PHARMA ON A CHIP GETS CLOSER

http://endoftheamericandream.com/archives/24-signs-that-we-are-getting-dangerously-close-to-a-major-war-in-the-middle-east

16 February 2012 Last updated at 15:21 ET Pharmacy on a chip gets closer Jonathan Amos By Jonathan Amos Science correspondent, BBC News, Vancouver-Implant device The clinical trial reports the working of the implant device in seven women from Denmark

The futuristic idea that microchips could be implanted under a patient's skin to control the release of drugs has taken another step forward.US scientists have been testing just such a device on women with the bone-wasting disease osteoporosis.The chip was inserted in their waist and activated by remote control.A clinical trial, reported in Science Translational Medicine, showed the chip could administer the correct doses and that there were no side effects.The innovation has also been discussed here at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).One of the designers, Prof Robert Langer from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), claimed the programmable nature of the device opened up fascinating new avenues for medicine.You could literally have a pharmacy on a chip, he said. This study used the device for the treatment of osteoporosis. However, there are many other applications where this type of microchip approach could improve treatment outcomes for patients, such as multiple sclerosis, vaccine delivery, for cancer treatment and for pain management.The work is described as the first in-human testing of a wirelessly controlled drug delivery microchip. The technology at its core has been in development for more than 15 years.

Programmed to dose

It sees the fingernail-sized chip connected to an array of tiny, individually sealed wells of a drug product - in this case, a parathyroid hormone, teriparatide, which is used to counter bone density loss. Fully packaged, the device is about the size of a heart pacemaker.The whole device is approximately 3cm by 5cm, and 1cm thick, explained co-author Dr Robert Farra.Like other medical implants, it's made out of biocompatible materials. It has a housing with the electronics on the inside, together with the microchips that contain the discrete doses of the hormone.The drug wells are capped by a thin membrane of platinum and titanium. A dose can only get out when a well membrane is broken, which is achieved through the application of a small electrical current.Start Quote Although it was a very small study, the findings are certainly exciting

Julia Thomson National Osteoporosis Society

The chip controls the timing, and because it is programmable, the dosages can be scheduled in advance or - as in the newly reported study - triggered remotely by a radio signal.When the microprocessor decides to pass current through a particular membrane, that membrane decomposes in about 25 microseconds, colleague Prof Michael Cima told BBC News.The drug is then available for pick up in the capillaries that surround the device to go into the bloodstream.The device was tested on seven women between ages of 65 and 70 from Denmark. In their paper, the scientists report that the implant delivered the drug teriparatide just as effectively as the injections pens that often used to administer such treatment, and that there were indications of improved bone formation (although drug efficacy was not formally assessed in the trial). Critically, no side effects were noticed.The innovation started out as a research project in MIT but is now being developed by a spin-off company, Microchips Inc.The firm is trying to scale up the system so that more doses can be included. In the trial, only 20 wells were present. Microchips Inc believes drug delivery devices containing hundreds of wells are possible.However, the team acknowledges that a marketable product is still at least five years away.

Clinical promise

Commenting on the research, John Watson, a professor of bioengineering at the University of California, San Diego, listed areas where improvements would be needed.
In the study, the device failed in one patient (an 8th patient, not included in their analysis), and the manufacturing process yielded only one device with all 20 reservoirs of drug, he said.Nevertheless, all doses present were released from the seven devices. Several years are still needed to bring this technology to approval by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and to the clinical promise reflected in this small study.Automated drug delivery systems are likely to prove popular with patients who currently have a daily regimen of self-administered injections. Julia Thomson, a nurse with the UK's National Osteoporosis Society, said such innovations could improve compliance among patients, some of whom will stop injecting because of the hassle.These implants form a new and novel approach to the way in which parathyroid hormone is administered, and although it was a very small study, the findings are certainly exciting,she said.The downside with parathyroid hormone has always been that women have to inject themselves on a daily basis so a new implant, like this, would certainly address compliance issues.Ultimately, say the Massachusetts researchers, one could envisage sensors being combined with chips that hold reservoirs of different kinds of drugs, creating a system which could adapt treatments in response to changing conditions in a patient's body.

