. Europe's fiscal crisis has led to growing talk on the need for greater European economic co-ordination. Finland's centrist prime minister, Matti Vanhanen, said on Thursday he would support controversial German proposals for a EU treaty change, if it was needed to enforce fiscal and economic discipline in the region, the Financial Times reported.
German house in landmark vote on Iceland EU membership
VALENTINA POP 22.04.2010 @ 09:26 CET
The Bundestag on Thursday (22 April) is set to hold a landmark vote on European affairs, with the first binding EU recommendation for its government to follow in respect to Iceland's membership bid to join the bloc.Although not a controversial one, the vote is a premiere in German politics, after lawmakers acquired a greater say on the government's EU policies. These extra powers were key for the Bundestag last year to approve the Lisbon Treaty, the EU's new legal framework, which the German constitutional court said did not provide enough parliamentary oversight.
While Iceland's accession is a no-brainer for Berlin lawmakers, who are set to welcome the stable parliamentary democracy into the EU fold once talks are concluded, other countries in the enlargement pipeline could prove more of a headache, especially Turkey.Iceland is not Greece,the deputy leader of the Christian-Democrats Andreas Schockenhoff told Reuters, highlighting the consensus around Iceland's membership application, submitted to the EU last July.The 350,000 strong north-Atlantic island has since made headlines with the volcano Eyjafjallajokull whose eruption created an ash cloud disrupting European air traffic for almost a week. A banking dispute with Britain and the Netherlands, who are demanding compensation losses incurred following the collapse of online bank Icesave, is also set to pose problems for the island's membership talks.Back in Reykjavik, the two are being linked in a joke: As the Icelandic alphabet doesn't include the letter C, note north Atlantic wags, when the British and Dutch asked for cash, Icelanders gave them ash.German lawmakers are aware of the financial dispute, but say this may actually pose less of a problem than Iceland's insistance on a maintainence of whaling, which is taboo in the EU.This may be the biggest hurdle for membership, Ruprecht Polenz, head of the foreign affairs committee told Reuters.
THIS CHEAP DRUG STUFF IS ALL OVER MY LOCAL PAPER TO.SO IT MUST BE WORLDWIDE THAT GOVERNMENTS WANT TO BRAKE,THEN BAILOUT PHARMACIES TO TAKE GOVERNMENT CONTROL OF ALL THE PHARMACIES.WE WILL SEE WHAT HAPPENS THROUGH THIS CHEAP DRUG SCAM.
UK big pharma loses EU court battle over cheaper drugs
LEIGH PHILLIPS 22.04.2010 @ 17:33 CET
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - UK pharmaceutical firms have been defeated in their attempt to put an end to British government incentives to doctors to supply patients with cheaper but equivalent medicines.The European Court of Justice rejected a complaint by the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI) that such National Health Service (NHS) schemes were not an illegal inducement under EU law.In order to reduce public expenditure, the public health authorities in England and Wales introduced schemes providing doctors with financial incentives to prescribe cheap generic drugs rather than their more expensive patented counterparts.A 2001 European directive relating to medicinal products prohibits pecuniary advantages or benefits in kind from being offered to doctors or pharmacists. The bill aimed to prevent drug firms from offering incentives such as holidays, golf club memberships or other bonuses for prescribing their product, but in an attempted reversal of the legislation's original intention, the companies argued that rewards to medical practices acted in the same way.But the court found that the directive was concerned primarily with the promotional activities carried out by the pharmaceutical industry and sought to prevent promotional practices that could push doctors to act more in line with their wallet than a patient's interest. By contrast, that prohibition does not apply to national public health authorities which ... do not pursue any profit-making or commercial aim,the court said in its ruling.Therefore, the financial incentive scheme examined, which forms part of such a policy, cannot be regarded as seeking the promotion of commercial promotion of medicinal products.No danger to public health can be established,the court concluded.
Obama tax increases are raining everywhere By Laurie Roth Apr 22,10
Gee, did Obama forget his bold promises about not raising taxes? What a shock folks but just like Obama likes to explore new types of abortion to fund he also is finding new taxes to sneak into our lives. Some attempts aren’t even sneaky. They just arrogantly slam through the front door and make Obama, yet again an obvious and arrogant liar about not raising taxes. The Dems budget plan is playing the ‘reduce the deficit game’ and their most released plan released this week says they plan to take last years deficit of 1.4 trillion and shrink it down to $545 billion by 2015. Naturally, since Obama and the Democrats are currently in a spending orgy of trillions with stimulus bills and Health plans they will have to raise taxes everywhere. I imagine if possible, other than find new types of abortions to fund, they will try and raise people from the dead to tax them. Heck, why not? Dead people already vote, we might as well tax them also.So, the Senate is promising to cut the deficit by two thirds and do that within the next five years. This will flatten at least 30 million people with tax increases, averaging around $3,700 by 2012. Obama promised no new tax increases for anyone except the very rich. Democrats typically demonize and persecute the rich anyway. However, as usual, Obama is packed full of lies regarding budgets and tax intentions.
