OIL SPILL KEEPS GOING

DAY 2 OF SOEOTORO-OBAMA SEDITION & TREASON TRIAL-DR JAMES MANNING
http://atlah.org/pdf/ciaColumbiaObamaTrial_v2.pdf
http://www.atlah.org/

GLENN BECK ALL THE PRESIDENTS MEN-THIS CRIMINAL BUNCH NEVER STOPS TO CONTROL THE US
http://www.glennbeck.com/content/articles/article/198/40663/
GLENN BECK TAKING CRIME GLOBAL-WHO ELSE BUT OBAMA & GOLDMAN SACHS FRIENDS AT WH.
http://www.glennbeck.com/content/articles/article/198/40600/

THIS SOUNDS LIKE IRAQ OR PAKISTAN TO ME A BOTANICAL GARDEN SOETORO WANTED TO BUILD.

Sun-TImes probe: As state senator, Obama steered $100,000 grant to supporter for urban garden never built. Botanic boondoggle details. Obama response.
By Lynn Sweeton July 11, 2008 6:59 AM

My Chicago Sun-Times colleagues Chris Fusco and Dave McKinney write in the Friday Chicago Sun-Times about how presumptive Democratic nominee Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.)--as a state senator--gave a $100,000 state grant to a supporter for a botanic garden in a blighted community that was never built. The project was out of Obama's state senate district--but squarely in the First Congressional District of Illinois that Obama at the time was running to represent. Tim Novak contributed to the report. Obama's full response is at the end of the story.

Obama's $100,000 garden grant wasted
He vowed to work tirelessly to build an oasis for Englewood. It never happened.
BY CHRIS FUSCO AND DAVE MCKINNEY Staff Reporters

As a state senator, Barack Obama gave $100,000 in state money to a campaign volunteer who failed to deliver on a plan to create a botanic garden in one of Chicago's most blighted neighborhoods.Obama -- who was running for Congress when he announced the project in 2000 -- said the green space in Englewood would build a sense of neighborhood pride.Kenny B. Smith, a onetime campaign volunteer for Barack Obama, can't explain exactly how he spent $100,000 of taxpayer's money on a garden that was never built. Instead, what was supposed to be a six-block stretch of trees and paths is now a field of unfulfilled dreams, strewn with weeds, garbage and broken pavement.Kenny B. Smith, whose nonprofit group got the money, said it was spent legitimately, mostly on underground site preparation. But he admitted Thursday that the garden is a lost cause because other government money never came through.

We gave up, said Smith, who heads the Chicago Better Housing Association.It was a losing battle.Smith -- an early Obama supporter who gave $550 to his state and congressional campaigns -- said he gave his paperwork documenting the work to a state agency and no longer has it. A Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity spokeswoman said officials would look into the matter.Smith blamed the site's current poor condition on construction material dumped there during the state's recent reconstruction of the Dan Ryan Expy.But a reporter walked the site last week with a landscape architect from the Illinois Green Industry Association who found no evidence of the work Smith cited. The only major changes since 2000: A gazebo was added, and some trees were cut down.Obama, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, said through a spokesman he wasn't responsible for monitoring the work; the staffs of Gov. Blagojevich and former Gov. George Ryan were.It is clear that Englewood residents have not been able to benefit from a completed community garden, Obama spokesman Ben LaBolt said. Sen. Obama will . . . do everything he can to ensure that the Englewood community gets the resources it needs to provide its residents with a livable neighborhood.On Jan. 14, 2000, Obama and Smith announced the Englewood Beautification Plan at Englewood High School. Obama promised to help raise $1.1 million. He was running then to unseat U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush, but lost in the Democratic primary.

The beautification project, planned near and under L tracks between 59th Place and 62nd Place, was outside Obama's state Senate district but within the congressional district.I will work tirelessly in Springfield and in Chicago to raise public and private dollars to fund this worthy endeavor, Obama said then.In 2001, at Obama's direction, a $100,000 Illinois FIRST grant went to Smith's group. The garden site was part of Rosewood Estates, an affordable-housing development being built by the group, whose unpaid board chairman was Brian Washington, a Sun-Times security guard.

Plans called for more than 50 homes, but only a dozen were built, Smith said.The remaining $1 million for the botanic garden was never raised.Now, Smith said he's trying to get city leaders to let him use the land and other vacant lots to build about 30 new homes in Englewood.Contributing: Tim Novak

RESPONSE FROM THE OBAMA CAMPAIGN

Statement: Senator Obama worked with Englewood residents to secure $100,000 in funding to lay the groundwork for a community garden that would replace a downtrodden area. Two state agencies signed off on the grant, which was provided to the Chicago Better Housing Association – a non-profit that received funding from diverse sources including HUD, Fannie Mae, the Wells Fargo Foundation and the Citigroup Foundation.

In December 2004, the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity certified that grant money had been spent appropriately after CBHA submitted a series of expense reports and documentation showing progress at the site.Senator Obama’s work for the Englewood community was not limited working to securing funds to lay the groundwork for a garden – he also secured funding to assist low income patients at the Englewood Health Center and to provide a safe space to work and play for young community residents at the Southwest Youth Collaborative.While the state certified that the grant money was spent appropriately, it is clear that Englewood residents have not been able to benefit from a completed community garden that could have provided much needed green space and work opportunities for local residents. Senator Obama will work with city and state officials and do everything he can to ensure that the Englewood community gets the resources it needs to provide its residents with a livable neighborhood that provides opportunities, and that the site is developed in a way that benefits the Englewood community.

POISONED WATERS

REVELATION 8:8-11
8 And the second angel sounded, and as it were a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea: and the third part of the sea became blood;
9 And the third part of the creatures which were in the sea, and had life, died; and the third part of the ships were destroyed.
10 And the third angel sounded, and there fell a great star from heaven, burning as it were a lamp, and it fell upon the third part of the rivers, and upon the fountains of waters;
11 And the name of the star is called Wormwood:(bitter,Poisoned) and the third part of the waters became wormwood; and many men died of the waters, because they were made bitter.(poisoned)

REVELATION 16:3-7
3 And the second angel poured out his vial upon the sea; and it became as the blood of a dead man: and every living soul died in the sea.(enviromentalists won't like this result)
4 And the third angel poured out his vial upon the rivers and fountains of waters; and they became blood.
5 And I heard the angel of the waters say, Thou art righteous, O Lord, which art, and wast, and shalt be, because thou hast judged thus.
6 For they(False World Church and Dictator) have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and thou hast given them blood to drink; for they are worthy.

DOUG HAGMANN TALKS ABOUT OIL SPILL AND PROPHECY CONNECTION-HOUR 2-3 MAY 14,10-WAY TO GO DOUG,I HOPE YOU WAKE PEOPLE UP WITH THIS SUGGESTION-THANKS
http://therothshow.com/show-archives/may-2010/

Salazar: Latest effort to stop oil leak hits snag By JEFFREY COLLINS, Associated Press Writer - MAY 15,10

HAMMOND, La. – At first, BP tried to stop the oil rushing into the Gulf of Mexico by flipping a blowout preventer switch. A week ago, they attempted to capture the leak with a 100-ton box. Now they've hit a snag as they try to guide a mile-long tube into the gusher to siphon the oil.Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said BP PLC had a problem Saturday with the latest effort to stop the leak, but was continuing its work at the ocean floor.There was a problem. They had to reconfigure. They are back down again ... trying to get it inserted, he told reporters during a briefing at a bird rescue facility in Louisiana, declining to offer further information.BP has offered scant details of its progress in trying to thread the 6-inch tube into the 21-inch pipe spewing oil from the ocean floor. Company spokesmen said technicians are continuing the methodical work that began early Friday of using joysticks to guide the deep-sea robots that are manipulating the contraption. They wouldn't elaborate on Salazar's report.We've never done such operations before and we need to take our time to get it right, spokesman Jon Pack said in an e-mail Saturday after Salazar's comments.The company planned to brief reporters on the tube work in the afternoon. The tube is intended to suck oil up like a straw to a tanker on the surface, while a stopper surrounding it would keep crude from leaking into the sea.Other efforts to fight the spill continued above and below the surface. The company received word Friday that federal regulators had approved spraying chemical dispersants beneath the sea, a contentious development because it has never been done underwater.More than three weeks after the oil rig explosion that killed 11 workers and set off the disastrous spill, President Barack Obama assailed oil drillers and his own administration Friday as he ordered extra scrutiny of drilling permits. He condemned a ridiculous spectacle of oil executives shifting blame in congressional hearings and denounced a cozy relationship between the companies and the federal government.

I will not tolerate more finger-pointing or irresponsibility, Obama said in the White House Rose Garden, flanked by members of his Cabinet.The system failed, and it failed badly. And for that, there is enough responsibility to go around. And all parties should be willing to accept it, the president said.But the president, who had earlier announced a limited expansion of offshore drilling that's now on hold, didn't back down from his support for domestic oil drilling.Obama's tone was a marked departure from the deliberate approach and mild chiding that had characterized his response since the rig went up in flames April 20 and sank two days later. At least 210,000 gallons of oil has been leaking into the Gulf each day, and BP has sought to burn the crude off the surface of the water, as well as use the chemical dispersants.U.S. Coast Guard Rear Adm. Mary Landry said Friday that three underwater dispersant tests conducted at the leak site proved helpful at keeping oil from reaching the surface. Traditionally used on the surface, chemical dispersants act like a detergent to break the oil into small globules, which allows it to disperse more quickly into the water or air before currents can wash it ashore.So far more than 517,000 gallons of dispersants, most of which is a product called Corexit 9500 previously approved by the Environmental Protection Agency for use on the sea surface only, have been dropped over the spill or shot undersea.Corexit 9500 is identified as a moderate human health hazard that can cause eye, skin or respiratory irritation with prolonged exposure, according to safety data documents. Louisiana Health and Hospitals Secretary Alan Levine said federal regulators dismissed state worries about the chemicals.Our concerns about the use of these dispersants underwater is based on the fact that there is virtually no science that supports the use of those chemicals, Levine said.

EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson has said she reserves the right to halt the use of chemical dispersants at any time if new data show more serious environmental harm is occurring.The Obama administration insists its response has been aggressive ever since the spill started, and the president said he shared the anger and frustration of those affected. He announced that the Interior Department would review whether the Minerals Management Service is following all environmental laws before issuing permits for offshore oil and gas development. BP's drilling operation at Deepwater Horizon received a categorical exclusion, which allows for expedited oil and gas drilling without the detailed environmental review that normally is required. Obama already had announced a 30-day review of safety procedures on oil rigs and at wells before any additional oil leases could be granted. And earlier in the week Salazar announced plans to split the much-criticized Minerals Management Service into two agencies, one that would be charged with inspecting oil rigs, investigating oil companies and enforcing safety regulations, while the other would oversee leases for drilling and collection of billions of dollars in royalties. Salazar has said the plan will ensure there is no conflict, real or perceived,regarding the agency's functions.Associated Press writers Janet McConnaughey near Fort Jackson, Erica Werner, Matthew Daly and Frederic J. Frommer in Washington, Jason Dearen in New Orleans and Melinda Deslatte in Baton Rouge, La., contributed to this report.

Huge BP spill means a high-stakes hurricane season By Joshua Schneyer – Fri May 14, 5:42 pm ET

NEW YORK (Reuters) – BP's oil spill could make for one of the highest-stakes U.S. Gulf hurricane seasons on record.

Storms may scuttle clean-up efforts, force containment vessels to retreat, or propel spilled crude and tar balls over vast expanses of sea and beach, scientists said.

Meteorologists say that climate conditions are ripe for an unusually destructive hurricane season, the storm-prone period that runs from June 1 to the end of November in the Gulf. Oceanographers say that could hurt the clean-up.If a storm comes into this situation it could vastly complicate everything, said Florida State University oceanography professor Ian MacDonald.All efforts on the shoreline and at sea, the booms and structures and rigs involved in clean-up and containment, could stop working.As thousands of spill responders gird for a clean-up that could last for months or years after the leaking well is capped, weather and ocean currents are emerging as major unknowns, raising anxiety levels, economic and environmental stakes in the Gulf as storm season nears.Compounding the uncertainty is how little research has been done on how storms affect oil spills. Some believe storm surges may help disperse the oil off shore or break down the slick. Other research suggests the oil slick itself could keep storms from gathering strength.Recent Atlantic Basin readings showed water temperatures up to 0.8 degrees Celsius above normal, and near a record high for the season. El Nino, which creates wind shear that can prevent Gulf hurricanes from forming, has recently subsided. The factors could spur major storms in the Gulf this year.It only takes one storm to wreak havoc, said Chris Shabbot, a meteorologist at Sempra in Connecticut. The consensus forecast is for above average storm activity as the El Nino (event) decays and the Atlantic is as warm or warmer than 2005.Colorado State University's renowned team of forecasters is calling for an above-average hurricane season that may bring 15 named storms this year, eight of hurricane strength.Accuweather's Joe Bastardi also fears a destructive season.I hate to say it since the oil spill is already affecting people, but I think this hurricane season is going to be big, he said in an interview.The next official hurricane season outlook from the government's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is due on May 20.

STORMS AND CURRENTS

Miles and miles of booms have been placed offshore along the Gulf Coast to help stop the slick from making landfall.Amid the menacing forecasts, oceanographers and spill-responders are considering how storms and deep ocean currents would affect the movement of spilled oil, which authorities say could soon hit land in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama or Florida.The U.S. coast of the Gulf of Mexico spans some 1,680 miles. The spill, gushing an estimated 5,000 barrels a day from a subsea oil well 50 miles south of Louisiana, has formed a thin oil slick that covered more than 1,200 square miles in late April, according to Louisiana State University researchers. The slick has been harder to define this month, and may be shrinking, LSU professor Nan Walker said.Lurking under the sea surface, viscous tar balls are forming, facilitated by wave activity, as the heavier hydrocarbon molecules gradually sink toward the sea-floor, a process that can take months, scientists said. Experts are having trouble modeling how the oil will react in water since BP hasn't disclosed exactly what kind of crude is spilling. Lighter oil evaporates quicker and is more easily dispersed by chemicals. Heavier crude can be more damaging to marine or bird life, but it could sink faster or be easier to contain. As many as 520 vessels are already responding to the spill throughout the Gulf, according to U.S. authorities. Efforts to stop the spill involve drilling relief wells from a seaborne rig, which BP says could take three months. The company is also trying to cap the leak with a metal funnel on the sea-floor, to gather oil into a giant hose connected to a storage ship above. Both of those efforts could be disrupted by tropical storms, which can force evacuation of oil and gas rigs throughout the Gulf. Peter Niiler, an oceanographer at the Scripps Institution in San Diego, has researched how even winds caused by a low pressure cycle can displace floating scientific buoys from waters near Florida to Texas in less than a week. Anything on the ocean surface, including oil, can move very fast and just about anywhere that wind or currents push it, Niiler said. The oil slick might even reach waters and shores abroad, scientists and foreign authorities warned this week. Mexican officials say if the spill persists into the fall it could reach Mexican beaches along the country's Gulf Coast, the site of famed tourist destinations like Cancun. Some of the spilled crude should make its way into the LOOP current, a deep ocean stream that transfers heat from the tropics to higher latitudes and becomes the Gulf Stream.

If you look at it, the LOOP current could lead that oil right to Havana, Cuba, said Florida State's MacDonald. After sweeping near Havana, the LOOP current continues toward the Florida Keys and the Gulf Stream heads up the U.S. Eastern Seaboard. Some researchers said a wider dispersion of the spill may be good, and storms could help that process along. Researchers at NOAA, in a report last week, said the oil slick may also help to impede storm formation by preventing heat transfer from sea to air.
There are two important issues here: the effect of hurricanes on the spill, and the effect of the spill on hurricanes, said Doron Nof, professor of oceanography at Florida State University. I think what a hurricane would do is break up the oil spill, making it even harder to clean up, he said.(Additional reporting by Robert Campbell in Mexico City; Editing by Alden Bentley)

EARTH DESTROYED WITH THE EARTH(BECAUSE OF SIN AND GODLESS PEOPLE)

GENESIS 6:11-13
11 The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.(WORLD TERRORISM,MURDERS)(HAMAS IN HEBREW IS VIOLENCE)
12 And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.
13 And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence (TERRORISM)(HAMAS) through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.