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
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HALF HOUR DOW RESULTS TUE FEBRUARY 21,2012

09:30 AM +2.43
10:00 AM -4.16
10:30 AM +11.35
11:00 AM +43.25
11:30 AM +50.25
12:00 PM +37.12
12:30 PM +42.07
01:00 PM +41.14
01:30 PM +46.51
02:00 PM +33.61
02:30 PM +10.75
03:00 PM -14.00
03:30 PM -14.08
04:00 PM +15.82 12,965.69

S&P 500 1362.21 +0.98

NASDAQ 2948.57 -3.21

GOLD 1,757.60 +31.60

OIL 106.17 +2.07

TSE 300 12,623.36 +165.06

CDNX 1678.63 +20.48

S&P/TSX/60 718.04 +9.67

MORNING,NEWS,STATS

YEAR TO DATE PERFORMANCE
Dow +30 points at 4 minutes of trading today.
Dow -10 points at low today.
Dow +50 points at high today so far.
GOLD opens at $1,747.20.OIL opens at $104.51 today.

AFTERNOON,NEWS,STATS
Dow -14 points at low today so far.
Dow +50 points at high today so far.

WRAPUP,NEWS,STATS
Dow -14 points at low today.
Dow +50 points at high today.

GOLD ALLTIME HIGH $1,902.60 (NOT AT CLOSE)

Eurozone agrees to Greek bail-out, but doubts remain
Today FEB 21,12 @ 07:10 By Valentina Pop

BRUSSELS - After a 14-hour meeting eurozone finance ministers and bankers have agreed on a second bail-out package for Greece with extra supervision and an absolute priority on paying back its debts. But doubts remain on whether the country will avoid default.We have reached a far-reaching agreement on the new Greek programme with a very significant debt reduction. This will give Greece the time needed to follow a credible path of structural reforms and restore growth, Eurogroup chief Jean-Claude Juncker said at the end of the marathon meeting early Tuesday morning (21 February).The deal comprises loans to the tune of €130bn mainly from the eurozone bail-out fund (EFSF) - with a significant contribution from the International Monetary Fund to be decided in March. Following negotiations with bankers from the International Institute of Finance, Athens on Wednesday is set to launch a bond-swap offer for banks to take a 53.5 percent loss on their old Greek bonds.If this 'haircut' proves successful and all the structural reforms are implemented, eurozone ministers expect Greece's debt to be slashed from 160 percent to 120.5 percent of its gross domestic product by 2020. To achieve this target, extra help will come from national central banks foregoing their profits on Greek bonds and by lowering the interest rates on the first bail-out.As for Greece, further major efforts are expected to meet the ambitious, but realistic fiscal consolidation targets, under extra supervision by the EU commission and member states, the final statement of eurozone ministers reads. A special account, sealed off to Greek authorities, will be set up especially to guarantee that Greece pays back its debt. The Greek government also pledged to introduce a legal provision ensuring absolute priority to debt repayments, Juncker said.

However, a leaked EU-IMF analysis of Greece's debt developments in the coming years questions the feasibility of this programme.The Greek authorities may not be able to deliver structural reforms and policy adjustments at the pace envisioned in the baseline (scenario),the document reads, citing problems in convincing trade unions in accepting further wage flexibility and resistance from vested interests in going ahead with market liberalisation.Recession, an inefficient bureaucracy and high unemployment are also mentioned in the worst case scenario, which warns that Greece would have even less certain prospects of returning to markets in the next years.The debt trajectory is extremely sensitive to program delays, suggesting that the program could be accident prone, and calling into question sustainability,it says.

Asked about this analysis, IMF chief Christine Lagarde admitted that the new Greek programme is not an easy one and still bears downside risks.But she insisted that it could be done by focusing on the implementation of structural reforms and guaranteeing the political support of coalition leaders.Economists were sceptical this would work. The Greek programme remains fragile and vulnerable. Based on what we have seen today, Greece will almost certainly need another bailout,Sony Kapoor from Re-Define, a think tank, said in an emailed statement.