Now, not only are there massive taxes in the Obama care health plan but now there is talk in the Obama administration for a national VAT tax, where the Government taxes the value at each stage of production of various products.We already have hidden and bold frontal assaults with taxation in the obamacare plan. This is already increasing insurance rates dramatically, causing lines for care, more doctors and hospitals are turning away Medicare patients, and causing enrollments to go way down in medical schools for Doctors and nurses. This is already a 2.6 trillion dollar nightmare of forced and rationed health care service over the next 10 years that we start paying up front for before we experience the long lines for rotten, controlled and slow care. This legalized scheme is just unrolling and already causing nightmares even in the anticipation phase.The next money suckage machine will be the face lifted and manipulated ‘cap and trade’ bill that will come to save the environment and world. There might have to be an international tax for that one. Perhaps we will have enough money left for a hot dog.I doubt Obama will try and cram through a VAT tax on everyone before the mid term elections but watch out what he will try just after. However, I think the messiah is not quite getting the mood and direction that the tsunami is flowing. I do believe when the patriotic water surge, will flow right through the white House and congress this fall. Many liberal, career bodies will flow right out to sea. Obama will be neutered and hopefully be brought down a few thousand notches.We are going to have a lot of undoing to do after the mid terms and year 4.Let’s build some very large wrecking balls shall we?
Caruba’s Crystal Ball CFP By Alan Caruba Friday, April 23, 2010
I rarely make predictions. Events can change the entire direction of a nation in the blink of an eye. It happened in my lifetime with Pearl Harbor, the assassination of John F. Kennedy, the resignation of Richard M. Nixon, and with 9/11. As this is being written, air traffic to, from, and throughout Europe is barely recovering because of an Icelandic volcano and no one really knows how long that will continue.
So, barring any catastrophic natural events or wars, I will look into my crystal ball and narrow my predictions to the period between now and the midterm election on November 2, 2010.Having forced a healthcare program on America that 85% of the voters did not want, the Obama White House now knows it can do the same with other major pieces of legislation intended to transform America into a socialist wreck comparable to European nations, one of which, Greece, is bankrupt while two others, Spain and Italy, are close to it.The Obama administration is getting ready to put a chokehold on the nation’s financial sector by claiming it needs more regulation. It is a lie. Few sectors of the nation are more heavily regulated by the government. What is needed is more effective enforcement of existing regulations. Had that been the case there would have been no Bernie Madoff and the 2008 crisis brought about by Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae could have been avoided.The next piece of legislation to be imposed on Americans before November will be Cap-and-Trade, a law based on a global warming crisis that is not happening. It will impose caps on how much energy industries, businesses, and finally individuals can use and it will institute a trade mechanism in bogus carbon credits that will make a few companies, utilities, and individuals very rich while bleeding Americans by taxing energy use at every level.
The era of abundant and affordable energy will end and, with it, the economy of the nation. Companies that manufacture goods will move offshore to friendlier places such as China and India. Both were exempted in the United Nations’ Kyoto Protocol intended to force greenhouse emission caps on industrialized nations like America and Europe.The coal industry, responsible for providing the source of half of all the electricity generated in America, will be under attack in every way at the government’s disposal. Mountain top mining will be the next target. Beyond that, all coal-fired plants will encounter a regulatory hell. There will be no offshore exploration for new sources of oil and natural gas.When the brown-outs and black-outs begin, the nation will be five to ten years from providing new sources of electrical power whether it’s coal, natural gas, or nuclear. By then billions in government (your money) subsidies will have been wasted on green or clean or alternative energy in the form of wind and solar. They currently represent about one percent of all the electricity generated in America.By the midterm elections, the unemployment rate will have likely increased. A growing, permanent class of the unemployed will be maintained with endless extensions of government support.
The southern border from Texas to California is becoming a war zone. There’s a reason the State of Arizona just passed a law allowing its citizens to carry concealed weapons and another law to empower its law enforcement authorities to rid the State of illegal aliens. Do not be surprised by the rise of southwestern state militias to deal with the constant invasion. Watch for an effort to pass an amnesty law as well.What Americans have not caught onto as yet is that the Obama administration’s policies and actions are now fully controlled by people who did not have to go before the U.S. Senate for approval. They are Obama’s czars and they wield as much influence or more than constitutionally appointed cabinet secretaries.