UK, Germany eye possible ash travel disruptions By JENNIFER QUINN, Associated Press Writer - MAY 15,10

LONDON – Volcanic ash from Iceland could disrupt air travel in both Britain and Germany in the next few days, officials said Saturday.The British Department of Transport said there was a risk that parts of British airspace could be closed beginning Sunday and those problems could continue through Tuesday. The predictions are based on the continuing eruption of Iceland's Eyjafjallajokul volcano and current wind and weather conditions.It said different parts of British airspace — including England's southeast, home to Europe's busiest airport at Heathrow as well as Gatwick, Stansted and other top airports — could close at different times through the next few days.In Germany, air traffic control spokesman Axel Raab told The Associated Press that German air travel could face possible disruptions starting Monday but cautioned that indicators were still very, very vague.Germany will send up a test flight Sunday to measure the ash concentration, German Aerospace Center spokesman Andreas Schuetz said — a measure welcomed by Lufthansa, Germany's largest airline, which last month criticized air traffic authorities for their lack of ash testing.Any decision on German air space closures will be made after examining Sunday's weather forecasts at an emergency meeting with meteorologists, Raab said.

In Iceland, civil protection official Agust Gunnar Gylfason said the intensity of the Eyjafjallajokul eruption had not changed but wind conditions had.The winds in the vicinity of the volcano are not quite as forceful as they have been, so the ash plume is higher closer to the volcano, he said.The weather patterns are the predominant factor in deciding where the ash goes.The Met Office, Britain's weather forecaster, said Saturday that the wind is expected to change direction Tuesday, which would lower the risk of travel disruptions.Transport Secretary Philip Hammond said five-day forecasts are now being published to give airlines and travelers the best possible information. However, he said the situation remains fluid and these forecasts are always liable to change.British airport operator BAA said on its website Saturday that all of its facilities are open, but the ash cloud continues to cause occasional problems.It said it would have a clearer idea of how the ash could affect southern England over the next 24 hours.Airlines, including Lufthansa and British Airways, have criticized past air space closures as an overreaction by regulators.The controversy over how to handle the flight disruptions led to the resignation of a top Lufthansa executive, news weekly Der Spiegel reported Saturday.

Stefanie Stotz, a spokeswoman for Lufthansa, confirmed that chief security pilot Juergen Steinberg is leaving by mutual agreement on Aug. 1. He had criticized Lufthansa's leadership for operating flights under visual flight rules while German airspace was still officially closed because of the ash cloud.Steinberg represents some 4,000 pilots and advises Lufthansa's board on security issues.In Rome, Italy's civil aviation agency fined Ryanair some euro3 million ($3.7 million) for failing to help 178 passengers stranded last month when flights were canceled due to the volcanic ash cloud. The ENAC agency said those Ryanair passengers didn't receive mandatory assistance such as food, drink and lodgings during the April 15-22 flight shutdown across much of Europe.Ryanair said the company hadn't been informed of the fine.Associated Press writers Juergen Baetz in Berlin and Frances D'Emilio in Rome contributed to this report from Berlin.

AS USUAL ISRAEL PUSHED,BLAMED-JOHN LOEFFLER
http://britanniaradio.blogspot.com/2010/05/john-leoffler-steel-on-steel-dodging.html#links
MAX KEISER
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dOhXUSBR3hs&feature=player_embedded
http://britanniaradio.blogspot.com/2010/05/sarko-speaks-euro-plunges-tory-splits.html#links
SCHIFF-GREECE SHOULD HAVE DEFAULTED
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=syZBdkIwWxw&feature=player_embedded
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nE_2RCVkq1w&feature=player_embedded
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JvOigT7S3VA&feature=player_embedded
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ZUOABPsqj4&feature=player_embedded
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Li4HFDhz3So&feature=player_embedded
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DlnOv-tVpYw&feature=player_embedded
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YGAaPjqdbgQ&feature=player_embedded
MUSLIM GIRL IN FAVOUR OF ISRAEL DISAPPEARING-STICKS UP FOR HAMAS
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8fSvyv0urTE&feature=player_embedded

THIS IS WHY SOEOTORO-OBAMA AND HIS CHICAGO THUGS LOVE GOOGLE AND ARE TIGHT.

Germany lashes out at Google for privacy breach By JUERGEN BAETZ, Associated Press Writer - MAY 15,10

BERLIN – Germany's consumer protection minister strongly criticized Google for a widespread privacy breach and insisted Saturday the U.S. Internet giant must cooperate better with data protection authorities.Google Inc. issued an apology Friday, acknowledging it has been vacuuming up fragments of people's online activities broadcast over public Wi-Fi networks for the past four years while expanding a mapping feature called Street View.Minister Ilse Aigner said the alarming incident showed that Google still lacks an understanding of the need for privacy.According to the information available to us so far, Google has for years penetrated private networks, apparently illegally, her office said in a statement Saturday.The ministry also accuses Google of withholding information requested by German regulators.Only two weeks ago, Google was telling Germany's consumer protection authorities that it was only recording the network's names and addresses. Repeated questions about whether the company was gathering even more data remained unanswered, the statement said.Maintaining people's trust is crucial to everything we do, Alan Eustace, Google's top engineering executive, wrote in a blog post.We are acutely aware that we failed badly here.Google has characterized its collection of snippets from e-mails and Web surfing done on public Wi-Fi networks as a mistake and said it has taken steps to avoid a recurrence. The company said it only recently discovered the problem following the inquiry from German regulators.Street View provides photographs of neighborhoods taken by Google cameras. The service has been enormously controversial in Germany and other countries as privacy groups and authorities fear that people — filmed without their consent — could be seen doing things they didn't want to be seen doing or in places where they didn't want to be seen.

The German ministry is now demanding that Google follow through on pledges to disclose its activities to data protection authorities in all countries.It also has to be disclosed to German data protection agencies which information is registered and how the illegitimately gathered data of unprotected wireless networks will be deleted,Aigner's ministry said.Google gathered about 600 gigabytes of data from Wi-Fi networks in more than 30 countries, including the United States. Google plans to delete it all as soon as it gains clearance from government authorities. None of the information has appeared in Google's search engine or on other services, according to Eustace.The latest incident has prompted Google to abandon its effort to collect Wi-Fi network data.In an apparent show of its commitment to privacy, Google also said it will introduce a new option next week that will let it users encrypt searches on its Web site as an added protection against unauthorized snooping.

Secretive speed traders in spotlight after crash By BERNARD CONDON, AP Business Writer - MAY 15,10

NEW YORK – If you saw a penny on the sidewalk, would you pick it up? You may think it's not worth the effort, but a breed of investors who have been in the news do. Using super-fast computers, high-frequency traders in effect bend down to pick up pennies lying about in the stock market — then do it again, sometimes thousands of times a second.More than a week after the Dow Jones industrial average fell nearly 1,000 points, its biggest intraday drop ever, regulators are still sifting through buy and sell orders to figure out what sparked it. One big focus are orders placed by high-frequency traders, or HFTs, and for good reason. These quick-buck firms barely existed a few years ago but now account for two-thirds of all U.S. stock trading.In other words, all those TV pictures of the stately New York Stock Exchange building on the evening news are an illusion. The real action on Wall Street is far away in Kansas City, Mo., and in New Jersey, in towns like Carteret and Red Bank, where HFTs named Tradebot and Wolverine and Tradeworx ply their trade.High-frequency trading firms, which number over 100, use computers programmed with complex mathematical formulas to comb markets for securities priced too high or too low because traders haven't had to time to react to the latest data. The computers then buy or sell in a split second, locking in a profit.The opportunities seem hardly worth noting. They're not just fleeting, but small, often a penny or less.But those pennies can add up to a lot of money, enough to draw the attention of Goldman Sachs Group Inc., the giant Chicago hedge fund Citadel Investment and other big financial firms. In recent years they've paid hundreds of millions of dollars for stakes in high-frequency trading companies.The money has stoked what was already fierce competition among the firms for a leg up.To spot opportunities and act on them before others, HFTs are constantly hunting for faster computers. They also locate themselves close to the big exchanges' data centers. That can cut their trade times by milliseconds.One way these traders make money is by exploiting the fact that stock indexes sometimes don't immediately reflect falling or rising prices of their component stocks, said Manoj Narang, chief executive at Tradeworx of Red Bank, N.J. If Microsoft shares rise 5 percent but an index fund that includes it such as the SPDR S&P 500 lags by a fraction of second to adjust, his computers will automatically buy shares of SPDR S&P 500 at the lower price and then sell them again when they are fully valued.

Or maybe Microsoft is trading in London at a penny less than it's trading at the same moment in New York. A high-frequency trader will buy shares in London and wait for them to rise.Since the discrepancy lasts a mere fraction of a second, speed is key.Narang boasts it takes only 15 millionth of a second for his computers to place a buy or sell order after detecting an opportunity.Or, as he puts it, If you try to pick up the penny, we'll probably beat you to it.

So is that good or bad for the market?

If you listen to HFTs, all their fast trading benefits big and small investors alike. More trading means more bids and asks for shares, and that cuts the time needed to find someone willing to buy what you're selling or vice versa. Costs also fall. With more bids and asks, the difference between the price you seek and the price offered (what traders call the spread) will likely narrow. You get to keep more of your money.High-frequency traders see themselves as part of a long tradition of using technology to shake up Wall Street.For decades an order to buy or sell a security went to a person in a trader's jacket standing on the floor of an exchange, often at the NYSE in Lower Manhattan. If you wanted to sell stock in General Electric, for instance, these so-called specialists would find a buyer. If they couldn't find one, they bought it themselves. In exchange for their services, the specialists pocketed some of the difference between the price at which you were willing to buy and the price at which a GE holder was willing to sell. This system came under attack in the early 1980s from Nasdaq, a rival marketplace for stocks, which began using computers to make trades. The pitch was it could match buyers and sellers faster than humans, and for less money. Then, starting in the late '90s, the NYSE specialists got hit again, this time with a series of blows: new rules encouraging computer matching of buyers and sellers, a shift to quote stock prices in minute increments of decimals instead of fractions, and a decision to cut the minimum spread that specialists or other middlemen could grab for themselves from 6.25 cents per share to a penny. It used to be an oligopoly, an old boy's club, said Irene Aldridge, head of an HFT shop called Able Alpha Trading and author of High-Frequency Trading.But now it's a completely level field.Critics of high-frequency trading say all this talk about narrowing spreads for ordinary investors distracts from a key problem: Split-second trading without human supervision is a recipe for disaster

Exhibit A: the May 6 crash.

One theory about the drop is that, unlike the NYSE, the new exchanges and trading networks catering to HFTs didn't apply any circuit breakers.These are designed to halt trading momentarily during a freefall to stop selling from feeding on itself. In others words, without circuit breakers the computers went crazy. Another theory holds that it wasn't quick-fire trading by HFTs that made things worse but a lack of it. Some reportedly pulled back when stocks started dropping, removing liquidity when it was needed the most. Whatever the answer, this much is true: These secretive firms are likely to grab the spotlight for a while now. And their trading might get even more frenetic. After the May 6 freefall, all manner of trading rules are up for debate. But it's worth noting that until recently regulators were considering cutting the minimum spread again, possibly to half a penny. People will be needing even better computers,said author Aldridge.

MUSLIM NATIONS

EZEKIEL 38:1-12
1 And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
2 Son of man, set thy face against Gog,(RULER) the land of Magog,(RUSSIA) the chief prince of Meshech(MOSCOW)and Tubal,(TOBOLSK) and prophesy against him,
3 And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech(MOSCOW) and Tubal:
4 And I will turn thee back, and put hooks into thy jaws,(GOD FORCES THE RUSSIA-MUSLIMS TO MARCH) and I will bring thee forth, and all thine army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed with all sorts of armour, even a great company with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords:
5 Persia,(IRAN,IRAQ) Ethiopia, and Libya with them; all of them with shield and helmet:
6 Gomer,(GERMANY) and all his bands; the house of Togarmah (TURKEY)of the north quarters, and all his bands:(SUDAN,AFRICA) and many people with thee.
7 Be thou prepared, and prepare for thyself, thou, and all thy company that are assembled unto thee, and be thou a guard unto them.
8 After many days thou shalt be visited: in the latter years thou shalt come into the land that is brought back from the sword, and is gathered out of many people, against the mountains of Israel, which have been always waste: but it is brought forth out of the nations, and they shall dwell safely all of them.
9 Thou shalt ascend and come like a storm, thou shalt be like a cloud to cover the land, thou, and all thy bands, and many people with thee.(RUSSIA-EGYPT AND MUSLIMS)
10 Thus saith the Lord GOD; It shall also come to pass, that at the same time shall things come into thy mind, and thou shalt think an evil thought:
11 And thou shalt say, I will go up to the land of unwalled villages; I will go to them that are at rest, that dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates,
12 To take a spoil, and to take a prey; to turn thine hand upon the desolate places that are now inhabited, and upon the people that are gathered out of the nations, which have gotten cattle and goods, that dwell in the midst of the land.

ISAIAH 17:1
1 The burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap.

PSALMS 83:3-7
3 They (ARABS,MUSLIMS) have taken crafty counsel against thy people,(ISRAEL) and consulted against thy hidden ones.
4 They have said, Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance.
5 For they (MUSLIMS) have consulted together with one consent: they are confederate against thee:(TREATIES)
6 The tabernacles of Edom,(JORDAN) and the Ishmaelites;(ARABS) of Moab, PALESTINIANS,JORDAN) and the Hagarenes;(EGYPT)
7 Gebal,(HEZZBALLOH,LEBANON) and Ammon,(JORDAN) and Amalek;(SYRIA,ARABS,SINAI) the Philistines (PALESTINIANS) with the inhabitants of Tyre;(LEBANON)

DANIEL 11:40-43
40 And at the time of the end shall the king of the south( EGYPT) push at him:(EU DICTATOR IN ISRAEL) and the king of the north (RUSSIA AND MUSLIM HORDES OF EZEK 38+39) shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter into the countries, and shall overflow and pass over.
41 He shall enter also into the glorious land, and many countries shall be overthrown: but these shall escape out of his hand, even Edom, and Moab, and the chief of the children of Ammon.(JORDAN)
42 He shall stretch forth his hand also upon the countries: and the land of Egypt shall not escape.
43 But he shall have power over the treasures of gold and of silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt: and the Libyans and the Ethiopians shall be at his steps.

EZEKIEL 39:1-8
1 Therefore, thou son of man, prophesy against Gog,(LEADER OF RUSSIA) and say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech (MOSCOW) and Tubal: (TUBOLSK)
2 And I will turn thee back, and leave but the sixth part of thee, and will cause thee to come up from the north parts,(RUSSIA) and will bring thee upon the mountains of Israel:
3 And I will smite thy bow out of thy left hand, and will cause thine arrows to fall out of thy right hand.
4 Thou shalt fall upon the mountains of Israel, thou, and all thy bands,( ARABS) and the people that is with thee: I will give thee unto the ravenous birds of every sort, and to the beasts of the field to be devoured.
5 Thou shalt fall upon the open field: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord GOD.
6 And I will send a fire on Magog,(NUCLEAR BOMB) and among them that dwell carelessly in the isles: and they shall know that I am the LORD.
7 So will I make my holy name known in the midst of my people Israel; and I will not let them pollute my holy name any more: and the heathen shall know that I am the LORD, the Holy One in Israel.
8 Behold, it is come, and it is done, saith the Lord GOD; this is the day whereof I have spoken.