Eurozone ministers to decide on Greek bail-out
Today FEB 20,12 @ 09:28 By Valentina Pop

BRUSSELS - Eurozone finance ministers on Monday (20 February) are expected to decide on a second bail-out package for Greece, after weeks of delays and external pressure on local politicians to stick to the highly contested austerity programme after elections are held.Highlighting the importance of the occasion, Greek Prime Minister Lucas Papademos is also in Brussels with his office saying that today's meeting could take very important decisions for the country and require immediate and thorough consultation between the Prime Minister and minister of finance.Apart from seeking approval from eurozone countries and the International Monetary Fund on the €130bn bail-out, Papademos is also expected to hold talks with private creditors on a €100-billion debt relief deal.Greece is struggling to secure the rescue deal before a 20 March deadline when it has to repay €14.5bn worth of bonds.The parliament has already agreed on a €3.2bn package of highly unpopular spending cuts. The preceding parliamentary debate was accompanied by violent street protests and saw one far-right party leave the ruling coalition in the hope of boosting its popularity ahead of general elections due in April.Germany, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and Finland have in past weeks increased the pressure on political leaders to commit to the austerity measures no matter who wins the elections.

Berlin has meanwhile indicated it expects the deal to go through on Monday, after it made sure that several of its conditions are met: written pledges from coalition leaders and a special escrow account where bail-out money and Greek taxes will be earmarked for paying back the country's debtors.There is agreement within the Eurogroup that there will be such a special account, or escrow account in jargon, for the disbursement of the second aid package, German finance minister Wolfgang Schauble told German daily Tagesspiegel on Sunday.The account ensures a priority for debt reduction,he added.Two more pieces of legislation, including wage and pension cuts, are due to be passed on Monday through parliament, with some 3,000 people protesting the cuts on Sunday. Some protesters were injured in clashes with police and some 60 people were detained.

Draghi to attend meeting

The main outstanding issue for ministers to resolve on Monday is the bridging of a €6 billion gap in order to meet the target of reducing Greece's debt from 160 to 120 percent of gross domestic product by 2020. The current debt analysis suggests that a €130bn bail-out plus the envisaged €100bn debt reduction on the bond swap with private investors will bring the debt down to only 129 percent of GDP.One option would be for the European Central Bank and national central banks to step in by giving up their profits on the Greek bonds they hold. ECB chief Mario Draghi has already indicated he is open to this solution. He is expected to join the finance ministers on Monday.Another solution would be for the temporary eurozone bail-out fund (EFSF), which will lend most of the money, to ask for a lower interest rate on the bail-out.The more unlikely options are for the private investors to take a higher haircut or for governments to top up the €130 sum.The good news is that the gap is not so huge - a difference in 9 percent of GDP is close to the original figures, one EU diplomat told this website, adding he was cautiously optimistic about the deal being sealed tonight.

EU faces multiple trade wars defending green policies
Today FEB 21,12 9:46 By Nikolaj Nielsen

BRUSSELS - EU measures to cut CO2 emissions and improve the climate have sparked outrage in the global aviation industry and most recently in Canada, home to the world’s second largest fossil fuel reserves.The Guardian newspaper has revealed that the EU intends to label fuel from tar sands, which would include oil from the Canadian Alberta province, as highly polluting in a vote in an expert committee dealing with energy issues on Thursday (23 February). The label could render extraction and exploitation of the tar sands more difficult and more expensive.The move follows a decision by the European Commission in October to qualify tar sands as a quarter more CO2 polluting than crude oil. The EU executive is also preparing a draft bill that would require suppliers to reduce transport-fuel carbon emissions.