So the real question between now and November is How much damage can the Obama White House inflict?and the answer is a lot. Alan Caruba, 2010
GENESIS 1:1-31
1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
2 And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.
3 And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.
4 And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.
5 And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.
6 And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.
7 And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so.
8 And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day.
9 And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so.
10 And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good.
11 And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so.
12 And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good.
13 And the evening and the morning were the third day.
14 And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years:
15 And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so.
16 And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also.
17 And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth,
18 And to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good.
19 And the evening and the morning were the fourth day.
20 And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven.
21 And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good.
22 And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth.
23 And the evening and the morning were the fifth day.
24 And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so.
25 And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good.
26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.
29 And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.
30 And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so.
31 And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.
Big Bang Rebuttal By Joseph A Olson, PE Thursday, April 22, 2010 CFP
Superstition has exerted a powerful force on human psyche and history. Strengthened with a few facts, a superstition becomes accepted reality until new perceptions can reopen debate. That is an exciting possibility in today’s Nouveau Renaissance. Humanity’s new course needs a road sign: Caution, Falling False Paradigms Ahead.
Climategate has shown that even the most well funded science can be wrong. All objective, science trained minds have left the Global Warming station. Well meaning scientists are already doing damage assessments and future hazard avoidance studies. It is now a perfect time to reassess another possibly defective theory on the origin of the universe.
Celestial Spheres
The Flat Earth Theory required an explanation of cyclic visible planetary movements of the then know members of our solar system. The Sun rose over the Earth everyday in a predictably variable pattern. The moon waxed and waned between full and new. The inner orbit planets, Mars and Venus arose predictably and briefly as morning or evening stars. The outer planets, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn crossed the complete sky and then disappeared for long and varying periods of time.Fourteenth century scientists struggled to explain these readily observable events and attempted to explain them as nested spheres, driven by great gears, which were below the flat Earth and thus invisible. Mechanical clocks were just then being perfected and animated character clocks made this seem plausible to the masses.Galileo added a new complexity and doubt when his telescope observations indicated moons circling the outer planets. The set of spheres and gears necessary for the Flat Earthers became impossible. To those in power it was time to silence the messenger. It is hard to refuse the offer, the world is flat or your heads on a platter.The original Renaissance involved a startling across the board shift in paradigms. Gutenberg printing presses spread literacy, Columbus doubled the size and transformed the shape of the world. Telescopes and microscopes vastly expanded the visible universe in both directions. Freedom challenged feudalism and Martin Luther challenged the Pope. Enlightenment was no one trick pony.Today humanity is on the threshold of a new awakening. The internet is our new printing press and our collective conscious is our new hemisphere. New prophets and new visions are confronting the established twentieth century theories of Relativity, Big Bang and Quantum Mechanics.
Einstein developed the Theory of Relativity in 1905, Planck the Quantum Mechanics Theory in 1918 and Hubbel the Expanding Universe Theory in 1929. All of these theories appear correct within certain ranges but have conflicts at their boundaries. Scientists struggled thru the last half of the twentieth century to find a Unified Field Theory that could join these theories.The results of this effort could best be described as mathematical masturbation. Elaborate formulas for String Theory expanded the known four dimensions to nine and required extra multi-verses of invisible worlds. Since noting behaved according to the predicted mass calculations, then there must also be anti-matter and dark matter. Newtonian physics require a force for acceleration and nothing ever explained the force required to accelerate entire galaxies. We are approaching the fourteenth century dilemma of too many spheres and too many gears.
My Karma Ran Over Your Dogma
Einstein never really bought into either of the conflicting theories and was too busy developing a bomb that could short circuit the Third Reich to get involved in those debates. Many others have been troubled by these one sided debates and hungered for alternative explanations.To deconstruct a superstition you must begin at the point of real fact. All stars and galaxies are far enough away and move slowly enough to be considered fixed point sources. As the Earth circles the Sun in a 180 million mile ellipse, we witness closer points moving more relative to the distant points. As you walk across your backyard the tree in your yard appears to move relative to the two trees on the hill down the street. Those two distant trees do not appear to have any movement relative to each other.What Hubbell first observed with his vastly improved telescope was that some of the previously ‘fuzzy’ stars were in fact clusters of stars forming very distant galaxies. Using spectral analysis he was shocked to find that these galaxies were moving away from us. Even more startling was that the further the apparent distance, the greater the apparent speed.The often mentioned analogy is dots on an inflating balloon all expand away from each other and the further away the greater the movement. To an observer on the balloon surface there would be some dots visible on the opposite side of the balloon but there would also be a horizon beyond the balloon with ABSOLUTELY NO DOTS.