JOEL 2:3,20,30-31
3 A fire(NUCLEAR BOMB) devoureth before them;(RUSSIA-ARABS) and behind them a flame burneth: the land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; yea, and nothing shall escape them.
20 But I will remove far off from you the northern army,(RUSSIA,MUSLIMS) and will drive him into a land barren and desolate, with his face toward the east sea, and his hinder part toward the utmost sea, and his stink shall come up, and his ill savour shall come up, because he hath done great things.(SIBERIAN DESERT)
30 And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.(NUCLEAR BOMB)
31 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come.

Palestinians mark displacement in 1948 Mideast war By RIZEK ABDEL JAWAD, Associated Press Writer – Sat May 15, 10:47 am ET

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip – Bitter Palestinian rivals marched together Saturday in a rare show of unity as they marked 62 years of displacement in the war surrounding Israel's creation.Loyalists of rival groups Hamas and Fatah held Palestinian flags and a giant key symbolic of their hoped-for return as part of annual commemorations of what they call the catastrophe, or nakba in Arabic. The names of the villages and towns emptied during the war were written across the key, alongside the slogan We will return.The plight of the refugees — who fled or were driven from their homes during the 1948 Israeli-Arab war — is one of the most emotionally charged issues for Palestinians and Israel to resolve.Palestinian negotiators have demanded at least partial repatriation. Israel has refused, saying an influx of refugees would dilute Israel's Jewish majority and threaten the existence of the state.Gaza's Hamas rulers invited their Fatah rivals to participate in Saturday's march, a rare gesture from the Islamic militant group since it seized Gaza and ousted Fatah forces in June 2007. In previous years, different Palestinian factions organized their own events, highlighting their inability to work together on key issues.No political speeches were made — an apparent nod to the fundamental ideological differences between Hamas and Fatah. Marchers also were asked not to raise the flags of their parties. Some Fatah women got around the ban by wearing yellow headscarves, the color of their movement.Some 4.7 million Palestinians refugees and their descendants are scattered across the West Bank, Gaza, Lebanon, Jordan and Syria, according to U.N. figures. About one-third still live in U.N.-supported refugee camps.

At the Gaza rally, marcher Amina Hasanat, 50, held up tattered documents she said showed her family owned a house and land in what is now the southern city of Beersheba in Israel. They (the Jews) can go back to where they came from, and we will return to our homes and lands, Hasanat said.In the West Bank city of Ramallah, hundreds of Palestinian motorists and pedestrians halted as a one-minute siren wailed to mark the anniversary. Smaller marches took place in other West Bank towns and in east Jerusalem.In Lebanon, the militant Hezbollah group, which fought a guerrilla war against Israeli forces until they withdrew from south Lebanon in 2000, said in a statement that resistance and sacrifice are the only way to retake Arab-claimed lands.At the 62nd anniversary of nakba, we call upon all Arabs to keep the Palestinian cause alive in the eyes and hearts of all generations, said Hezbollah, which also battled Israel in a 34-day war in 2006 that left some 1,200 Lebanese and 160 Israelis dead.Egypt, meanwhile, opened its usually closed border crossing with Gaza on Saturday for the first time in 75 days to allow medical patients and Gazans with residency abroad to leave the blockaded territory. Israel and Egypt have been keeping Gaza's borders largely closed since the 2007 Hamas takeover, but Egypt periodically opens its Rafah passenger terminal with Gaza to allow hardship cases to cross.Gaza's Interior Ministry said some 8,000 Gazans had registered to leave during the scheduled four-day opening. By mid-afternoon Saturday, seven buses had crossed from Gaza into Egypt.On Gaza's border with Israel, the body of a 78-year-old Palestinian man was found shot dead, said Dr. Adham Abu Salmiyeh of the northern Gaza hospital Kamal Adwan.An Israeli military spokesman said forces confirmed shooting a man who approached the border fence on Friday evening.Israel has declared a swath of land on the Gaza side of the border as a no-go zone, and those approaching it risk getting shot by Israeli patrols. Israel says it's a security measure, to prevent infiltration and attacks by Gaza militants.Associated Press Writers Diaa Hadid in Jerusalem and Bassem Mroue in Beirut contributed to this report.

Iranian cleric wants creation of Greater Iran By ALI AKBAR DAREINI, Associated Press Writer – Sat May 15, 8:53 am ET

TEHRAN, Iran – A radical cleric called Saturday for the creation of a Greater Iran that would rule over the entire Middle East and Central Asia, in an event that he said would herald the coming of Islam's expected messiah.
MY COMMENT THIS IS WELLBOY MAHDI OF SHIIT ISLAM.NUKE ISRAEL-MAUDI RULES EARTH.WE ARE GETTING REAL CLOSE TO THE RUSSIA-MUSLIMS 5/6TH DESTRUCTION BY NUKES.

Ayatollah Mohammad Bagher Kharrazi said the creation of what he calls an Islamic United States is a central aim of the political party he leads called Hezbollah, or Party of God, and that he hoped to make it a reality if they win the next presidential election.Kharrazi's comments reveal the thinking of a growing number of hard-liners in Iran, many of whom have become more radical during the postelection political crisis and the international standoff over the country's nuclear program. Kharrazi, however, is not highly influential in Iran's clerical hierarchy and his views do not represent those of the current government.Kharrazi's comments were published Saturday in his newspaper, Hezbollah.He said he envisioned a Greater Iran that would stretch from Afghanistan to Israel, bringing about the destruction of the Jewish state.He also said its formation would be a prelude to the reappearance of the Mahdi, a revered ninth-century saint known as the Hidden Imam, whom Muslims believe will reappear before judgment day to end tyranny and promote justice in the world.The Islamic United States will be an introduction to the formation of the global village of the oppressed and that will be a prelude to the single global rule of the Mahdi, the Hezbollah newspaper quoted him as saying.

Besides Israel, he said the union would also destroy Shiite Iran's other regional adversaries, whom he called cancerous tumors. He singled out secular Arab nationalists such as members of Saddam Hussein's Baath Party in Iraq, as well as followers of the austere version of Sunni Islam practiced primarily in Saudi Arabia that is known as Wahabism.Saudi Arabia and other Sunni Arab nations have watched Iran's growing regional clout with deep concern.The growing voice of hard-liners like Kharrazi has deepened worries even if it appears unlikely such a divisive figure would win the 2013 presidential election.Still, even President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Thursday that he expects the government which follows his to be ten times more revolutionary.

SOETORO SEDITION-TREASON TRIAL BEGINS TODAY

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.

YOU CAN BET THE GODLESS MEDIA AT MSNBC,CNN WHO ARE CIA AGENT NETWORKS FOR SOETOERO AND HIS CHICAGO THUGS WILL NOT ATTEND THIS TRIAL OF THEIR GODLESS MESSIAH THE MUSLIM BARRY SOETORO AKA BARACK HUSEIN OBAMA.

SOETORO-OBAMAS SEDITION AND TREASON TRIAL STARTS TODAY-DR JAMES MANNING
http://atlah.org/pdf/ciaColumbiaObamaTrial_v2.pdf
http://www.atlah.org/

GLENN BECK ALL THE PRESIDENTS MEN-THIS CRIMINAL BUNCH NEVER STOPS TO CONTROL THE US
http://www.glennbeck.com/content/articles/article/198/40663/
GLENN BECK TAKING CRIME GLOBAL-WHO ELSE BUT OBAMA & GOLDMAN SACHS FRIENDS AT WH.
http://www.glennbeck.com/content/articles/article/198/40600/

READ THESE LEADERS WORDS CLOSELY BECAUSE THROUHT THE G-20 IT WILL BRING ABOUT THE WORLD GOVERNMENT CONTROLLED BY THE EUROPEAN UNION.

NOW THE NEWS IS SAYING SARKOZY AND FRANCE MIGHT DROP OUT OF THE EUROZONE WHICH WOULD COLLAPSE THE EU ECONOMY FOR SURE.NO WONDER THE U.S.MARKETS ARE DOWN 211 POINTS AT 12:00PM MAY 14,10

EU's Barroso calls on G20 to agree bank levy
Thu May 13, 2:24 pm ET

BRUSSELS (AFP) – EU commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso called Thursday for the Group of 20 countries to agree on a bank levy to prevent future financial crises at their June summit.Barroso said Europe should seek to get the bank levy settled at the Toronto, Canada G20 summit, having promised to reform the way the financial markets work in the past given the turmoil of the past two years.Among targets for the meeting, there should be agreement on a financial institution levy to reduce systemic risk and contribute to bank repair, he said in a letter to European Union leaders.In the immediate aftermath of the 2008 global financial crisis, there were calls to reform the system, especially to tighten up regulation and prevent a repetition of the excessive risk-taking blamed for the debacle.Since then, however, the drive for reform has slowed in the face of strong resistance by the major banks and financial markets, with some countries such as the United States and Britain seen as favouring less regulation.Barroso noted that the recent tensions in Europe, caused by Greece's debt and public deficit problems, showed again just how interconnected markets and economies around the world have become.The G20remains a key vehicle for the EU to drive forward a reform agenda which tackles the challenges exposed and which commits our international partners to deliver too, he said in the letter.

Recovery from the crisis and a shift to sustainable, responsible, growing economies and markets are shared goals that can only be delivered by a shared global effort.
Barroso will represent the EU at the G20 Toronto summit on June 26-27 which brings together the major developed and developing countries.

G20 must keep up financial reform momentum: Canada
Thu May 13, 12:28 pm ET

OTTAWA (Reuters) – G20 and G7 leaders must not lose momentum as they move to reform regulation of the financial industry, Tiff Macklem, Canada's associate deputy finance minister, told a conference on Thursday.(Reporting by Louise Egan, writing by Peter Galloway; editing by Rob Wilson)

EU to help Russia modernise its economy-Microelectronics - about 25 percent of Russia's GDP and almost half its state budget come from oil and gas income as things stand (Photo: Tambako the Jaguar)
ANDREW RETTMAN Today MAY 14,10 @ 16:54 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - The upcoming EU-Russia summit is to see the launch of a new initiative designed to help bring Russia's petro-dominated economy into the modern age. The Partnership for Modernisation began as a conversation between EU commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev at the last EU-Russia summit in November. The two sides are now racing against the clock to agree a joint communique for the top-level meeting in Rostov-on-Don on 31 May.The EU commission in an informal paper last year put forward a 10-point agenda for the scheme. The main points include: ensuring the rule of law; increasing foreign investment; enhancing trade; integrating markets; creating a greener economy; boosting scientific research and support for NGOs. The commission wants to see first concrete results already in 2010 and is willing to put a modest sum of money into the pot. It aims to use existing EU-Russia diplomatic structures to implement the project, rather than creating new bodies.The Kremlin in the run-up to Rostov-on-Don put some flesh on the commission's proposal in a three page Memorandum on key areas of the Partnership for Modernisation - a paper obtained by this website.The Russian memo underlines that the scheme should not be seen as a form of EU patronage, saying: It is based on principles of equality and mutual benefit.But it contains a wish-list of flagship projects which would lead to a transfer of high-end technology from EU companies to Russian firms, straying into areas with military applications.

The list includes: bio-technology; space technology; nano-technology; telecommunications; microelectronics; supercomputers and aircraft engineering. A large part is devoted to energy, covering: energy efficiency; nuclear technology; mineral resources extraction; alternative fuel research and oil and gas processing.

It envisages a joint foundation for commercial introduction of research and speaks of the speedy conclusion of negotiations on Russia's WTO accession.The memo proposes new legal instruments to tackle corruption and money laundering. And it calls for talks on how to exclude possible damage to Russian investors on the EU energy market caused by the Third Energy Package,a recent EU law which complicates attempts by Russian energy firm Gazprom to buy up EU competitors.An EU diplomat said the union is mainly interested in improving the rule of law in Russia, energy efficiency and the environment. Let's be frank. It's a bit of a one-way transfer in the end. Of course, it's they who will be the recipients. We're not naive. But it is in our interest that Russia modernises,the contact said.We can't say all EU countries are fully modernised either. I don't know to what extent we can learn from Russia. But we don't have all the answers,the source added.

Confusion over WTO

Russia's leading EU trade partners - the UK, Germany and France - as well as former Communist EU countries all back the scheme. But there is worry it could push democracy and human rights down the agenda.The EU is also sceptical about Russian talk on free trade. At the same time as calling for speedy WTO accession, Moscow is promoting a customs union with Belarus and Kazakhstan which would seriously delay WTO entry. It has not budged an inch on anti-EU tariffs on timber exports and fees for trans-Siberian overflights in the past three years of talks. The Kremlin's break-up of the Yukos oil firm in 2003, involving an exotic mix of FSB agents, political clans and stolen billions, set the scene for doing business in Russia under Vladimir Putin. Mr Medvedev has made a number of pro-reform speeches. But bankers and human rights campaigners have been shot dead in Moscow streets with apparent impunity.It remains to be seen whether private-sector European firms will get behind the Partnership for Modernisation. The question is, will they try to pull in Western companies, take their technology and then kick them out, as is happening in China? Keith Smith, a US diplomat turned analyst at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, said.

Geithner to Submit Economic Report to Rockefeller, Rothschild, Kissinger
Economic Policy Journal May 14, 2010

The heavyweights want a report from the Treasury Secretary, including David Rockefeller and Lynn Forester de Rothschild (Forester was introduced to soon to be husband, Sir Evelyn de Rothschild, by Henry Kissinger at the 1998 Bilderberg Group conference in Scotland. They spent their honeymoon at the White House.)Lady de Rothschild is married to mega-bankster Evelyn Robert de Rothschild.In addition to Rockefeller and Lady de Rothschild, on Friday afternoon, Treasury Secretary Geithner will also meet with the other members of the Board of Directors of the Peter G. Peterson Institute for International Economics to discuss the Administration’s agenda for economic growth and strengthening the global financial system.

Here’s the hefty list of the Institute’s Board of Directors:

Peter G. Peterson (Chairman of the Board)

Founder and Chairman, Peter G. Peterson Foundation; former Senior Chairman, The Blackstone Group; former Secretary of Commerce. and Assistant to the President for International Economic Policy.

George David (Vice Chairman of the Board)

Chairman, United Technologies Corporation.

Reynold Levy (Chairman of the Executive Committee)

President, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts.

Leszek Balcerowicz

Former Deputy Prime Minister, Poland; former Chairman, Center for Social and Economic Research, Warsaw, Poland; former Minister of Finance of Poland; President, National Bank of Poland.

Ronnie C. Chan

Chairman, Hang Lung Properties Limited.

Chen Yuan

Governor, China Development Bank; former Deputy Governor, Peoples Bank of China.

Andreas C. Dracopoulos

Director and co-President, Stavros Niarchos Foundation.

Jessica Einhorn

Dean, SAIS, Johns Hopkins University; former Visiting Fellow, International Monetary Fund; former Managing Director for Finance and Resource Mobilization, World Bank.

Mohamed El-Erian

PIMCO, Co-CEO and Co-CIO; former President and CEO, Harvard Management Company, Inc.

Stanley Fischer

Governor, Bank of Israel; former Vice Chairman of Citigroup. See more: http://www.piie.com/fischer/index.html

Jacob A. Frenkel

Former governor of the Bank of Israel and former IMF economic counselor and director of research.

Maurice R. Greenberg

Chairman and CEO, C.V. Starr and Co., Inc.; former Chairman, American International Group.

Herbjorn Hansson

Chairman and CEO, Nordic American Tanker Shipping Ltd.

Tony Hayward

Group Chief Executive, BP p.l.c.

Carla A. Hills

Chairman, Hills & Company; former United States Trade Representative; former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development; former Assistant Attorney General of the United States.

Nobuyuki Idei

Chief Corporate Advisor, Sony Corporation.

Karen Katen

Senior Advisor, Essex Woodlands Health Ventures; former President, Pfizer Human Health; and former Vice Chairman, Pfizer Inc.

W. M. Keck II

President, Coalinga Corporation.

Michael Klein

Former Vice Chairman, Citigroup.