Canada’s ambassador to the EU and its oil minister has warned the new labelling may spark a trade war. A letter sent to EU commissioners in December stated Canada will not hesitate to defend its interests, including at the World Trade Organisation.
According to the Albertan government, the province ranks third after Saudi Arabia and Venezuela in terms of proven crude oil reserves and generated €2.8 billion in royalties from oil sands projects in 2011. As a whole, the industry was worth €8.6 billion in 2009 and employs some 140,000 people.The tar sands, a wide expanse of heavy molasses-like bitumen seeping to the surface in Canada’s western province of Alberta, is described by environmental groups as one that accelerates climate change and destroys surrounding communities.Both the Canadian and Albertan governments announced an oil sands research agreement last Thursday (16 February) that they claim would help reduce energy use and greenhouse gas emissions.

Aviation industry in Moscow

Separately, nations opposing the EU’s green tax on all airlines operating in Europe are meeting in Moscow on Tuesday (21 February) to discuss countermeasures.The Emissions Trade Scheme (ETS) was launched on 1 January this year and aims to help Europe achieve its goal of cutting emissions by 20 percent by 2020, with aviation accounting for about 3 percent of the EU's total greenhouse gases.The United States, China, India and Russia along with 22 countries oppose ETS which they claim is illegal and too expensive as it forces to airlines to help pay for pollution.On Monday, climate change commissioner Connie Hedegaard proposed that the disgruntled countries come up with another plan.We know what you don't like, but what's your constructive proposal for a global agreement on aviation? she posted on her Twitter account.Hedegaard quoted China Daily which said any attempt to launch “a full-scale trade war against the EU merely for the sake of China’s aviation industry interests” would be unwise.China is flat-out refusing to comply with the new rules and banned its airlines from increasing fees to absorb the tax in February. Beijing says Chinese airlines would have to pay an additional €97 million per year.The meeting in Moscow ends on Wednesday.

Berlin still against boosting eurozone firewall
20.02.12 @ 17:50 By Valentina Pop

BRUSSELS - Germany has indicated it remains against boosting the eurozone's bail-out funds, despite it being the expected quid pro quo after 24 other EU member states signed up to the Berlin-pushed 'fiscal compact treaty - but its position may change after a key vote in the Bundestag end of February.Eurozone finance ministers meeting in Brussels on Monday (20 February) are set to discuss the possibility of raising the ceilings of two bail-out funds, the temporary European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) and the upcoming permanent European Stability Mechanism (ESM).EU leaders in December agreed to come back to the issue on 1-2 March during a summit, pending the agreement on an inter-governmental treaty on fiscal discipline, demanded by Germany.EUobserver understands that Germany is still against expanding the funds and is saying it will maintain this position in March, arguing that market conditions have improved since December and there is no need to increase the funds' firepower.A compromise solution, as indicated by the German member of the European Central Bank, Joerg Asmussen, would be to scrap the provision capping their joint ceiling at €500bn. The EFSF - which was used in the Portuguese and Irish bail-outs and should be used for the second Greek aid package - would still have some €250bn left when the ESM comes into force, on 1 July.

In this way, we could reach €750 billion, Asmussen told the Financial Times Deutschland, noting the ECB would support this approach.Asmussen explained that it was very unlikely for emerging countries to agree to boost the resources of the International Monetary Fund at a meeting of G20 finance ministers later this month in Mexico City unless the eurozone signals it is willing to contribute first.Many non-European G20 states expect the Europeans to first build their own firewall and raise it, rather than other funds flowing into it again from outside Europe, Asmussen said.But even €750bn would be insufficient to stem the eurozone debt crisis, one economist said.The €750bn figure is more than €500bn and it would send a stronger message, but its still not sufficient, Carsten Brzeski from ING Bank told this website.He pointed out that it would take €1 trillion for Italy and Spain - the eurozone's third and fourth largest economies - to stay outside the markets if their borrowing costs reached bail-out territory.The German position may change after a key vote on 27 February when the second Greek bail-out will have to pass through the Bundestag, he added. It would be premature and overburdening national legislation to say here is the second Greek package plus we want to increase the EFSF/ESM ceiling, Brzeski said.This is also consistent with Germany's strategy of always postponing and taking baby steps when confronted with demands for more cash, he added.