Part of Einstein’s Theory was that space was curved and that light was bent as it traveled past a large mass. Repeated experiments have shown that light does bend as predicted and to see how this would change the Big Bang Theory, we must introduce two other concepts of Physics.
Inertial Reference Plane and Angular Acceleration
These are two concepts that are both unsettling and liberating to the freshman Physics student. It is at first hard to believe that the two eyes and two ears that you have used your whole life are not the perfect place from which to understand the universe. In fact, there is no perfect place and everything appears different depending on your unique place. This does not imply that there is no right or wrong answers to scientific question, a fact I learned on many examinations.Your antique phonograph spins at a constant velocity, but the first song on the album is moving a greater distance than the inner most, last song. The further from the center spindle, the greater the angular acceleration. Points of light along the album would all appear the same from the center UNLESS the light was required to circle the album in a spiral to the center. Under this condition the further away the light, the greater the apparent acceleration.Part of the curved aspect of space is that light would eventually return to its source. At fourteen billion light years and counting scientists have yet to discover the edge of the universe which is beginning to appear to be as mythical as the edge of the Earth. Our next breakthrough may be when we see all the way around the universe to the backside of the Milky Way.The great mass of the billions of galaxies that we see has a tremendous ability to bend light and in perfect conformity to Einstein’s Theories. The farther away the galaxy, the greater mass required to pass and the greater the apparent acceleration. Imagine a non-expanding universe. It appears that it is never too late to open a hundred year old debate.
LISTEN TO THE SHOW HERE INFOWARS.COM
http://www.infowars.com/
OBAMA DECEPTION
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eAaQNACwaLw
FALL OF THE REPUBLIC MOVIE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F8LPNRI_6T8&feature=player_embedded
ENDGAME GLOBAL ENSLAVEMENT
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1070329053600562261
BOHEMIAN GROVE NWO OCCULTISTS
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-82095917705734983
WITCHCRAFT IN THE WHITE HOUSE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AmaiX86sUoc&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IF2eILED00s&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZARWvlz_yKI&feature=channel_page
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sbh7KrUwawI&feature=channel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4IG0tmvCozU&feature=channel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NgP-SyrooKI&feature=channel
OBAMA SCAM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9V1nmn2zRMc&feature=player_embedded
PHIL BERG - OBAMA CRIMES
http://obamacrimes.com/
LAURIE ROTH SHOW
http://therothshow.com/
DOUG HAGMANN
http://homelandsecurityus.com/
CANADA FREE PRESS-JUDI MCLEOD
http://www.canadafreepress.com/
JUNE 29TH ELLIGABILITY CASE
http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=137773
AND THE OTHER ISSUE WE MUST KEEP ON THE TABLE AND IN PEOPLES MEMORY IS THAT BARRY SOETORO IS REALLY BARACK OBAMAS REAL NAME AND HE WAS BORN IN KENYA NOT AMERICA.BARRY SOETORO AKA BARACK OBAMA IS NOT ELLIGABLE TO BE THE PRESIDENT OF THE USA GOVERNMENT.EVERYTHING HE SIGNS IN BARACK OBAMA IS ILLEGEL,BECAUCE HIS REAL NAME IS BARRY SOETORO.AMERICAS CONSTITUTION WILL BE IN SHAMBLES ONCE THIS SCAM IS FINALLY REVEALED TO THE WORLD.
BY THE TIMELINE IN OBAMAS OWN BOOKS-OBAMA WENT TO PAKISTAN ON HIS INDONESIAN PASSPORT.ANOTHER ISSUE OUT OF 400 PEOPLE AT COLUMBIA THAT GRADUATED THE YEAR OBAMA OR BARRY SOETORO DID,NO ONE COMES FORWARD TO SAY THEY KNEW HIM.HOW COME AT HAWAII HOSPITAL WERE OBAMA CLAIMS HE WAS BORN,NO NURSES OR ANYBODY CAME FORWARD TO SAY THEY WITNESSED OR TOOK PART IN THE BIRTH.THIS BARRY SOETORO OR AKA BARACK OBAMAS LIFE IS A COMPLETE FRAUD.AND AMERICA IS CONNED TO BELIEVE THE LIE.WHY WOULD SOETORO AKA OBAMA SPEND 2 MILLION DOLLARS TO STOP ALL THESE LAWSUITS IF THERES NO COVERUP.HE WOULD JUST SHOW THE PROOF OF EACH EVENT-PLACE OF BIRTH,CERTIFICATE AND REAL NAME BARRY SOETORO INDONESIAN PASSPORT.