Caio Koch-Weser

Vice Chairman, Deutsche Bank Group; former Deputy Minister of Finance for Germany; former Managing Director, Operations, World Bank.

Lee Kuan Yew

Senior Minister and former Prime Minister of the Republic of Singapore.

Andrew N. Liveris

Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, The Dow Chemical Company.

Sergio Marchionne

Chief Executive Officer, Fiat S.p.A. and Chrysler Group LLC.

Donald F. McHenry

University Research Professor of Diplomacy and International Affairs, Georgetown University; former US Ambassador to the United Nations.

Mario Monti

President, Bocconi University.

Paul O’Neill

Former Secretary of the Treasury.

David O’Reilly

Retired Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, ChevronTexaco Corporation.

Hutham Olayan

President and CEO, Olayan America Corporation.

James W. Owens

Chairman and CEO of Caterpillar.

Samuel J. Palmisano

Chairman of the Board, President and Chief Executive Officer, IBM Corporation.

Frank H. Pearl

Chairman and CEO, Perseus LLC, and founder and chairman, Perseus Books/Perseus Publishing.

Victor Pinchuk

Founder of Interpipe Corporation.

Joseph E. Robert, Jr.

Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, J. E. Robert Companies.

David Rockefeller

Former Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Chase Manhattan.

Lynn Forester de Rothschild

CEO and President, E.L. Rothschild Limited.

Renato Ruggiero

Former Italian Foreign Minister; former Vice Chairman, Salomon Smith Barney International Ltd.; former Director-General, World Trade Organization; former Chairman, Fiat.

Richard E. Salomon

Managing Partner, East End Advisors, LLC.

Sheikh Hamad Saud Al-Sayari

Former Governor, Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency.

Edward W. Scott, Jr.

Chairman of the Board of the Center for Global Development, philanthropist, and cofounder of BEA Systems.

Frederick W. Smith

Chairman and CEO, FedEx Corporation.

Jean-Claude Trichet

President, European Central Bank; former Governor, Banque de France; former Director of the Treasury, government of France.

Laura D’Andrea Tyson

Dean, London Business School; former Dean, Haas School of Business, Professor of Economics and Class of 1939 Chair, University of California at Berkeley; former National Economic Adviser to the President; former Chair, Council of Economic Advisers.

Paul A. Volcker

Henry Kaufman Visiting Professor, New York University Stern School of Business; Frederick H. Schultz Professor (Emeritus) of International Economic Policy, Princeton University; former Chairman, Wolfensohn and Co, Inc.; former Chairman, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, and President of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and Under Secretary of the Treasury for Monetary Affairs.

Jacob Wallenberg

Chairman, Investor AB (Sweden)

Edward E. Whitacre, Jr.

Chairman and CEO, General Motors.

Marina v.N. Whitman

Professor of Business Administration and Public Policy, University of Michigan; former Vice President and Group Executive, General Motors Corporation; former Member of the Council of Economic Advisers.

Ernesto Zedillo

Former President of Mexico.

Honorary Directors

Alan Greenspan

Former Chairman, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System; former President and Chief Executive Officer, Townsend-Greenspan and Co.; former Chairman, Council of Economic Advisers.

Frank E. Loy

Chairman, Board of Directors, Resources for the Future; Acting Chair, Board of Directors, Populations Services International; former Under Secretary of State for Global Affairs; former Chairman of the Board, League of Conservation Voters; former President, German Marshall Fund of the United States; former Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Economic Affairs.

George P. Shultz

Honorary Fellow, Hoover Institution; former Secretary of State; President and Director of Bechtel Group, Inc.; Secretary of the Treasury; Director, Office of Management and Budget; and Secretary of Labor.

Ex Officio

C. Fred Bergsten

Director, Peterson Institute for International Economics; former Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for International Affairs.

Nancy Birdsall

President, Center for Global Development, was Executive Vice-President of the Inter-American Development Bank from 1993 to 1998. Former Senior Associate and Director of the Economic Reform Project at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

Richard N. Cooper

Chairman Emeritus, Advisory Committee, Peterson Institute for International Economics; Maurits C. Boas Professor of International Economics, Harvard University; former Chairman, National Intelligence Council, former Chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, former Under Secretary of State for Economic Affairs, former Provost, Yale University.

Barry Eichengreen

University of California, Berkeley

Trilateral Commission Wants War With Iran

WORLD GOVERNMENT
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nnq5cQMiAB8&feature=related
http://britanniaradio.blogspot.com/2009/07/we-are-already-under-global-government.html#links
DICK MORRIS-This truly creates a global economic system. From now on, don’t look to Washington for the rule making, look to Brussels.

EPHESIANS 6:10-13
10 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.
11 Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities,(DEMONIC ANGELS IN HIGH PLACES) against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.(SPIRTIUAL DEMONIC PERSONS)
13 Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.

LUKE 4:5-7(BECAUSE SATAN OFFERS WORLD POWER, WORLD ORDERERS HAVE ACCEPTED SATANS GIFT)
5 And the devil, taking him (JESUS) up into an high mountain, shewed unto him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time.
6 And the devil said unto him, All this power will I give thee, and the glory of them: for that is delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will I give it.
7 If thou therefore wilt worship me, all shall be thine.

DANIEL 7:23-25
23 Thus he said, The fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth, which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces.
24 And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise: and another shall rise after them; and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings.
25 And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.

DANIEL 12:4,1
4 But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.
1 And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book.

REVELATION 13:1-3,7,8,12,16-18
1 And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.
2 And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.
3 And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast.
7 And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations.
8 And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
12 And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed.
16 And he 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:
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.

REVELATION 17:3,7,9-10,12,18
3 So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.
7 And the angel said unto me, Wherefore didst thou marvel? I will tell thee the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carrieth her, which hath the seven heads and ten horns.
9 And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth.
10 And there are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space.
12 And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast.
18 And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth.

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

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

TC member unwittingly tells We Are Change activist of plans for world government Paul Joseph Watson Prison Planet.com Friday, May 14, 2010
http://www.prisonplanet.com/trilateral-commission-wants-war-with-iran.html

Trilateral Commission member Mikhail Slobodovsici, a chief adviser to the Russian leadership, unwittingly provided a revealing insight into the plans of the global elite during the group’s recent meeting in Dublin Ireland, when he mistakenly told a We Are Change Ireland activist he thought was a fellow TC member that the globalists are planning a war with Iran.According to Jim Tucker’s fascinating report on the story, Slobodovsici also let slip to We Are Change Ireland’s Alan Keenan that the Trilateralists and their BIlderberg counterparts are intent on exploiting the economic crisis to finalize plans for a world government, but that this agenda is being severely hampered by so-called nationalists who are becoming increasingly aware of the impact that global government will have on their freedom and standards of living.We are deciding the future of the world, Slobodovsici told Keenan.We need a world government,he said, but, referring to Iran, said we need to get rid of them.

Suddenly, Slobodovsici noticed that Keenan’s nametag was different from the TC label and said:I can’t talk—we operate under Chatham House rules,reports Tucker.
Slobodovsici’s position on Iran is both alarming and surprising in equal measure, given that Russia has been generally supportive of Iran’s right to develop a peaceful nuclear fuel program and has directly helped build reactors.Tucker also reveals that Trilateralists are crestfallen at how their plans for global government and centralization of power are being so fiercely resisted.It gets worse every year, not better, one said.Why do we even bother to meet anymore? We can’t simply give up and quit, another responded.Bilderberg expects us to have a plan outlined.The fact that the elite had planned to have their world government fully operational by 2000 and are ten years overdue has been much cause for concern amongst Trilateralists, reports Tucker.TC boys are upset they were unable to exploit the economic crisis they helped generate by creating a world treasury department under the UN. They blame rising nationalism and ask how those people knew about this,according to witnesses inside the TC hotel.The continuing collapse of the euro threatens to derail the entire march towards global governance, a problem the elitists want to address by cranking up the printing presses in an effort to pour more money into failing states like Greece, Portugal and Spain.

The fact that a We Are Change Ireland activist was able to fool a Trilateral Commission member into spilling the beans on the globalists’ agenda is astounding. As was underscored recently by members of the Sovereign Independent who confronted David Rockefeller during the same meeting in Dublin, Trlaterals do not enjoy the same intense security that is afforded to the Bilderberg Group during their annual confab.Bilderberg are set to convene at the Hotel Dolce Sitges near Barcelona Spain from June 4-7 for their annual meeting at which they will cover similar ground to the issues that were up for debate at the Trilateral conference in Dublin.Read Jim Tucker’s full report on the Trilateral meeting at the American Free Press website.

TUCKER TRUMPS TRILATS By James P. Tucker, Jr. MAY 14,10

DUBLIN, Ireland—Trilateral Commission (TC) members, angry over their failure to establish a world government and the economic crisis they generated, called for war with Iran when they gathered behind closed doors here in Dublin, Ireland May 7-10.

War plans were revealed by Mikhail Slobodovsici, a chief adviser to the Russian leadership, when he strolled off the grounds of the Four Seasons resort, where TC had hunkered down behind armed guards and locked doors. He thought he was talking to a TC colleague when speaking with Alan Keenan, who operates the web site WeAreChange.org.We are deciding the future of the world, Slobodovsici said.We need a world government, he said, but, referring to Iran, said we need to get rid of them.

Clearly, it was a TC war call. Many of the TC’s billionaires and millionaires are heavily invested in manufacturing, and wars produce huge profits.Suddenly, Slobodovsici noticed that Keenan’s nametag was different from the TC label and said: I can’t talk—we operate under Chatham House rules.Slobodovsici was ordered by the TC to order more apologies for the slaughter of an estimated 30 to 60 million inhabitants of the old Soviet Union by dictator Josef Stalin. Prime Minister Vladimir Putin had abjectly apologized on the anniversary of the Katyn Forest execution of 20,000 Polish soldiers. Putin admitted that the massacre was conducted by the Soviets, not by Germans, which the Communists had claimed for half a century. Nevertheless, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev apologized again the next day (May 9), denouncing Soviet citizens for tolerating the slaughter, saying they were fully aware of the bloodletting.Never have the illustrious members of the TC been so depressed.It gets worse every year, not better, one said. Why do we even bother to meet anymore? We can’t simply give up and quit,another responded. Bilderberg expects us to have a plan outlined.Much of their distress is due to the failure to establish a world government. In the 1990s, both TC and Bilderberg confidently predicted they would obtain a world government by the year 2000. A decade later, their goal is even further away. This they blame on detested nationalists, who oppose surrendering sovereignty to international bodies.Bilderberg will meet June 4 to June 7 in Sitges, Spain, a resort city about 20 miles from Barcelona to make final decisions on what to impose upon the world.

Bilderberg will seal off the entire grounds of the Dolce Resort with armed guards and private security. Bilderberg is composed of about 120 international financiers, heads of state from Europe and high officials of the White House, and the secretaries of the State and Commerce departments, among others.The TC is the junior varsity, with slightly more than 300 participants. Bilderberg, the senior group in the wannabe secret world government, has slightly more than 100. The two groups have an interlocking leadership and common goal of a world government under their control.

Still, the TC attracts heads of state and other high officials in Europe and international financiers, including David Rockefeller and members of the Rothschild family. High officials of the Obama administration from the White House and departments of Treasury, State and Commerce will attend.TC boys are upset they were unable to exploit the economic crisis they helped generate by creating a world treasury department under the UN. They blame rising nationalism and ask how those people knew about this,according to witnesses inside the TC hotel. Still, the TC is charging ahead. In a commentary based on interviews with (or dictated by) TC leaders, economist Richard Douthwaite wrote May 7 in The Irish Times:Economic growth cannot increase incomes reliably and quickly enough to deliver the desired result. The only possible remedy is inflation. This could be engineered by having the European Central Bank create money out of nothing to give all the euro zone countries to spend. . . . Another irrational obstacle is the feeling that money cannot be created out of nothing. . . .In this column, Douthwaite calls for Europe’s central bank to turn on the printing presses in the same way the privately owned and controlled Federal Reserve Bank has been flooding its cronies in the United States with dollars.According to banking regulations in Europe, the European Central Bank is limited in how many euros it can release into the money supply through a 2-percent cap on inflation. Douthwaite, however, would like to see this hobble taken off the bankers.In the United States, the Federal Reserve has been handing out free money to its member banks by lowering the discount rate to near zero. In Europe, Douthwaite writes, this could be engineered by having the European Central Bank create money out of nothing to give to all the euro zone countries to spend.

The result, he notes, would be inflation, because more money would be in circulation for governments to pay their bills. But he doesn’t see that as a bad thing.However, as Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) notes, the problem with inflation is that it hurts the working class because it acts like an indirect tax.Simply put, printing money to pay for federal spending dilutes the value of the dollar, which causes higher prices for goods and services,says Paul. Savers and those living on fixed or low incomes are hardest hit as the cost of living rises. Low- and middle-income families suffer the most as they struggle to make ends meet while wealth is literally transferred from the middle class to the wealthy.The phony money idea was embraced by Gary Jenkins of Evolution Securities. He said the EU Central Bank may begin to print more money to dig itself out. If we approach the brink, it may just be the only viable option left, Jenkins said. Only the ECB can print euros to save the system.For now, Jean-Claude Trichet, the president of the European Central Bank, denies that he will be turning on the printing presses. Trichet appears to be in the minority here, and pressure on the part of the globalists may eventually force him to increase inflation in an effort to stave off the inevitable collapse of the EU.Ireland’s prime minister, Brian Cowen, was invited to make a welcoming address at the TC confab, then get out. This is routine with TC and Bilderberg: The head of the host country speaks, then leaves. But Cowen resented being banished, so he deliberately appeared 35 minutes late—and TC boys are unaccustomed to being kept waiting.Paul Volker, chairman of President Obama’s Economic Recovery Advisory Board and a past Fed chairman, expressed his anger with hostile questions. Cowen had tried to distance Ireland’s economy from that of Greece and other EU countries that are under attack for the economic crisis.

Volker told Cowen that while he had been historically . . . very much attracted to the euro,it was now challenged.Volker said: You face some very difficult decisions here, but the general question of having an independent central bank, the common interest rate, the common currency . . . I’m just curious, in your mind, as to whether that does raise questions on the general governing structures of Europe.
You’re not in favor of more centralization, as I understand it, although other people are, but what does this crisis mean for how Europe moves ahead?Volker asked.

Cowen conceded that the euro faced problems with its credibility. He said EU finance ministers would be reviewing present arrangements in the months ahead to see how they could be improved in a way that would add credibility to the currency and in a way that would meet with wide popular agreement.

In other action, the TC plans to:Raise gas costs in the United States. Europeans now pay $10 a gallon, Americans about $3. The TCers say Americans must pay $7.Oil is being produced at only 81 percent of capacity to increase demand and, thus, prices. Many of the members were born to oil wealth.They celebrate the healthcare legislation, which they believe will dramatically increase costs and reduce services. It is European style, and Obama is their boy. They look forward to the day when Americans pay at least 50 percent of their income in federal taxes, as is prevalent in Europe.

AFP editor James P. Tucker Jr. is a veteran journalist who spent many years as a member of the elite media in Washington. Since 1975 he has won widespread recognition, here and abroad, for his pursuit of on-the-scene stories reporting the intrigues of global power blocs such as the Bilderberg Group. Tucker is the author of Jim Tucker’s Bilderberg Diary: One Man’s 25-Year Battle to Shine the Light on the World Shadow Government. Bound in an attractive full-color softcover and containing 272 pages—loaded with photos, many never published before—the book recounts Tucker’s experiences over the last quarter century at Bilderberg meetings. $25 from AFP. No charge for S&H in U.S.

LAND FOR PEACE (THE FUTURE 7 YEARS OF HELL ON EARTH)

JOEL 3:2
2 I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land.