CHINA AND KINGS OF THE EAST MARCH TO ISRAEL 2ND WAVE OF WW3

REVELATION 16:12
12 And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared.(THIS IS THE ATATURK DAM IN TURKEY,THEY CROSS OVER).

DANIEL 11:44 (2ND WAVE OF WW3)
44 But tidings out of the east(CHINA) and out of the north(RUSSIA, MUSLIMS WHATS LEFT FROM WAVE 1) shall trouble him:(EU DICTATOR IN ISRAEL) therefore he shall go forth with great fury to destroy, and utterly to make away many.( 1/3RD OF EARTHS POPULATION)

REVELATION 9:12-18
12 One woe is past; and, behold, there come two woes more hereafter.
13 And the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God,
14 Saying to the sixth angel which had the trumpet, Loose the four angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates.(IRAQ-SYRIA)
15 And the four angels were loosed, which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay the third part of men.(1/3 Earths Population die in WW 3 2ND WAVE)
16 And the number of the army of the horsemen were two hundred thousand thousand:(200 MILLION MAN ARMY FROM CHINA AND THE KINGS OF THE EAST) and I heard the number of them.
17 And thus I saw the horses in the vision, and them that sat on them, having breastplates of fire, and of jacinth, and brimstone: and the heads of the horses were as the heads of lions; and out of their mouths issued fire and smoke and brimstone.(NUCLEAR BOMBS)
18 By these three was the third part of men killed, by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths.(NUCLEAR BOMBS)

20 February 2012 Last updated at 04:05 ET
S Korea holds military drills despite North's threats

South Korean naval personnel go on a boat patrol near Yeonpyeongdo island as South Korean marines conduct live fire exercise on the island in Ongjin county, off Incheon, west of Seoul February 20, 2012 South Korea said the aim of the exercise was to test weapons.South Korea has held live-fire military drills from islands near disputed sea borders with the North, despite threats of retaliation from Pyongyang.
The drills, which North Korea has called premeditated military provocation, lasted two hours.There was no reported action from the North, which warned on Sunday that it would retaliate for any attacks.The drills took place in an area where four South Koreans were killed in 2010 in a North Korean artillery attack.Two civilians and two military personnel died in the November attack on Yeonpyeong Island, which lies west of the Korean Peninsula close to the disputed maritime border.In March 2010, a South Korean warship sank, with the loss of 46 lives, close to another island Baengnyeong.

Pyongyang admitted the attack on Yeonpyeong, saying it was provoked by South Korean military exercises, but has denied any role in the sinking of the warship.Residents on the islands were asked to go to underground shelters before the drills began.The aim of the exercise was to test our weapons at Marine Corps units on the Yellow Sea and also to maintain our military's combat readiness in the area, an official with the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) was quoted by Yonhap as saying.The North was notified of the exercise - the second this year - at the border truce village of Panmunjom on Sunday, the JCS said.A North Korean military officer later told the Associated Press news agency that North Koreans will dedicate their blood to defend their inviolable territory.The JCS said Pyongyang placed its armed forces on heightened alert during the drills, but had detected no unusual movement from north of the border.North and South Korea are, technically, still in a state of war. The two countries never signed a peace treaty after an armistice ended their 1950-1953 conflict.And tensions ran high following the death of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il two months ago.Mr Kim was succeeded by his youngest son, Kim Jong-un, and political observers are closely watching developments in the cross-border relationship.US and North Korean officials are due to meet in Beijing later this week to discuss Pyongyang's controversial nuclear programme.The talks, aimed at restarting negotiations over disarmament, will be the first since the death of Mr Kim in December 2011.