The proof is everywhere from statements and affidavits from Government parliament sources and Obama’s own Grandmother who says she saw him born in a hospital in Mombassa Kenya. The former ambassador to Kenya says Obama was born in Mombassa Kenya, so do others. Check out the affidavits at www.obamacrimes.com and join Phil Berg and other concerned citizens for a huge eligibility protest march May 29th 12-4pm.
Booing Obama By Judi McLeod Thursday, April 22, 2010 CFP
In the not-so-long-ago days before the Barry Soetoro Metrosexual, the bad guys got roundly booed at Saturday afternoon matinees.This was back in the days before politically correct drowned out commonsense; the days before the Sean Penns and Tom Hanks came down from the silver screen as media darling political activists.Booing was at much at home at baseball where Kill the Umpire! originated as it was at the movies.Whoever would have thought back then that someday a president of the United States of America would go about the world maligning his own country and people, or that when he did, the booing would come largely from the Internet and Tea Parties, and not the mainstream media? Down through the ages, bullies, sore losers, and despots have been called out by the big Boo!
Anyone connected to the Web knows that President Barack Obama bows deeply to the enemy on the world stage, while he, at least figuratively speaking, continues to give the finger to the people he was elected to serve.On home turf, Obama has been accused by House Republican leader John A. Boehner of being a finger wagging lecturer. Obama’s finger-culture copycats the foul-mouthed Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel whose point is made by flipping the bird.On the world stage, Obama has been seen poking his finger at Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and during last week’s Nuclear Summit at Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
Israel is America’s strongest ally in the Middle East.Canada is America’s number one trading partner and shares a 3,000-plus mile border with the U.S.When Obama wagged his finger in the face of Stephen Harper, he insulted all Canadians, including the loved ones of 142 Canadian soldiers who gave their all fighting alongside American troops in Afghanistan.When Obama canceled plans to attend the funeral of Polish Prime Minister Lech Kaczynski and played golf instead he gave the finger to grieving Poles and their relatives abroad.Canada Free Press gives a resounding Boo! to Obama for Israelis, Canadians and Poles.Meanwhile, even from an oppressed people, the boos for Obama are getting louder every day, and and history will someday record how the most powerful man earth was booed right off the world stage.
Is Socialism Christian? By Kelly O'Connell Sunday, April 18, 2010 CFP
As Washington has lately moved to create massive socializing measures, such as the recent vote for Obamacare, a spiritual wrench has now been tossed into the debate. This might be titled, Christ v. Communism. Many liberals insist socialism is the most caring economic system ever conceived, an antidote to poverty, and the only true foundation for an equitable society. A number of leftists even boast socialism is how God’s Kingdom would operate if Jesus came back as King. Yet, to the contrary, many conservatives warn socialism presents the triumph of the exact opposite of paradise. Of course, it doesn’t help liberalism’s reputation that Karl Marx is the greatest name in socialist history, and Lenin, Stalin and Mao his chief acolytes. But who is correct on this question? A host of celebrities have come out in favor of socialism, including filmmaker Michael Moore, who recently released, Capitalism: A Love Story.In a blog posted 10/04/09, Moore wrote, In my new film I speak for the first time in one of my movies about my own (Catholic) spiritual beliefs….I pose a simple question in the movie: Is capitalism a sin? I go on to ask, Would Jesus be a capitalist?... I have come to believe that there is no getting around the fact that capitalism is opposite everything that Jesus taught…It doesn’t seem you can call yourself a Capitalist AND a Christian…Is Moore correct that Jesus was an anti-capitalist? This essay examines the debate of Christ versus Marx, by placing socialism’s ideology next to biblical scripture, then analyzing it. It also addresses arguments from the Bible that socialists often employ to support their ideas. It finally describes Christ’s views on property.
DEFINING SOCIALISM
There is no single definition of Socialism, but Webster’s offers this:
1 : any of various economic and political theories advocating collective or governmental ownership and administration of the means of production and distribution of goods; 2 a : a system of society or group living in which there is no private property b : a system or condition of society in which the means of production are owned and controlled by the state; 3 : a societal stage in Marxist theory transitional between capitalism and communism and distinguished by unequal distribution of goods and pay according to work done
Socialism supposedly seeks to create immediate material equality for all people by standardizing wages, confiscating from wealthier residents much of their personal holdings and also highly regulating and taxing industry. It legislates government control over property, handing over production and delivery of material goods to the state. Marxists believe socialism is a temporary half-life between capitalism and communism. Notwithstanding the technical definition of socialism—policies that augment taxes, or redirect wealth between different socio-economic groups, are socializing policy. Strategies reducing the economic profile of citizens, vis-a-vis government, are also socialist in purpose, building state power at individual cost.