THE WEEK OF DANIEL 9:27 WE KNOW ITS 7 YRS

Heres the scripture 1 week = 7 yrs Genesis 29:27-29
27 Fulfil her week, and we will give thee this also for the service which thou shalt serve with me yet seven other years.
28 And Jacob did so, and fulfilled her week: and he gave him Rachel his daughter to wife also.
29 And Laban gave to Rachel his daughter Bilhah his handmaid to be her maid.

DANIEL 9:26-27
26 And after threescore and two weeks(62X7=434 YEARS+7X7=49 YEARS=TOTAL OF 69 WEEKS OR 483 YRS) shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary;(ROMAN LEADERS DESTROYED THE 2ND TEMPLE) and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.(THERE HAS TO BE 70 WEEKS OR 490 YRS TO FUFILL THE VISION AND PROPHECY OF DAN 9:24).(THE NEXT VERSE IS THAT 7 YR WEEK OR (70TH FINAL WEEK).
27 And he( THE ROMAN,EU PRESIDENT) shall confirm the covenant with many for one week:(1X7=7 YEARS) and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease,(3 1/2 yrs in TEMPLE SACRIFICES STOPPED) and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.

ISAIAH 28:14-19 (THIS IS THE 7 YR TREATY COVENANT OF DANIEL 9:27)
14 Wherefore hear the word of the LORD, ye scornful men, that rule this people which is in Jerusalem.
15 Because ye have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with hell are we at agreement; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us: for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves:
16 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste.
17 Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet: and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding place.
18 And your covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with hell shall not stand; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then ye shall be trodden down by it.
19 From the time that it goeth forth it shall take you: for morning by morning shall it pass over, by day and by night: and it shall be a vexation only to understand the report.

Mediterranean union not for conflict resolution, Fuele says
VALENTINA POP 12.05.2010 @ 17:44 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - The Union for the Mediterranean is not a platform for solving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but a "project-oriented" club, EU neighbourhood commissioner Stefan Fuele said after Arab leaders threatened to boycott an upcoming summit if Israel's foreign minister participates as planned.The very idea of the Union for the Mediterranean is not to create another framework for political discussions trying to solve the existing conflicts, Mr Fuele said Wednesday (12 May) in a press briefing in Brussels on the EU's relations with its eastern and southern neighbours over the past five years.The Barcelona-based organisation is instead designed to be a: project-oriented union, where the secretariat led by Jordan's former EU ambassador is expected to put together ideas, investors, experts and to help stamp projects which will bring real benefits to the citizens of the region.The main focus of the Union for the Mediterranean is to deal with energy, security, counter-terrorism, immigration and trade issues. But all projects need to be approved by consensus among its 48 members, around half of which are EU countries.Launched by the French EU presidency in 2008, the Union was supposed to revive the looser regional co-operation framework dubbed the Barcelona process,which failed to achieve any major results since its creation in 1995. After Israel's bombing of the Gaza strip in the winter of 2008-2009, the establishment of the Union's secretariat was put on ice for roughly a year. The process was resumed this spring, with the Spanish EU presidency hoping to host the first summit since the Gaza war in Barcelona on 7 June.Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos is currently in the regio trying to boost support for the summit, Mr Fuele said, adding that he will also work his way through diplomatic contacts on the ground in a visit planned for the coming weeks.

Some 43 countries from the European Union and the states bordering the Mediterranean Sea - including Israel, Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria, as well as Jordan and the Palestinian Authority - have been invited to the June event.The Israeli-Palestinian row is threatening to derail proceedings however, as it already did in October 2009, when Arab states pulled out from a foreign ministers' meeting because Israel's hardline top diplomat Avigdor Lieberman announced his participation. Egypt and Syria recently announced they would boycott the Barcelona gathering if Mr Lieberman came. I intend to, and I will be there, Mr Lieberman told Israel Radio. We're not forcing ourselves on anyone and we're not forcing anyone else to come.Unlike his predecessor Benita Fererro-Waldner, a former Austrian minister who took a critical stance towards Israel during her mandate, making her to clash occasionally with the Czech EU presidency, Mr Fuele, a Czech diplomat, kept a more cautious line.Israel and Palestine are both our partners. We have a very ambitious action plan on Israel and are ready to advance relations as soon as there is a consensus among member states, he said, while adding that Brussels also envisaged upgrading relations with the Palestinian Authority, if member states agree.

Obama Wants to Give Barak $205 Million for Disputed Iron Dome
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu MAY 13,10

U.S. President Barack Obama said he will ask Congress to approve $205 million for the controversial Iron Dome anti-missile system that at least one expert has called a scam.The president’s move comes shortly after the return of Defense Minister Ehud Barak from a warm welcome in Washington and repeated hints at weakening the Likud’s dominance in the coalition.The Iron Dome system is touted to be able to stop rockets from Gaza and Lebanon, but by all accounts, it cannot intercept primitive and short-range Kassam rockets that explode within two miles of firing and within 20 seconds of detection.The missile program has faced budgetary obstacles in Israel, and the timing of the Pentagon announcement of President Obama’s request follows by several days Barak’s increasingly aggressive suggestions that the Netanyahu government needs to be widened.White House officials have denied that President Obama has been trying to undermine Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and cause his coalition to collapse in favor of Kadima leader Tzipi Livni. Three weeks ago, President Obama’s and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s extremely warm reception for Barak, with media profile, was in sharp contrast to the chilly greeting he gave Prime Minister Netanyahu less than two months ago. In an unusual diversion from protocol, the president did not host the Prime Minister for a lunch or dinner, did not hold a news conference and did not provide the media with opportunities for photographs.

Since Barak’s return, he has frankly stated at least twice that widening the coalition would help advance the process for creating a new country headed by the Palestinian Authority, a high priority issue for President Obama.American aid of $205 million for the Iron Dome program would be a political coup for Barak, whose Labor party has only 13 seats in the coalition.The Iron Dome system has passed several successful tests this year, but it has not been a high priority item for the IDF. Missile tests have proven that the system is effective against Katyusha rockets, and Barak has boasted the system will allow the IDF to fulfill its obligation to protect Israel in the best way that it can.However, he has made no mention of the system’s inability to defend Gaza Belt residents against Kassam rockets. Backing him is the commander of the Israel Air Force’s northern air defense division, who recently said, We cannot promise 100 percent hermetic defense, but what we can promise is that after years of rocket fire against Gaza-belt communities, there will now be an effective solution.Tel Aviv University professor and military analyst Reuven Pedatzur disagrees. He has harshly criticized the Iron Dome as being overly expensive and under-effective. “Considering the fact that each Iron Dome missile costs about $100,000 and each Kassam $5, all the Palestinians would need to do is build and launch a ton of rockets and hit our pocketbook, he recently stated at a conference organized to campaign against faulty defense systems. Prof. Pedatzur labeled the Iron Dome a scam and explained, The flight-time of a Kassam rocket to Sderot is 14 seconds, while the time the Iron Dome needs to identify a target and fire is something like 15 seconds. This means it can’t defend against anything fired from fewer than five kilometers; but it probably couldn’t defend against anything fired from 15 kilometers, either.The Iron Dome is being built by Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, who chief executive officer Yedidia Yaari and chairman Ilan Biran are long-time and close acquaintances of Barak. (IsraelNationalNews.com)

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 FRI MAY 14,2010

09:30 AM -1.43
10:00 AM -140.93
10:30 AM -132.47
11:00 AM -128.71
11:30 AM -194.61
12:00 PM -211.76
12:30 PM -199.22
01:00 PM -166.42
01:30 PM -193.10
02:00 PM -192.19
02:30 PM -203.75
03:00 PM -208.21
03:30 PM -240.56
04:00 PM -162.79 10,620.16

S&P 500 1135.68 -21.76

NASDAQ 2346.85 -47.51

GOLD 1,232.00 +2.80

OIL 71.90 -2.50

TSE 300 12,015.00 -101.60

CDNX 1593.11 -16.60

S&P/TSX/60 706.72 -5.16

MORNING,NEWS,STATS

YEAR TO DATE PERFORMANCE
Dow -61 points at 4 minutes of trading today.
Dow -240 points at low today.
Dow +3 points at high today so far.
GOLD opens at $1,245.50.OIL opens at $73.50 today.

AFTERNOON,NEWS,STATS
Dow -240 points at low today so far.
Dow +3 points at high today so far.

WRAPUP,NEWS,STATS
Dow -240 points at low today.
Dow +3 points at high today.

GOLD HITS ALLTIME HIGH $1,248.20

Submitting to International Treaties and the U.N. is Treasonous May 13,10 By Laurie Roth

The U.S. is a sovereign nation with our own laws, priorities and goals. We have no business signing or submitting to anything that the anti American and anti Semitic U.N. wants to control and get us to sign! Clear back in October, 1945 the U.N. was put together as a group of countries with seemingly high goals to support human rights and fair ball, dealing with economic and security issues internationally. However, over the years the alleged need solving spirit of the U.N. has turned into a largely, Islamic controlled, global elitist, anti American body of elitists. They act as an Islamically inspired, communist pimp and they think the U.S. is their stupid whore.They are most in love and committed to redistribution of wealth, socialism and cradle to grave control. We have seen the international take over plans attempting to suck the blood out of the U.S. with their environmental, global warming, international tax push, Rights of the child push, global control and regulation of guns push and now meddling with States rights and laws.

Environmental gun

Though the science doesn’t even pass the test to make it into Mad Magazine a sea of U.N. delegates (2600) were at the Climate Conference in Copenhagen testifying to how the world will come to an end without drastic intervention, namely, billions of dollars. They wanted money, time tables and big promises. Of course, our President was glad to comply. President Obama promised the U.S. would cut our dreaded greenhouse gas emissions by 17 percent by 2020 and 80 percent by 2050. Cap and Trade police, here we come.

Rights of the child gun

Sen. Boxer is urging along with Hillary, the Obama administration to sign onto the 20 year old U.N. convention on the Rights of a child. This push started in last year. The U.N. has been pressuring the U.S. to sign onto this along with Sen. Boxer. She says it is humiliating that the U.S. and Somalia are the only two left not to sign onto this. If we did sign this, the U.N. and International law would parent your children. It would be illegal to spank and use normally accepted discipline with your children. It would all be about the child’s rights and WANTS, even regarding the dangerous Internet. If you were a family who went to church together and one day your 10 year old declared he wasn’t going. You, as a parent wouldn’t have the right to make him go or have any consequences. Parents rights would be destroyed and completely controlled. The socialist/communist U.N. and this administration would be indoctrinating your child and parents would be the poser stand in puppets who would have to submit. This is an ongoing goal of the progressive left and Obama administration.

U.N. treaty of firearms, gun

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has announced a change in our Arms stance with the U.N. Now she states the Obama administration will support negotiations of an Arms Trade Treaty. This would allegedly control international gun trafficking. On the surface it sounds like we would all be working together to stop the bad guys but in truth this would be a dangerous submission to international governance and the beginning of bold steps toward private gun control laws passed by Congress. There is no mystery as to how Obama, his staff, czars and this leftist congress feel about guns. Just look at most of their records and statements. Many don’t even believe in the classic second amendment rights for citizens. Those refer to militias not individual rights to carry….bla bla bla. Obama and Hillary have declared that they will now sign onto this. This would trump our gun laws and rights and we would have to submit to the U.N. law since it was a Treaty. The Obama administration knows that and they plan to use every International and Treaty manipulation scheme they can.Obama is determined to come after our guns and avoid the political blood bath taking on the NRA, Gun Owners of America and other gun groups directly. A bill introduced by Rep. Bobby Rush (D) The Blair Holt Firearm Licensing and Record of Sale Act H.R. 45 in 2009 was planning to force us all to list guns on our taxes. There was much more draconian rubbish in this bill but it simply reflects the views of the messiah in power.

Attack on States Laws, gun

The U.N. didn’t waste any time weighing in on the new Arizona immigration law. You know the one that reflects word for word the 60 year old federal law already on the books that our Federal Government has not enforced.The U.N. is trying to trump the state law, crying basic human rights violations and profiling. They apparently think they have the power and right to nullify and stop this law somehow. This arrogant assumption flies into our air space as Attorney General Eric Holder says the Feds may sue over Arizona’s immigration law. They are all crying the same things, police state, profiling, racism and rights violations. I have just given you a few examples of the U.N. tentacles of control. Horrifyingly, this same philosophy has taken over our White House. Obama and the U.N. want the same thing it seems. That includes, complete control, then seizure of our guns, control of our children and parenting, control of what our schools teach, control of state sovereignty and eradication of national sovereignty, control of what kind of health care we get or don’t get, control of our accounts and control of speech and the media. Regardless of what President or party is in control, it is NEVER ok and totally treasonous to sign an international treaty, especially dealing with our gun rights, parental rights, states rights and laws, climate concerns based on bull rot, freedom of speech or any other criteria. It is time not only to kick this congress out on their arrogant ears but boldly throw Obama out at year 4!!!

Glenn Beck: Meet Maurice Strong
By Judi McLeod Thursday, May 13, 2010 CANADA FREE PRESS

Great job on shining the FOX flashlight on man-behind-the-curtain Maurice Strong last night.You asked for people to send you information on Strong.While the entire cable network world, thanks largely to The One Thing, now knows that Strong is on the Chicago Carbon Credit Exchange board of directors, it gets worse, much worse.
It’s true that Strong explained that he had only fantasized the end of the world in his now famous interview with a Canadian reporter. Unfortunately for the free world, the fantasy is Strong’s philosophy.As recently as 2006, speaking from an air conditioned boardroom somewhere in Communist China, Maurice Strong—the same man who would deny air conditioning for you to save the environment—was hatching his latest anti-American initiative.

Having cashed in his Kyoto credits and having launched his ManyOne Internet project from afar, Strong is back on the international scene, ready or not. With his latest comeback, the elusive Strong is stepping back into the limelight after his alleged links to the UN Oil-forFood scandal took him off the radar screen for more than a year. This comeback sees Strong teaming up in the biz world with George Soros. The deadly duo aims to flood the American market with cheap Chinese-made cars. (Strong & Soros in Business: A Partnership from Hell, CFP, June 15, 2006).Strong’s public predictions that China would replace the United States, as world superpower is not happening fast enough. So Strong and President George W. Bush malcontent George Soros are contemplating pouring hundreds of millions into a Communist China automaker that manufactures the Chery.So Strong and Soros were working on anti-American schemes as far back as 2006.They had hoped to decimate Ford, Chrysler and GM by flooding the U.S. market with cheapo Cherys on a 2007 deadline.Well, we now know what happened to the American auto industry in 2009.But it doesn’t even begin or stop there.Maurice Strong has almost as much impact on average Americans as the air that they breathe.All that President Barack Obama is doing to transform America and the Free World over to One World Government begins and ends with one Maurice Strong. Soros is merely the financier.Here, in his own words, is what Strong wants for the middle class: It is clear that current lifestyles and consumption patterns of the affluent middle class—involving high meat intake, consumption of large amounts of frozen and convenience foods, use of fossil fuels, appliances, home and work-place air-conditioning, and suburban housing—are not sustainable. A shift is necessary towards lifestyles less geared to environmentally damaging consumption patterns.(1992 Rio Earth Summit 11).

Strong’s portrayal as a Wizard Oz in a fog of ether was helped along by Canada’s state-owned, liberal and largest television network, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC)l The CBC 2004 special, The Life and Times of Maurice Strong, features a visit by Strong to former Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev who gives Strong a CBC-described glass saber full of the same brandy Stalin used to send Winston Churchill every week.It was in an admiring way that CBC reporter Ann-Marie MacDonald described Strong as a sort of cross between Rasputin and Machiavelli.You could say that it’s downright Machiavellian how Strong and Gorbachev consorted back in 1997 to replace the Ten Commandments with the UN Earth Charter.Although it defies belief, their jointly authored Earth Charter is carried around in a wooden chest called the Ark of Hope.The Ark of Hope is described as a magnificent large sycamore chest, which was conceived as a visual message of peace, sustainability and concern for the Earth.Gilt-covered and lavish in the looks department, the chest carries Temenos Earth masks. The 96 poles of the 200-lb. chest are unicorn horns which render evil ineffective.The Ark carries Gorby’s and Strong’s Earth Charter, an international peoples‘ treaty, need of which was foreseen and initiated at the Strong-led Rio Earth Summit in 1992. At last count, the Ark was being carried into New York classrooms.Now you know, Glenn why Strong is too busy to write novels. Besides, it must be so much more fun rewriting history.Lest you think CFP is pulling your leg, this is what Gorbachev has to say about the Earth Charter: The Ten Commandments are out of date. They will be replaced by the 18 principles of the Earth Charter.It is CFP’s belief that the way for The Messiah was cleared for Barack Obama by Maurice Strong and that Louis Farrakhan was right on the money when he said before he was elected, he (Obama) was selected.