War? What War? Bloomberg Says Invest in Israel-Talk of war with Iran is nothing new for Israel, under threats since 1948, says Bloomberg. Israel one of world’s best investments.By Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu First Publish: 2/20/2012, 5:27 PM

The war talk about Iran is nothing new for Israel, under threats since its existence, reports Bloomberg News, which notes that the return on stocks in Israel the past 10 years was the highest of 24 benchmark indices in developed nations, including China and Norway, after taking factoring out volatility.The country is surrounded by enemies, it’s always on the edge of extinction, but it expands and prospers,retired hedge fund manager, Michael Steinhardt told the business news agency.Investors know that the past is no guarantee for the future, but Bloomberg noted that the Finance Ministry projects a 3.2 percent growth in gross domestic product this year, nearly three times the average for the Group of 10 developed countries.U.S.-based companies still have an appetite for Israel. IBM announced two weeks ago it is buying up Israel’s Worklight company, which provides mobile application platforms for smartphones and tablets.Earlier this year, Apple said it is buying Anovbit technologies, an Israeli firm that makes flash memory parts for iPhone and IPad.Warren Buffet, who paid $4 billion several years ago for an Israel metal tools company, has quipped, If you go to the Middle East and you’re looking for oil, skip [Israel]. If you’re going looking for brains, just stop at Israel. You don’t have to go anyplace else.The public fears repercussions of a war with Iran, but Bloomberg pointed out that the Tel Aviv stock market outperformed others even during the Second Lebanon War in 2006 and the three-week Operation Cast Lead counterterrorist campaign in Gaza in mid-winter of 2008-2009.It will take a lot more than a simple military action to keep the stock exchange from working,Gilad Alper, a Tel Aviv analyst said. The last full-scale war that we had here that involved huge parts of the economy was in 1973. Since then, everything has been relatively small.

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.

Israel Needs 100 Planes to Attack Iran’-Israel needs most of its air force to attack Iran but still lacks planes, analysts tell NY Times. Only the US strong enough to attack.By Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu First Publish: 2/20/2012, 11:43 AM

Israel would have to deploy most of its air force to attack Iran and still would lack planes, analysts told The New York Times in an article that may have been timed as part of an American campaign to talk down Israel from considering a military strike.The bottom line is that despite Israel’s superiority in surgical strikes, such as the attack on Iraq’s nuclear reactor in 1981 and on a Syrian nuclear facility under construction four years ago, Iran is another story. Israel does not have the capability to fly the distance to Iran nor does it have the arsenal that can damage Iran’s underground nuclear facilities, buried under concrete bunkers in mountainous areas, analysts told correspondent Elisabeth Bumiller.There’s only one superpower in the world that can carry this off, meaning the United States, said former U.S. Air Force intelligence official Lt. Gen David A. Depulta. Israel’s great on a selective strike here and there,he added.The article was published while Tom Donilon, President Barack Obama’s National Security Advisor, was in Jerusalem, where he spoke with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu Sunday. Details of their conversation were not released, but it is assumed his visit carried a message that Israel should back down from its hints that an aerial strike on Iran is imminent.

Donilon’s visit came one day after U.S. Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Martin E. Dempsey told CNN that an Israeli strike would be destabilizing.American officials have insisted that economic sanctions on Iran are working, and that it is only a matter of time before Tehran realizes it must change course in its nuclear development or face economic disaster. Israel is afraid that it is only a matter of time before Ahmadinejad will be able to have control of a nuclear warhead that can be launched on Israel.Previous scenarios of an Israel attack on Iran have indicated that it would take at least month to complete, possibly touching off a regional war and/or a punishing Iranian blockade of the Strait Of Hormuz, the passageway for a sizeable amount of the world’s oil and natural gas needs.American estimates of Israel’s lack of capability to carry out a successful strike on Iran are limited by the unknown factor of weapons or tactics that Israel may possess.Nevertheless, analysts’ conclusions, as reported in the Times, are that Israel would need refueling planes to enable its planes to reach Iran and return, a trip of 2,000 miles, and would need permission to use the air space of Jordan, Saudi Arabia or Iraq.Unless Israel has more re-fueling planes than is known, it does not have enough to support an aerial strike, according to defense consultant Scott Johnson. Since the refueling planes need additional fighter planes to guard them, he told Bumiller, The numbers [of planes] you need just skyrocket.They would require refueling supertankers to fly at the height of 50,000 feet, and the warplanes would need to knock out Iran’s radar systems to allow the craft to attack without encountering anti-missile fire.Even if Israel got that far, it still would lack the bombing power to penetrate nuclear facilities, such as the underground Natanz plan and the Fordo uranium enrichment site in the mountains.Israel has several American-made bunker buster bombs, but they are not thought to be powerful enough to do the job.