In brief, socialism presumes an activist state that continually confiscates wealth by force. Individual property rights are abolished. Karl Marx called his communism scientific socialism,and modern leftists often demand socialism as tacit preparation for a Marxist atheistic regime, which flies in the face of some of its naive supporter’s so-called Christian goals. It’s worth noting Marx was simply the most successful post-French Revolution socialist during the theory’s fevered foment; and so the difference between Marxism and socialism is historically, in most senses, nil.
BIBLICAL VIEW OF SOCIALISM
Since Christianity is based upon Christ’s New Testament life, logically speaking—no one can claim an economics which defies Christ’s teachings, or Biblical doctrine, should still be called Christian.Given the Bible’s scope and length, one cannot exhaustively treat any subject in such a short article. Yet, the Bible’s remarkably consistent across all 66 books means that to study a thematic section is to gain holographic understanding of the whole.
~The following headings in bold are socialist ideals which are then contrasted to biblical verses~
1. Socialism Holds There is No Private Property, the State Owns All: In Socialism, government holds all right to property ownership, even if all goods are not yet confiscated. But did Jesus really oppose property rights?
Consider: Exodus 20:15, 17—You shall not steal, and You shall not covet…anything belonging to your neighbor.
Also: John 10:10—The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy…
Analysis: The Ten Commandments form the center of the Old and New Testament law. Rules against theft and coveting, contained therein, demand pre-existing private property rights. Knowing this, would Christ then still insist government had exclusive legal claim to all property? Yet, even if government did own all property, would the Bible writers posit the state would wisely allocate property according to Christ’s standards?
2. Socialism Ignores Laziness: Socialism financially supports those refusing to work. So does the Bible teach that those avoiding to toil should still be paid?
Consider: Proverbs 6:6-8—Go to the ant, you sluggard; consider its ways and be wise! It has no commander, no overseer or ruler, yet it stores its provisions in summer and gathers its food at harvest.
Also: 2 Thessalonians 3:6-12 In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we command you, brothers, to keep away from every idle brother, not living according to our teaching. You ought to follow our example. We were not idle when we were with you, nor did we eat anyone’s food without paying for it. On the contrary, we worked night and day, laboring and toiling so that we would not be a burden to any of you…For even when we were with you, we gave you this rule: If a man will not work, he shall not eat.We hear that some among you are idle. They are not busy; they are busybodies. Such people we command and urge in the Lord Jesus Christ to settle down and earn the bread they eat.
Analysis: This question covers a key issue of the debate. Would the Apostles teach that those refusing to work should not receive church aid, yet were still eminently worthy of government welfare? (Those truly unable to work were supported by the early Church: James 1:27—Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows…)
3. Socialism Teaches All Authority Belongs to Government: Does Christ teach all earthly authority is to be transferred to secular governments?
Consider: In John 19:8-11, Pilate asks, Don’t you realize I have power either to free you or to crucify you? Jesus replied,You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above…
Also: Daniel 2:20-21—Blessed be the name of God…he removes kings, and sets up kings.
Again: In Acts 4:19-20, when the Apostles were ordered to stop evangelizing, they responded,Judge for yourselves whether it is right in God’s sight to obey you rather than God. For we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard.
Analysis: The Bible teaches God appoints governments, so does it follow He allows His people to capitulate this authority to atheist regimes? If so, we must believe Jesus asks His disciples to obey a new political priesthood whose activities makes the Church redundant, and His own works irrelevant. Does this notion seem logically coherent? And as seen in the previous Acts verses, the Bible teaches a divine mandate exists above secular law. Are not Christians held to follow Jesus’ teachings above human law?
4. Socialism is a Branch of Humanism: Since socialism is an atheistic, humanistic philosophical system, would Jesus accept it?
Consider: Romans 12:2—Don’t conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind…to test and approve what God’s will is…
Analysis: This passage seems to reject human-based values, suggesting humanism is incompatible with Jesus’ teachings.
5. Socialism Seeks a Heaven on Earth: Does the Bible call man to build an earthly paradise via government?
Consider: Revelations 21:1-4—Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away… I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God…There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.
Analysis: Doesn’t the Bible portray Heaven, or the New Jerusalem, arriving after the return of Christ, as a perfect city? If Paradise does come to earth, will it really be delivered by secular atheists using Marxist doctrines?
6. Socialism Allows No Freedom of Action or Expression: Does the Bible ask Believers to surrender God-given freedoms to bureaucrats?