So how does Maurice Strong get away with it? By relying on the media-hyped conspiracy theory charges. You know, those rednecks still waiting for the black helicopters.Meanwhile, when Glenn pulled the curtain back on International Man of Mystery Maurice Strong last night, he hit the motherlode.
MAURICE STRONG ARCHIVES
http://canadafreepress.com/maurice-strong.htm
DOUG HAGMANNS BLOGS-GREAT INVESTIGATER
http://theneinblog.blogspot.com/
http://douglashagmann.com/
http://homelandsecurityus.com/

McGuinty calls for Ontarians to sacrifice
By Arthur Weinreb Thursday, May 13, 2010 CANADA FREE PRESS

Premier Dalton McGuinty, one of if not the most prolific political liars in history, has finally come clean about how the Harmonized Sales Tax will affect Ontario residents. After months of denying the new tax will force taxpayers to fork over more of their hard earned money to him so he can squander it, he finally came out and told the truth. Too many studies showed that many residents of Ontario will be paying hundreds of dollars more in taxes when the HST fully kicks in on July 1. The name of the new tax is a lie. Having a harmonized tax implies that the current two taxes; the PST and GST will simply be added together. The new tax hit is sometimes referred to as a blended tax which again infers a simple melding together of two taxes with no other effect. The reality is, of course that it’s a brand new tax grab although to give the premier his due, it’s not the biggest tax hike since Dalton first came to office in 2003.The reality is that when the HST becomes effective, the cost of all goods that are presently exempt from provincial sales tax will increase by 8%. The big hit will come in services that are presently not taxed provincially. All services from car repairs to veterinary care for Fido and Fluffy will cost 8% more beginning in July. It became so obvious that even the guy who consistently promises not to raise taxes had to admit that pretty well everyone was going to have to pay more.

Having decided to tell the truth for once, Dalton had to come up with a way to make it palatable. He chose to do it by calling paying more to his already bloated government, a sacrifice. Just like harmonized means greater and spending means investing, Dalty uses word games in order to put one over on the unwashed masses. We all know that we invest our money to keep McGuinty’s Liberal Party appointees in their morning Timmys.The premier not only said that taxpayers had to sacrifice but he compared it to the sacrifices that fathers, grandfathers and great-grandfathers made. Although there is a debate whether he actually mentioned wars, the inference was clear. Much like previous generations sacrificed their lives, both figuratively and literally, we must now sacrifice by paying more money to McGuinty’s government so that he can spend it on such things as creating new offences for already illegal acts (stunt driving), creating new ones that have limited value (banning pit bulls) and properly educating the province’s children in the fine art of masturbation. This is somehow comparable to landing on the beach at Normandy.Judging from the letters to the editor and comments made on the Internet, a lot of people were upset at McGuinty when he dared to compare paying more in sales taxes with the sacrifices made during wartime. But just as those who bravely fought in previous wars, McGuinty is a product of his time. These days, people are not called upon to make sacrifices. Paying more for Fido’s rabies shots is just about it. Wars today only affect those who volunteer to make sacrifices and a small circle of friends and family. Through total pampering, today’s Ontarians are a bunch of wimps. And that’s the way the majority want it; if they didn’t, McGuinty would never have obtained a second majority government. He is a firm believer in the nanny state; there is no problem that anyone can have that is too small that cannot be taken care of by the government. If people were asked to make the type of sacrifices that past generations did, there would be riots in the streets but not on a scale that we see in Greece. Unlike BC that is implanting the same tax, there’s hardly a peep out of Ontarians.The scary thing is that Dalton McGuinty may really think that paying more taxes is a true sacrifice. This may be one of those rare occasions when Dalton McGuinty Jr. is actually telling the truth. And that says more about us than it does about the premier.

Conservatives: Strong Opposition to a 3rd Party; 92% Believe Obama is a Socialist/Marxist By Christian Newswire Thursday, May 13, 2010 CFPRESS

An Internet poll sponsored by Richard A. Viguerie, Chairman of ConservativeHQ.com, in conjunction with his recent article,From an old- school conservative, advice for the tea party,online, showed overwhelming opposition to a conversion of the Tea Party movement into a political party. The poll of 736 respondents showed only 11.8% thought the Tea Party should become a political party. President Obama is considered to be an extreme left wing radical by almost 92% of the poll respondents, with 46.5% labeling him a Marxist and 45.3% a socialist. Only 4.3% thought he was a liberal.

More than 70% considered themselves part of the Tea Party movement, and an additional 17% were conservatives but did not identify with the Tea Party cause. Eight percent said they were libertarians and 4.5% opted for none of the above.
Viguerie said the results were significant because it showed conservatives were not interested in splitting their votes. Republicans lost three Senate seats in 2008—Ted Stevens in Alaska, Norm Coleman in Minnesota, and Gordon Smith in Oregon—and two seats in 2006—Jim Talent in Missouri and Conrad Burns in Montana—because of conservative third-party candidates. If these five senators were still in office, there probably would have been no Stimulus Bill and no Obamacare. Conservative third parties almost certainly made these liberal legislative victories possible,” he said. In looking back on the Bush Administration and the Republican-controlled Congress, more than 77% said many conservative leaders got too close to the GOP and lost their independence and effectiveness. Only 13.5% disagreed.

The complete results of the poll are online here.

Richard A. Viguerie pioneered political direct mail and has been called one of the creators of the modern conservative movement(The Nation magazine) and one of the conservatives of the century (Washington Times). He is author of Conservatives Betrayed: How George W. Bush and Other Big Government Republicans Hijacked the Conservative Cause.

Estonia to join embattled eurozone next year
ANDREW WILLIS 12.05.2010 @ 16:08 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - Estonia is set to become the 17th country to join the euro area, after the European Commission on Wednesday (12 May) said its economy has met all the accession criteria. The decision comes at a time of unprecedented financial turmoil inside the single currency bloc, with market doubts over the public finances of several peripheral states causing the euro currency to sink to new lows versus the dollar last week and forcing politicians to hastily cobble together a massive €750 billion support fund for struggling governments. Announcing their decision on Estonia, senior EU officials in Brussels were quick to pounce on the imminent expansion as an indication of the currency's continuing appeal. Nobody wants to leave the euro, others our waiting to join,said commission President Jose Manuel Barroso. In terms of procedure, the commission's recommendation must now be accepted by EU leaders at a summit in June. EU finance ministers meeting in July must then give the final go-ahead before Estonia can join on 1 January 2011.

Commission approval is seen as the most crucial step, however.

The EU executive on Wednesday said that another eight countries are not yet ready to join the single currency. They are: Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Sweden. The UK and Denmark have a legal opt-out.Support for joining the eurozone has fallen in many of these countries as a result of the Greek debt crisis. In a survey carried out by the Warsaw School of Economics in April, only 42.2 percent of respondents supported Poland's entry into the euro zone, down from 55.2 percent a year ago. Despite not having a legal opt-out, Sweden has decided to indefinitely delay its eurozone entry. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk recently indicated that his country will do the same. Today I prefer to show a cautious stance. We will be following further developments in the south [of Europe] and will come back to the euro issue later, Mr Tusk said on 6 May.Estonian politicians and diplomats say that euro accession will bring the country considerable benefits. Our currency has been tied to the Deutsche Mark and then the euro since its creation in 1992, Kadri Uustal, the financial counsellor in the Estonian Permanent Representation to the EU, said on the status quo. So we don't have the flexibility of our own monetary policy but neither do we have the benefits of being in a bigger club.Estonia, with 1.3 million inhabitants, had initially hoped to join the euro in 2007, but was prevented from doing so by high inflation rates at the time.Now Tallinn's economic figures are the envy of other EU members. According to the latest EU estimates, the country's deficit will clock in at 2.4 percent of GDP this year, with its debt set to be a miniscule 9.6 percent of GDP.In contrast, the eurozone's average public deficit this year will be 6.6 percent of GDP, with average debt set to reach 84.7 percent.

EU budgetary proposals draw immediate rebuke
ANDREW WILLIS 12.05.2010 @ 18:33 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - European Commission proposals to step up economic co-ordination inside the European Union have drawn an immediate rebuke from Sweden, with Stockholm deeply unhappy over plans suggesting member states should scrutinise each others' national budgets ahead of national parliaments. Presenting the plans on Wednesday (12 May), senior officials from the Brussels-based executive body defended the controversial proposals, saying greater economic co-ordination was necessary to prevent future repetitions of the current debt crisis that has threatened to break apart the euro area. Member states should have the courage to say if they want an economic union or not. Because without it monetary union is not possible, commission president Jose Manuel Barroso told journalists. I am confident that member states are determined to follow suit on our proposals to reduce the risks resulting from our interdependence for the benefit of our citizens,he added. Despite the commission chief's confidence, the first criticism did not take long in coming. Speaking at a press conference in Stockholm, Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt said it was strange that countries with sound budgets should be scrutinised by their EU partners.

That this should concern all countries is something we find a little strange, he said, adding that the peer review system could perhaps be possible for [countries] with a budget policy that goes against the [EU] stability and growth pact.The pact limits EU government budget deficits to three percent of GDP and debt levels to 60 percent of GDP, but has suffered repeated breaches in recent years by the vast majority of EU states, leading investors to baulk at the rising debt piles of certain national capitals.

Under the commission communication, eurozone members could even find themselves outvoted on their national spending and revenue raising plans. The Eurogroup [of eurozone finance minsters] should have a crucial role to play in this new system of enhanced coordination and, where appropriate, have recourse to formal decision making as provided by the Lisbon Treaty,says the document, diplomatic language for qualified majority voting.

Toughening up the pact

Increasing the effectiveness of the EU's budgetary rules is the primary building block of the commission's proposals. Together with the controversial ex-ante peer review system of national budgets, a measure that could also go down badly with the newly elected Conservative coalition government in London, the communication also proposes that the pact be given extra teeth through the provision of tougher penalties for states that repeatedly break the rules. Runaway spenders could be issued with quicker warnings, forced to place capital in interest-bearing deposits, or suffer reduced payments from the EU budget, suggests the document. In theory, suspension of EU money for poorer regions, known as cohesion funds, can already be withheld under current rules, although EU states vary hugely in the money they receive under this heading. Broader and more timely use of EU budget expenditure as an incentive for compliance should be considered when discussions on the next financial framework [2014-2020] are being prepared,says the document.The aim should be to establish fair, timely and effective incentives for compliance with the stability and growth pact rules.Under the plans, greater emphasis would also be placed on member state debt levels, so that deficit cuts also ensure sufficient drops in national debt levels. Greece's debt levels are expected to rise this year, despite tough cuts.

Macroeconomic imbalances and a permanent crisis fund

Underlying macroeconomic imbalances between different member states have also been blamed for the current crisis, although last month saw Germany hit back at French suggestions it should boost domestic demand by increasing wages, a measure that would undoubtedly hurt the country's competitiveness. Under the plans, certain indicators such as labour unit costs, productivity, employment rates and current account levels would be compiled into scoreboards and also subject to further peer review. It is not to make the more competitive less competitive, insisted Mr Barroso,It is to make the less competitive more competitive.Finally the plans envisage the setting up of a permanent crisis mechanism along the lines of the agreement reached by EU leaders and finance ministers last week, as the €750 billion support mechanism expires after three years. In our view it is better to be safe than sorrow and prepare for worst case scenarios, said economy commissioner Olli Rehn.The ideas paper is up for discussion by EU finance ministers next week, with any concrete legislative proposals to follow later, depending on the response by member states.

MUSLIM NATIONS

EZEKIEL 38:1-12
1 And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
2 Son of man, set thy face against Gog,(RULER) the land of Magog,(RUSSIA) the chief prince of Meshech(MOSCOW)and Tubal,(TOBOLSK) and prophesy against him,
3 And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech(MOSCOW) and Tubal:
4 And I will turn thee back, and put hooks into thy jaws,(GOD FORCES THE RUSSIA-MUSLIMS TO MARCH) and I will bring thee forth, and all thine army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed with all sorts of armour, even a great company with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords:
5 Persia,(IRAN,IRAQ) Ethiopia, and Libya with them; all of them with shield and helmet:
6 Gomer,(GERMANY) and all his bands; the house of Togarmah (TURKEY)of the north quarters, and all his bands:(SUDAN,AFRICA) and many people with thee.
7 Be thou prepared, and prepare for thyself, thou, and all thy company that are assembled unto thee, and be thou a guard unto them.
8 After many days thou shalt be visited: in the latter years thou shalt come into the land that is brought back from the sword, and is gathered out of many people, against the mountains of Israel, which have been always waste: but it is brought forth out of the nations, and they shall dwell safely all of them.
9 Thou shalt ascend and come like a storm, thou shalt be like a cloud to cover the land, thou, and all thy bands, and many people with thee.(RUSSIA-EGYPT AND MUSLIMS)
10 Thus saith the Lord GOD; It shall also come to pass, that at the same time shall things come into thy mind, and thou shalt think an evil thought:
11 And thou shalt say, I will go up to the land of unwalled villages; I will go to them that are at rest, that dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates,
12 To take a spoil, and to take a prey; to turn thine hand upon the desolate places that are now inhabited, and upon the people that are gathered out of the nations, which have gotten cattle and goods, that dwell in the midst of the land.

ISAIAH 17:1
1 The burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap.

PSALMS 83:3-7
3 They (ARABS,MUSLIMS) have taken crafty counsel against thy people,(ISRAEL) and consulted against thy hidden ones.
4 They have said, Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance.
5 For they (MUSLIMS) have consulted together with one consent: they are confederate against thee:(TREATIES)
6 The tabernacles of Edom,(JORDAN) and the Ishmaelites;(ARABS) of Moab, PALESTINIANS,JORDAN) and the Hagarenes;(EGYPT)
7 Gebal,(HEZZBALLOH,LEBANON) and Ammon,(JORDAN) and Amalek;(SYRIA,ARABS,SINAI) the Philistines (PALESTINIANS) with the inhabitants of Tyre;(LEBANON)

DANIEL 11:40-43
40 And at the time of the end shall the king of the south( EGYPT) push at him:(EU DICTATOR IN ISRAEL) and the king of the north (RUSSIA AND MUSLIM HORDES OF EZEK 38+39) shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter into the countries, and shall overflow and pass over.
41 He shall enter also into the glorious land, and many countries shall be overthrown: but these shall escape out of his hand, even Edom, and Moab, and the chief of the children of Ammon.(JORDAN)
42 He shall stretch forth his hand also upon the countries: and the land of Egypt shall not escape.
43 But he shall have power over the treasures of gold and of silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt: and the Libyans and the Ethiopians shall be at his steps.

EZEKIEL 39:1-8
1 Therefore, thou son of man, prophesy against Gog,(LEADER OF RUSSIA) and say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech (MOSCOW) and Tubal: (TUBOLSK)
2 And I will turn thee back, and leave but the sixth part of thee, and will cause thee to come up from the north parts,(RUSSIA) and will bring thee upon the mountains of Israel:
3 And I will smite thy bow out of thy left hand, and will cause thine arrows to fall out of thy right hand.
4 Thou shalt fall upon the mountains of Israel, thou, and all thy bands,( ARABS) and the people that is with thee: I will give thee unto the ravenous birds of every sort, and to the beasts of the field to be devoured.
5 Thou shalt fall upon the open field: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord GOD.
6 And I will send a fire on Magog,(NUCLEAR BOMB) and among them that dwell carelessly in the isles: and they shall know that I am the LORD.
7 So will I make my holy name known in the midst of my people Israel; and I will not let them pollute my holy name any more: and the heathen shall know that I am the LORD, the Holy One in Israel.
8 Behold, it is come, and it is done, saith the Lord GOD; this is the day whereof I have spoken.