Consider: Galatians 5:1—It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.
Also: 2 Corinthians 3:17—Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.
Analysis: Didn’t Christ gave His disciples freedom in order to better follow His teachings? If so, does this freedom then simply get haded over to a secular governments? Regardless, history has shown socialism and communism have enslaved billions around the world.
7. In Socialism, the State Replaces Church: Should the church step aside to allow government to fulfill the task of helping the poor and downtrodden, and many other biblical duties?
Consider: In Matthew 22:15-21, Christ says, Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.
Analysis: Jesus separates civil government and church. From a Christian perspective, can government simply replace the church? Could it ever have that authority; and if so, based upon what?! When government takes over Church mandated roles, like feeding the poor, etc, can it do so on a biblical model, or achieve Christ’s goals? And if government uses the Bible as model, doesn’t this destroy the wall of separation between church and state?
8. Critics Claims Jesus Hated Capitalism: Didn’t Christ express disgust at capitalist excesses at the Temple?
Consider: Matthew 21:12-13 Jesus entered the temple area and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves. It is written,he said to them, My house will be called a house of prayer,but you are making it a ‘den of robbers.
Analysis: This verse focuses on dishonest hypocrites defrauding religious seekers in the Temple. Jesus was angry at the misuse of His Father’s house for sordid gain. Is it therefore reasonable to suggest Christ is putting down all trade in this passage?
OBJECTIONS
Don’t the following verses prove the Bible supports socialism?!!
1. My Brother’s Keeper: Doesn’t the Bible teach we are our brother’s keeper?
Consider: Genesis 4:9 Then the LORD said to Cain, Where is your brother Abel? I don’t know,he replied. Am I my brother’s keeper? The LORD said, What have you done? Listen! Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground.
Analysis: Cain had already killed his brother Abel when he gave this reply to God. Therefore, is it ridiculous to claim this statement focuses on charity!
2. Sermon on the Mount: Doesn’t Jesus teach aid to the poor here?
Consider: Matthew 5:7; 42 says, Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy; and Give to him that asks.
Analysis: While the Sermon on the Mount expounds the Ten Commandments, Jesus extols personal responsibility for the needy, but never proposes any socialist, ie state delivered, answers to charity.
3. The Good Samaritan: Here, two Hebrews and a non-Jew Samaritan passed a man beaten by robbers. Only the Samaritan stopped to help. Doesn’t this establish biblical socialism?
Consider: Luke 10:36-37 Christ asked, Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?...Jesus told him, Go and do likewise.
Analysis: Here, Jesus urges his disciples to offer personal aid to the helpless. Does this task therefore become a responsibility for the government, despite Rome never being mentioned in context?
4. Believer’s Held a Socialist Common Purse in Acts, Right?: Doesn’t this passage prove the Apostles shared all goods and were therefore socialists?!
Consider: Acts 4:32-35 All the believers were one in heart and mind. None claimed his possessions as his own, but shared all they had…There was none needy among them. When those owning lands or houses sold them, they brought sale money and put it at the apostles’ feet; distributed to any in need.
Analysis: If the first Church’s generosity was private and voluntary, is this the same as by government fiat? Further, doesn’t socialism exist by only by government intervention?
Later in Acts, when Ananias sold property, yet lied about the price, to secretly horde some money, God killed him. Acts 5:3-4, Peter says, Ananias, how is it…you kept for yourself some of the money you received for the land? Didn’t it belong to you before it was sold? And after it was sold, wasn’t the money at your disposal?
This passage shows the Apostles definitively practiced private charity of free will voluntary giving, based upon personal ownership. Is this not opposite the definition of socialism? And under socialism, isn’t it true individuals can’t decide what property to donate, but government confiscates what it decides to?!
5. Isn’t Biblical Charity a Kind of Socialism? Doesn’t historical Biblical charity reveal a model that any just government can follow?
Consider: Leviticus 19:9-10 When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. Do not go over your vineyard a second time or pick up the grapes that have fallen. Leave them for the poor and the alien. I am the LORD your God.
Also: Jesus says in Luke 14:13-14,But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.
And: 1 John 3:17 If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him?
Analysis: In the Old Testament, charity (Tzedakah, Hebrew for justice) was delivered by individuals and the Temple, which was separate from the government. So, if the poor could keep food dropped during harvests, glean crops, and could ask the Temple priests for aid, isn’t this proof of a functioning non-government private aid? How could it be socialism if the farmers acted privately, under religious teaching, and the Temple was also a non-government undertaking?