JOEL 2:3,20,30-31
3 A fire(NUCLEAR BOMB) devoureth before them;(RUSSIA-ARABS) and behind them a flame burneth: the land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; yea, and nothing shall escape them.
20 But I will remove far off from you the northern army,(RUSSIA,MUSLIMS) and will drive him into a land barren and desolate, with his face toward the east sea, and his hinder part toward the utmost sea, and his stink shall come up, and his ill savour shall come up, because he hath done great things.(SIBERIAN DESERT)
30 And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.(NUCLEAR BOMB)
31 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come.

THESE ARE FANTASTIC PEACE PARTNERS THESE ARABS WANT NO ISRAEL AND ALL MUSLIMS IN ISRAEL.UNFORTUNATELY FOR THESE ARABS-MUSLIMS THEIR CALIPHATE FADES OUT DUE TO ISRAEL NUKING THEM IN THE FUTURE.CALIPHATE THAT ARAB-MUSLIMS FOR COMING AGAINST GOD (KING JESUS) AND ISRAEL.TALK IS CHEAP ARABS,ISRAEL WILL TAKE ACTION WITH GODS HELP.

PSALMS 97:3
3 A fire goeth before him, and burneth up his enemies round about.

ZECHARIAH 14:12
12 And this shall be the plague wherewith the LORD will smite all the people that have fought against Jerusalem; Their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet, and their eyes shall consume away in their holes, and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth.

Arab MK: Replace Israel with Islamic Caliphate
by Maayana Miskin MAY 13,10

Israel should be integrated into an Islamic Caliphate, and Hamas and Hizbullah should be respected as legitimate political movements, according to Israeli-Arab MK Masoud Ganaim in an interview with the weekly paper Kul al-Arab, which is published in Israel. The interview was translated by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI).Ganaim explicitly said that he is opposed to Jewish statehood, stating that his Ra'am Ta'al party is against the Zionist movement and its racist ideas.If Israel is absorbed into an Islamic Caliphate, he said, Jews will be allowed to remain in the region.Ganaim (in left side of picture) is a member of the southern branch of the Islamic Movement, a branch of the Muslim Brotherhood.Regarding Jerusalem, which Ganaim referred to as occupied, the MK said that Arabs must be prepared to fight. Jerusalem and Al-Aksa [Mosque] are both in danger, he declared. He backed extremist Muslim leaders in saying that Israel is threatening the Al-Aksa Mosque and plans to rebuild the Temple.When asked if the struggle for Al-Aksa should be peaceful, the MK said Muslims must not relinquish any means.Ganaim expressed support for Hamas and Hizbullah, which both strive to destroy Israel. The Iran-Syria-Hizbullah axis represents the policy of resistance and non-capitulation, so naturally I am with this axis,he said when asked which side he would support in a battle between Iran and a handful of Arab nations.

Hizbullah is a model for a political party that assigns a special place to religious discourse, he continued. The world, Israeli included, should accept Hamas, Ganaim said. Hamas was voted into power in democratic elections, and Israel should “respect the will of the Palestinian people, he explained.Ganaim's interview comes on the heels of a dispute involving six other MKs from Israeli-Arab parties. MKs Ahmed Tibi, Mohammed Barakei, Taleb a-Sana, Haneen Zoabi, Jamal Zahalka and Afo Agbaria visited Libya. Following the visit, members of the coalition suggested that the Knesset strip the six of their parliamentary immunity. (IsraelNationalNews.com)

Opposition Leader Livni: Patriotism Today Means Two States
by Hillel Fendel MAY 13,10

Giving new meaning to the term patriotism, MK Tzipi Livni tells high school students that the charge of the hour is to support the establishment of a Palestinian state in Judea and Samaria.Livni met on Wednesday with seniors and juniors in the Charles E. Smith High School for the Arts in Jerusalem. She had harsh words for hareidi-religious Jews, and said that it is in Israel’s interest to give up parts of its national homeland.The two-state solution is a Jewish-Zionist-Israeli interest, said Livni, who served as Foreign Minister under Prime Minister Ehud Olmert from 2006 until 2009. It is this year’s patriotism. The day that the two-state solution is removed from the table, another program that we do not support, or a plan for one state – which will not be Jewish – will be offered. Only leaders who understand that can make order here.

Status Quo Can't Persist
Continuing her peace immediately outlook, Livni said, The price of no-solution is higher than the price of a solution. Some people are comfortable with the status quo, but there is no such animal. We are sitting on a volcano. We must solve the national conflict with the Palestinians before it becomes a religious conflict.I believe in the historic, Biblical, ethical rights of the Jewish Nation to all of the Land of Israel,said Livni, whose parents were active members of the pre-State nationalist Etzel organization, but I also believe in the Zionist vision. Therefore, I know that in order to guarantee Israel’s existence as a Jewish and democratic state, we will have to give up part of this land.

Dividing Jerusalem
As Foreign Minister, Livni headed Israel’s negotiating team with the PA throughout 2008, in which she apparently agreed – for the first time in Israel’s history – to divide Jerusalem and give up parts thereof. She negotiated the terms of UN Resolution 1701 that brought the Second Lebanon War to an end and hailed it as the solution to the hostility of Israel's northern neighbors, but that resolution has since been defied and ignored by the Lebanese, Syrians and Hizbullah.Negotiations are difficult, she told the high school students.There are interests that must be defended. I don’t want people to think that there is no chance for an agreement. I conducted talks with the Palestinians for nine months, and I think they should be resumed from where they left off. It’s possible to reach an agreement, as long as you go into the room not to set limits, but to set and promote the interests of the State of Israel.Livni also criticized the hareidi-religious public severely: Thanks to a bad governmental system, parties that represent hareidim impose their outlook on the majority… A situation has been created in which those who work, pay taxes and serve in the army carry on their backs, budgetarily, those who do not do this. We must find the common denominator in Israeli society… We must have a program for core issues in all schools, and military or national service for all.
(IsraelNationalNews.com)

STORMS HURRICANES-TORNADOES

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

Hurricane could worsen huge US oil spill: experts by Juan Castro Olivera – Wed May 12, 9:49 am ET

MIAMI (AFP) – The Gulf of Mexico oil spill could grow even more disastrous if the looming hurricane season churns up towering black waves and blasts beaches and crowded cities with oil-soaked gusts, experts warned.With just three weeks before the Atlantic hurricane season lurches into action, odds are more than 40 percent that a big storm could cross the giant spill gushing from beneath a ruptured well on the seabed.An April 20 blast sank the Deepwater Horizon offshore drilling platform, killing 11 workers and leaving its uncontrolled well to gush millions of gallons of oil into the gulf waters.Last month, forecasters who issue a closely watched Colorado State University seasonal forecast said there was a 44 percent chance a hurricane would enter the Gulf of Mexico in the next few months, far greater than the 30 percent historic average.The high winds may distribute oil over a wide area, said National Hurricane Center meteorologist Dennis Feltgen.What's more "storm surges may carry oil inland, mixed with hurricane debris, he added, presumably with environmental consequences.

The movement of the oil would depend much on the track of the hurricane, according to Feltgen, who said a hurricane passing to the west of the oil slick could drive a large volume of oil to the fragile coastline.Yet high winds and seas will mix and weather the oil, which helps accelerate the biodegradation process, he noted.Nick Shay, an expert in meteorology and physical oceanography at the University of Miami, said a number of unknown factors could also take place, such as how oil, seawater and hurricanes interact.It's a complex problem that really needs to be looked at in great detail to try to understand what the oceanic response is when you have an oil layer at the sea surface, he added.Having the oil slick on top of the water changes things, changes how fast things move around, but the point is the wind curve being encouraged by the hurricane, the waves, how the wind and oil interact.Researchers at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration are studying how an oil spill interacts with a hurricane, in a bid to determine whether it reliably weakens or strengthens the storm.Since storms are fueled in part by evaporation from the sea surface, if a sufficiently thick layer of oil weakens the process, the slick could actually help minimize the size of the storm, Feltgen ventured.The 2010 Atlantic hurricane season will be somewhat more active than the average, Colorado State University's top hurricane expert William Gray told AFP in February.He said there was a 49 percent chance a tropical storm would track close to Haiti this year.

Gray's team predicts between 11 and 16 tropical storms will form in the Atlantic this year, up from the average nine to 10.They expect six to eight of the storms will become full-fledged hurricanes, up from the five to six that usually gain the designation each year.The team forecasts up to five of those storms will become major hurricanes, reaching the top three categories on the Saffir-Simpson scale, producing wind speeds ranging from 111 to 155 miles (96 to 155 kilometers) per hour.
The chance that the Caribbean as a whole will be hit by a major hurricane is 58 percent -- above the normal 42 percent probability of the past century, according to their study conducted in December.

OZONE DEPLETION JUDGEMENT ON THE EARTH DUE TO SIN

ISAIAH 30:26-27
26 Moreover the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold, as the light of seven days, in the day that the LORD bindeth up the breach of his people, and healeth the stroke of their wound.
27 Behold, the name of the LORD cometh from far, burning with his anger, and the burden thereof is heavy: his lips are full of indignation, and his tongue as a devouring fire:

MATTHEW 24:21-22,29
21 For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.
22 And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake (ISRAELS SAKE) those days shall be shortened (Daylight hours shortened)
29 Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:

REVELATION 16:7-9
7 And I heard another out of the altar say, Even so, Lord God Almighty, true and righteous are thy judgments.
8 And the fourth angel poured out his vial upon the sun; and power was given unto him to scorch men with fire.
9 And men were scorched with great heat, and blasphemed the name of God, which hath power over these plagues: and they repented not to give him glory.

THE ONES COOKING IN THE FUTURE WILL BE ISRAEL,GOD(KING JESUS) HATERS.

Rising global temperatures cooking lots of lizards By RANDOLPH E. SCHMID, AP Science Writer – Thu May 13, 3:59 pm ET

WASHINGTON – Sometimes it can be too darn hot even for a lizard.Cold-blooded creatures that have to soak up the rays to get going might seem like the last animals you would expect to be threatened by global warming.Well, you would be wrong, researchers say.It turns out lizards are going extinct in many places, and scientists who have studied them say it's because of rising temperatures. The heats affects reproduction.The results were clear. These lizards need to bask in the sun to warm up, but if it gets too hot they have to retreat into the shade, and then they can't hunt for food, said Barry Sinervo of the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of California, Santa Cruz.He said he was stunned and saddened by the finding, reported in Friday's edition of the journal Science.This is an extinction alert for all areas of the globe and for all the various species of lizards, Sinervo said.Lizards are an important part of the food chain because they are major consumers of insects and in turn are eaten by birds, snakes and other animals.This is just the tip of the iceberg, Sinervo said. It heralds that we have entered a new age, the age of climate-forced extinctions. Extinctions are not in the future. They are happening now.In Mexico's Yucatan region, scientists found that the time lizards could be out foraging had disappeared. They would barely have been able to emerge to bask before having to retreat,Sinervo said.

Jack Sites, a biology professor at Brigham Young University, said high temperatures during the reproductive cycle prevent the animals from eating enough to have the energy to support a clutch of eggs or embryos.The heat doesn't kill them. They just don't reproduce, he said. It doesn't take too much of that and the population starts to crash.According to Sinervo, the extinctions are concentrated in what biologists call hot spots of biodiversity, where there are lots of species.This includes locations in Mexico, where a large number of species have evolved in the different volcanic mountain ranges. He said there also are massive extinctions occurring in the Amazonian Basin and equatorial Africa, though researchers don't know the magnitude because not all the species have been described from these areas.In Madagascar, the Indian Ocean island off the southeastern coast of Africa, the estimate is that one-fifth of all the local lizard populations are now extinct, Sinervo said. This will surely have driven some endemic species to the brink of extinction, if not over the precipice, he said in an interview via e-mail.Sinervo was doing field work in France when he noticed a decline among lizards. While resurveying areas that had been studied in the 1990s, it became clear that lizards were gone from some spots — levels of 30 percent extinction across southern Europe, for example.He and French researchers contacted colleagues around the world and found similar trends in the United States, Mexico and elsewhere.

I was surprised at how fast researchers began sending us data, he said.That's what happens though. When scientists see a problem, with global evidence backing it, they come together.Funders of the research included the National Geographic Society, University of California Institute for Mexico and the United States; University of California, Santa Cruz; U.S. National Science Foundation; University of Paris; University of Toulouse; National Council on Science and Technology of Mexico; National Scientific and Technical Research Council of Argentina; Academy of Finland; National Autonomous University of Mexico; American Museum of Natural History; Australian Research Council; and Brigham Young University. On the Net:
Science: http://www.sciencemag.org

Swipe this card; shopping could be cheaper By JIM KUHNHENN, Associated Press Writer - MAY 13,10

WASHINGTON – Striking at a lucrative bank business, the Senate on Thursday voted to force credit card companies to reduce fees for debit card transactions and permit merchants to offer customer discounts based on their payment method.The 64-33 vote inserted the fee requirement in a package of new financial rules the Senate is considering to ward off a repeat of the financial crisis.The vote was a major defeat for banks, which lobbied hard against it. But the measure attracted heavy bipartisan support and surpassed a 60-vote threshold for passage. Seventeen Republicans voted for the amendment; 10 Democrats voted against it.The measure from Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill., would force credit card companies to charge businesses less for debit card transactions than for credit card payments.Under current practice, a business that accepts major credit cards signs agreements with the card companies to pay a percentage of each transaction, usually about 2 percent to 3 percent. But credit card charges cost more to process than swipes with a debit card.The measure still needs to survive negotiations with the House, which has already passed its version of regulations on Wall Street. The House bill does not contain the debit card provision.

The change could represent the most direct and tangible consumer benefit of the regulatory overhaul and would amount to a triumph for Durbin, who failed to get a similar proposal attached to an overhaul of credit card regulations last year.Left alone, this is going to get worse for small businesses that face higher fees, for consumers who face higher prices, and for everyone but banks and credit card networks, Durbin said moments before the vote.The Electronic Payments Coalition, an industry group whose members include Visa, MasterCard and American Express, said the Durbin plan would harm many small banks and credit unions that already lose or barely break even in their card operations.The credit card companies said the change would force consumers to pay more for their cards and result in higher profits to large retailers. In a statement, MasterCard argued that similar regulations in Australia did not result in savings to retail customers.This amendment helps big merchants, but consumers will pay the price, MasterCard said.The Senate put off a vote on a contentious amendment to the regulatory bill. The amendment would place auto dealers that offer loans to car buyers outside the reach of a proposed consumer financial protection agency. President Barack Obama argued against the exemption Wednesday, but Democrats feared that even by requiring 60 votes to pass it, they would be unable to defeat it.The debit card issue pitted the politically popular appeals of small business owners against the influence of community banks and the lobbying power of the credit card companies.Durbin wants the Federal Reserve to ensure the fees that credit card companies charge for debit card use are proportional to the costs of processing the transaction.Durbin's measure requires that once merchants can pay lower fees for debit card purchases, they then would be able to offer discounts to their customers based on their method of payment. Merchants would be prohibited from placing minimum purchase requirements for the use of a debit card.In an effort to win more support and avoid community bank opposition, Durbin included an exception from the fee requirement for banks with assets of less than $10 billion. Durbin said even with that exception, his legislation would affect 65 percent of all card transactions in the United States.

Still, the Independent Community Bankers Association opposed the proposal, arguing that large retail merchants may choose to accept only the cheaper cards offered by large banks or that small banks will be forced to accept the lower fees big banks would receive.Retail groups countered that any reductions in fees would be passed on to consumers. Henry Armour, president and CEO of the National Association of Convenience Stores, said credit and debit card fees are the second biggest expense in his industry, behind labor costs. This is an issue that is not just a Main Street small business issue, this is an issue that affects in our industry 160 million consumers a day, Armour said. The vote came on a day when the Senate continued to move through the complexities of the far-reaching regulatory legislation. The debate was expected to extend into next week, with a handful of major issues still unresolved, including how to police complex and unregulated securities known as derivatives and how far to go in prohibiting commercial banks from engaging in speculative trades on their own accounts. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke waded into the derivatives debate, raising objections in a letter to a provision by Sen. Blanche Lincoln, D-Ark., that would require banks to spin off all their derivatives business into subsidiaries. Bernanke said the move would weaken regulation of derivatives. The Senate is not expected to take up that provision until after Lincoln's re-election primary contest Tuesday.

Oil falls below $74 amid signs demand may slacken By ALEX KENNEDY, Associated Press Writer - MAY 14,10

SINGAPORE – Oil prices fell below $74 a barrel Friday in Asia amid expectations a slower economic recovery in debt-saddled Europe will weigh on crude demand.Benchmark crude for June delivery was down 62 cents to $73.78 a barrel at midday Singapore time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The June contract dropped $1.25 to settle at $74.40.Crude prices have fallen about 15 percent from early last week as the dollar gained amid a debt crisis in Europe. A stronger dollar makes oil more expensive for investors with other currencies.The euro rose Friday to $1.2537 from $1.2519 on Thursday while the dollar gained slightly to 92.75 yen from 92.66.Oil traders have also been eyeing equity markets as an overall barometer of investor sentiment, and the Dow Jones industrial average fell 1.1 percent Thursday. Most Asian stock indices also dropped in early Friday trading.The price of oil is currently fighting a losing battle against the dollar and the equities markets, said Mike Sander of Sander Capital.Investors are concerned that fiscal austerity measures in countries such as Spain, Portugal and Greece will undermine economic growth and crude consumption.It looks like the euro zone economy is going to slow by quite a bit, not helping the overall global economy, nor that of crude oil demand, Sander said.In other Nymex trading in June contracts, heating oil rose 0.54 cent to $2.1645 a gallon, and gasoline was steady at $2.211 a gallon. Natural gas fell 2.1 cents to $4.263 per 1,000 cubic feet.In London, Brent crude was down 34 cents to $79.77 on the ICE futures exchange.

Portugal orders fiscal shock as Europe tackles debt
by Levi Fernandes - MAY 14,10

LISBON (AFP) – Portugal ordered deep wage and spending cuts along with higher taxes to slash the public deficit by more than half, as Spanish unions called strikes against public sector wage cuts.As governments stepped up their war on debt, German Chancellor Angela Merkel warned that the whole European Union would be under threat if the euro was allowed to fail in the debt crisis.The European single currency slumped to a new 14-month low at 1.2517 dollars on Thursday amid persistent concerns over the debt crisis. Global stock markets were mixed as more eurozone countries slashed spending.A late sell-off inflicted heavy losses on US stock markets, with investors spooked by news of a blast outside a prison in Greece and the specter of criminal charges against nine banks.The blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 113.96 points (1.05 percent) to 10,782.95.Just hours later, in Tokyo Friday, Japanese share prices opened lower, with the benchmark Nikkei-225 index losing 167.15 points, or 1.57 percent, to 10,453.40 in the first minutes of trading.After Greece's financial turmoil and debt downgrade to junk status, international attention has turned to Portugal and Spain, which have also had their debt ratings lowered.Portugal's Socialist Prime Minister Jose Socrates cut the wages of civil servants and public officials, including ministers, brought in a new profits tax and increased value added tax by one percentage point to 21 percent.

He vowed to reduce the national deficit from 9.4 percent in 2009 to 4.6 percent by the end of 2011 and said a new income tax surcharge of between one and 1.5 percent would be levied on higher earners.All these measures will remain in place until the end of 2011, Socrates told reporters.The government is also to freeze major public works such as a new Lisbon airport. Portuguese media called the government programme a fiscal shock and anticipated protests.As a eurozone member, Portugal must keep its annual public deficit under 3.0 percent of output. Its public debt, 76.6 percent of GDP last year, is projected to widen to 86 percent in 2010, beyond the 60 percent eurozone rule.Spain's Socialist Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero on Wednesday ordered a five percent pay cut for public workers, a partial freeze on pensions and the scrapping of a 2,500-euro-payout for new births as he seeks to save an extra 15 billion euros over two years.Spain announced a 50-billion-euro (63-billion-dollar) austerity package in January designed to slash the deficit to three percent by 2013 from 11.2 percent last year.

But the move infuriated unions and the UGT union called a civil service strike for June 2. The CCOO union has also threatened a strike. The UGT called for demonstrations May 20 when Zapatero's measures go before parliament.The Italian government is now considering a freeze on public sector salaries and new hiring, Il Sole 24 Ore newspaper reported. The government this week renewed a pledge to reduce Italy's public deficit from 5.3 percent last year to 2.7 percent in 2012.Britain's new centre-right coalition also started discussing the economy on Thursday. The government has promised an emergency budget in 50 days that will aim to start slashing public spending.New measures have been announced by governments on top of the 750-billion-euro (one-trillion-dollar) fund set up by the EU and International Monetary Fund to help debt-stricken eurozone countries. Many analysts say the euro remained under pressure, however, because of Greece's problems raising money and fears this could spread. Germany's Merkel warned that this was a threat to the whole of the EU. If the euro fails, it's not only the currency that fails but much more, it's Europe that fails and with it the idea of the European Union,Merkel said.

Merkel called the crisis the biggest test for the EU, possibly since the founding Rome Treaty in 1957, but that it should strengthen the bloc. We have a common currency but we don't have economic and political union, she said, adding that one day all European Union member states will have the euro as means of payment.
Australia's central bank warned that Europe's financial turmoil could pose a risk to Asian growth. Assistant governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia Phillip Lowe said: Despite the recent announcements having stabilised confidence in Europe, concerns about public finances could build again.

Wall Street firms that helped create recession under closer scrutiny By Greg Gordon, McClatchy Newspapers – Thu May 13, 6:54 pm ET

WASHINGTON — The Wall Street investment banks at the center of the subprime mortgage meltdown face broadening state and federal inquiries into whether they duped investors into buying dicey mortgage securities or manipulated ratings agencies into bestowing investment grades on those faulty products.The Justice Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission have expanded preliminary criminal inquiries into conduct by Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley to four other banks, a person who's familiar with the inquiry said Thursday, speaking on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter.The agencies have requested information from JPMorgan Chase , Citigroup Inc. , Deutsche Bank AG and UBS AG , and federal prosecutors have sought advice from Wall Street experts in complex securities to help unravel the banks' layered offshore deals, the person said.Meanwhile, New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo subpoenaed eight banks Wednesday to determine whether they'd deceived rating agencies into minimizing the securities' risks for investors, said a person knowledgeable about that inquiry, who's prohibited from discussing the matter publicly and therefore asked not to be identified. The rating agencies also are subjects of a Connecticut attorney general's suit accusing them of misleading investors and of federal inquiries into whether they engaged in deceptive practices.

Asked whether the rating agencies or the banks were at greater fault, the person familiar with the inquiry said that Cuomo's investigators are looking at the entire process to see what went wrong and when.Cuomo's office, which polices Wall Street under New York laws, is especially interested in the hiring by Goldman Sachs and other investment banks of key employees of major rating agencies who then helped to procure ratings, many of them of triple A stature, that attracted institutional investors. The agencies gave top ratings to hundreds of billions of dollars in securities, many of which later were downgraded to junk status.Those subpoenaed are Merrill Lynch , now owned by Charlotte, N.C. -based Bank of America Corp. ; Goldman Sachs ; Morgan Stanley ; Citigroup ; the Swiss banks UBS and Credit Suisse ; Germany -based Deutsche Bank and French bank Credit Agricole .Last October, McClatchy reported that Moody's and its ratings competitors sold out investors by compromising their standards while garnering huge fees to rate complex securities deals.The next month, McClatchy reported that Goldman began unloading tens of billions of dollars in mortgage securities as early as December 2006 while its traders secretly bet on a housing downturn. Legal experts have said that the firm's failure to disclose its contrary bets to investors could be a violation of securities law.The rapidly expanding investigations suggest a new determination among law enforcement agencies to hold accountable Wall Street executives and firms found to have engaged in illegal conduct that contributed significantly to the global financial crisis.A spokesman for Goldman Sachs , named in a civil fraud suit by the Securities and Exchange Commission last month, declined to comment on either inquiry.

Spokesmen for two of the banks now facing a preliminary Justice Department inquiry — Citigroup and UBS — also declined to comment. Deutsche Bank didn't immediately respond to requests for comment.Regarding Cuomo's inquiry, spokesman Bill Halldin of Bank of America/Merrill Lynch said the firm had received the subpoena and added: We're cooperating with the attorney general's office.Representatives of Citi, UBS and Credit Suisse said those firms also would cooperate by turning over subpoenaed documents to the New York attorney general. Morgan Stanley declined to comment. Credit Agricole couldn't be reached.JPMorgan , also identified in state and federal inquiries, didn't respond to requests for comment.The Wall Street Journal first reported the broadening of the preliminary Justice Department inquiry by the U.S. attorney in Manhattan , and The New York Times first reported Cuomo's New York state investigation.Cuomo's inquiry is focusing on whether investment banks fraudulently manipulated the model that rating firms, including Moody's Investors Service , Standard & Poor's and Fitch Ratings , used to evaluate pools of mortgage securities, the knowledgeable person said.Such manipulation could have created an unlevel playing field for the rating agencies and for investors, this person said. The attorney general's office also wants to know whether investment banks hired away rating agency specialists who then assisted in obtaining investment-quality ratings from their former employers. For example, Goldman hired a Fitch employee, Shin Yukawa, who helped assemble a bundle of securities known as Abacus-AC1 that's now the subject of the SEC suit against Goldman, according to the complaint. The SEC suit alleges that Goldman allowed a longtime client to stack the deal with highly risky mortgage securities and then to bet secretly on their default, reaping the investor $1 billion at the expense of two European banks. Goldman and one of his vice presidents cited individually in the suit have denied wrongdoing. It's unclear whether either investigation will lead to criminal indictments, requiring evidence that the companies or their investigators intended to mislead investors or others in a chain of profit extending from real estate agents to mortgage lenders, investment banks and rating agencies.( Kevin G. Hall contributed to this story.)

Canadian legislators grill BP over Arctic drilling By David Ljunggren – Thu May 13, 5:06 pm ET

OTTAWA (Reuters) – Exasperated Canadian legislators grilled the head of BP Plc Canadian unit on Thursday, concerned about the risks of the company's plans to drill in Arctic waters after the catastrophic Gulf of Mexico oil spill.But Anne Drinkwater, president of BP Canada, offered few answers at a hearing at Parliament's Standing Committee on Natural Resources on the safety of drilling in the Far North.

Drinkwater, who has also run BP operations in Indonesia, Angola and Norway, declined to answer technical questions and said she had not compared Canadian and U.S. drilling regulations, straining the credulity of some on the committee.You'd think coming to a hearing like this that British Petroleum would have as many answers as possible to assure the Canadian public. We got nothing today from them, said Nathan Cullen of the left-leaning New Democrats.I was very disappointed. I think British Petroleum is going to have to do a lot better job if they want to drill in Canadian waters, Cullen told reporters afterward.Larry Bagnell of the Liberals, after asking Drinkwater to compare regulations in Canada and the United States, said: I thought she didn't have answers to a lot of questions ... I was asking for a very simple answer.Critics say an oil blowout in the Canadian Arctic would be much worse than the current Gulf disaster, given the ice, severe weather conditions and the lack of infrastructure in one of the world's most remote regions.In 2008, BP paid C$1.2 billion ($1.8 billion) for rights to explore three parcels in Canada's Beaufort Sea, north of the Arctic Circle.

It has yet to announce plans to drill in the region but shortly before the U.S. disaster, BP and other oil companies urged Canadian regulators to drop a requirement stipulating that companies operating in the Arctic had to drill relief wells in the same season as the primary well.Cullen argued the companies had made this request because drilling a relief well within the required time limit would be too expensive, given the difficult Arctic conditions.It's not a question of cost, said Drinkwater.Your submission does say it's a question of cost. ... You cite money because you're concerned about money, retorted Cullen, reading from a BP document filed with the NEB, then listing recent disasters BP had been involved in.
Drinkwater -- who said BP was not rejecting the option of a relief well -- declined to answer reporters' questions following the hearing.Canadian governments and regulators are reassessing the country's preparedness for an offshore disaster following the April 20 explosion of Transocean Ltd's Deepwater Horizon drilling rig. The explosion killed 11 workers and triggered what could prove to be the worst U.S. oil spill if the crude keeps spewing unchecked into the Gulf.The National Energy Board, Canada's federal oil and gas regulator, launched a review of Arctic safety and environmental drilling requirements this week and canceled hearings into the relief well issue. NEB Chief Executive Gaetan Caron said it was too early to say what the review might conclude.Asked whether a similar accident could happen in the Arctic, Caron replied: No safety regulator can possibly say that an accident will never happen.

Provincial governments are also reviewing offshore drilling regulations. The government of Nova Scotia on Thursday extended a moratorium on oil and gas exploration on the Georges Bank, an important fishing region, by three years to the end of 2015.The government of Newfoundland is also launching a review of offshore safety practices, though it said it is satisfied with the current level of environmental protection practiced by the industry. Indeed, Chevron Corp earlier this week began drilling a deepwater well in the Orphan basin off the province. The Atlantic off Newfoundland is home to Canada's three producing oil projects. (Additional reporting by Scott Haggett)

Israel to ban fishing in the Sea of Galilee By GRANT SLATER, Associated Press Writer – Thu May 13, 3:40 pm ET

JERUSALEM – The Israeli government is echoing the words of Jesus with a new ban — asking the fishermen of the Sea of Galilee to cast aside their nets.Jesus appealed to the fishermen to drop their work and follow him. The Israelis, however, have a more mundane reason — officials say a decade of overfishing has left the aquatic population of the biblical body of water in danger.The fishing ban will be in effect for two years, but even afterward, no one is expecting modern times to follow biblical history, when Jesus directed fishermen to a spot where a multitude of fish nearly sank their boats.Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his Cabinet approved the ban last month. Oz Goffman of the Ministry of Agriculture said Thursday parliament must still approve the measure before it takes effect.Israeli officials and scientists who study the freshwater lake hope the ban will allow the population of St. Peter's fish, a local breed of tilapia popular with locals and tourists, as well as other species to regenerate their numbers.In announcing the moratorium, Netanyahu said fishermen would receive financial support while game officials restocked the freshwater lake in northern Israel.This worries me because I remember fishing there, and the fish were excellent, Netanyahu told his Cabinet on April 18.

Scientist Ilia Ostrovsky, who studies the lake and serves on the committee overseeing aquatic populations, said the fishermen of the Galilee began using nets with smaller and smaller mesh over the years, catching more small fish to match the tonnage of big fish they caught in decades past.The fishermen ... are sawing off the branch they are sitting on, he said.In recent years, up to 80 percent of fish pulled from the lake were under legal size limits, he said.The ban will bolster the population of fish in the lake, Ostrovsky said, but cautioned that it must be followed by more stringent enforcement of fishing laws.The ban will put 200 licensed fisherman out of work, but tourism is unlikely to be affected.Daniel Carmel, a worship boat operator for Christians tourists visiting the area, said he sympathized with his fishing neighbors on the shores of the sea but didn't fear for his livelihood.Paraphrasing a quote from the Bible, he said: I'm fishing for men, and they can't stop me from doing that.