The New Testament Church took on Jewish charitable practice to aid the underclass, both individually and corporately. Historically, it’s notable the idea of charity didn’t exist outside the Bible peoples. But can biblical charity be socialism’s model, if it’s motivated by belief in God, versus socialism’s atheism? Further, is voluntary giving fairly deemed socialism,at all? One is based on forced contribution, but the other through sheer spontaneous good will. And, one is arranged through a commitment presuming relationship to God; whereas, the other is simply delivered via an impersonal state. Biblical charity is a gracious free-will offering, but state funds are confiscated from citizens by force and delivered as impersonal aid to recipients without emotion.
BIBLICAL VIEW OF PROPERTY
Neither the Bible, nor Jesus condemn wealth, just its misuse. 1 Timothy 6:17 says, Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth…but to put their hope in God… The most renowned Old Testament patriarchs, such as Job, were often rich. He was described as ...the greatest man among all the people of the East,(Job 1:3). Abraham was also prosperous, yet both men were famously pious. Christ criticized overemphasis on wealth, but supported property rights. Further, didn’t Christ claim that there will always be some underclass, when he stated in Matthew 26:11 The poor you will always have with you… Can a war on poverty realistically eradicate an entire class?
Jesus didn’t express any desire to hand over to government ownership of all property, which would then leave only the state able to fund charity. While Marx railed against capitalism, in an atheistic vacuum, Jesus protested religious hypocrisy. Christ’s ministry for the poor offered aid with religious enlightenment, not denial of God. His Apostles helped Him deliver to the destitute food and healing. Conversely, Marx categorized religion as an utter abomination. Is it then coincidental Marxist tyrants Lenin, Stalin and Mao all waged wars against peasants, killing millions? Socialism creates humanistic heaven on earth in defiance of Jesus, whom preached a Kingdom established on earth by non-violent obedience, the Golden Rule, and divine love.
CONCLUSION
Can we afford to ignore the obvious differences between Christian doctrine and socialist theory? First, Christian charity is both private and voluntary; yet socialism is public and forcibly collected. Again, biblical giving is motivated by religious belief; yet socialism is ostensibly an atheist system. Also, when Western leftists claim the Bible as a model for state socialism, doesn’t this contradict the liberal wall of separation between church and state? Likewise, wouldn’t it be patently illegal to use the Bible as a transparent source of public policy? Socialism only concerns present asset ownership; no worry is wasted on how redistribution damages future economies.
But, is it right to ignore longterm prospects of the poor to temporarily better their lot? This question is crucial since socialism has always degenerated economies, and communism eviscerates all free trade, except the black market. The resultant statist command economy is controlled by a small group of socialist wise men.But these planners can never successfully predict and map the myriad needs of a large country’s hundreds of millions of private consumers for the billions of unique economic decisions, normally made daily, in free societies.
But if socialism and communism are Christian, then clothes worn to worship, the cars taking Believers to service, the tithe put in the offering plate, the church building itself, and even each member’s personal Bible would all be state owned. Is this really Jesus’ plan? Consider this biblical view of wealth, in James 1:9-11, The brother in humble circumstances ought to take pride in his high position. But the one who is rich should take pride in his low position, because he will pass away like a wild flower…the rich man will fade away even while he goes about his business.Here individuals are allowed private property, but God judges each person for its use.
Finally, a fact understood by both Bible writers and the Founders is the concrete relationship between property rights and freedom. A profound error of early socialist scholarship was thinking primitive societies owned property in common, and from this sprang human freedom. Modern research proved ancient societies allowed individually owned property. Like today, property ownerships gave them the option to act freely, since they weren’t forced to depend upon the state for sustenance. Instead, property holders became a class somewhat insulated from the whims of kings and despots. Yet now, this option will surely cease as soon as we surrender private property rights, in the name of progress, and therefore no longer have the power to declare our independence.
I WRITE NEWS ABOUT AND PUT NEWS ARTICLES ABOUT ISRAEL AND JERUSALEM PERTAINING TO BIBLE PROPHESY HAPPENINGS.JOEL 3:20 But Judah (ISRAEL) shall dwell for ever, and Jerusalem from generation to generation.(THATS ISRAEL-JERUSALEM WILL NEVER BE DESTROYED AGAIN)-WE CHRISTIANS ARE ALL WAITING PATIENTLY FOR THE PRE-TRIBULATION RAPTURE TO OCCUR.SO WE CAN GO TO JESUS AND GET OUR NEVER DYING BODIES.SO WE CAN RULE OVER CITIES OURSELVES.WHILE JESUS RULES FROM DAVIDS THRONE FOREVER IN JERUSALEM.
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Friday, April 23, 2010
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