Where are the men of America? February 19, 2012 By Director Ticket price includes the full girlfriend experience By Douglas J. Hagmann, Director

What will it take for Americans to understand how perilously close we are to permanently losing our country and way of life? Where are the real men and where is the real American spirit? As a patriotic American who believes in the rights bestowed from our Creator and enumerated by our Constitution and Bill of Rights, I am calling on all men to take a stand and hold our elected officials accountable for their direct assault on our Constitution or their complicity in the same.If that makes me a domestic extremist by definition of Big Sis Janet Napolitano and the DHS, I enthusiastically embrace that description.The consequences of not fulfilling our duties as men, as Americans, and as protectors of our families and country will be more severe than anyone appears able to comprehend. The parallels between Nazi Germany under Hitler to present day America are frighteningly real, yet few men in America appear to be concerned.If we fail to take a stand now, what makes anyone think we will have that ability in the immediate future? If it is us who fail to act, what can we expect from a generation brainwashed by revisionist history and influenced by the progressive media? Under Hitler, freedoms and individual liberties were repressed, and all but the elite were dehumanized through totalitarian measures employed by a Big Brother police state. Socialism and social programs replaced individual choice and God and religious values were removed from public life. Individual liberty became lost amid the chaos of war and leadership.

If that sounds familiar, it should.Ticket price includes the full girlfriend experience

How can a real man stand idly by at an airport and allow his wife and children to be physically and legally violated? I’ve heard many explanations for our collective acquiescence to the TSA version of the full girlfriend experience, but they are nothing but poor excuses.If one flyer refuses to be violated before being allowed to fly, they will be handled by the TSA. If two, three or even four stood together, there would be a dust-up, likely to be reported by the progressive media as a few malcontents throwing a monkey wrench into an otherwise effective system of security. But if everyone said no more, not now, not ever and stood together in support of their rights, what would happen? We saw what would happen two years ago during the “opt-out” protest at airports across the U.S. The TSA stood down, albeit briefly, and the travelers were allowed to proceed with their rights and dignity intact. The agents of Nazification were unprepared to handle the unity of the people. Yet, despite this curtailment of invasive measures that violate our constitutional rights, the skies were free from terror incidents.The answer here is clear. We all need to stand together, to do this again, and continue permanently until our rights and our dignity is restored. Real men must rise to the challenge, regain the American spirit and take control over themselves, their families and their rights. Like schoolyard bullies, history has shown that the power elite are afraid of the people determined to restore our republic.

A surveillance state

Those who still hold a death grip on the right-left, democrat-republican model and the belief that the election of the GOP nominee will deliver us from the socialist state we have become, think again. The recent crafting and passage of the NDAA and similar legislation has the fingerprints of both parties all over it.The extreme majority of current lawmakers and appointed officials have turned us into a surveillance state, not unlike Germany under the Nazis. Both sides of the aisle are out of control. From mobile VIPR teams stopping drivers on highways while leaving a southern border wide open, to bureaucrats expelling God from our schools, revising history and outrageously snooping into our children’s lunches, it is time to end this madness. Real men must stand up for their families and demand the restoration of our personal rights and privacy.Everyone must understand that what we are experiencing today has nothing to do with security of our country. It’s all about control and conditioning a populace. Real men possessing the true American spirit will take a stand.

The price of crony capitalism & entitlements

Real men must expose and deal with crony capitalism wherever it exists, whichever side of the fictitious democrat-republican, right-left paradigm it exists. The perpetrators who have looted our national coffers must be identified as the thieves that they are and brought to justice.Real men of able body must also say no to entitlements, whether personal or corporate, and start rebuilding our nation. We must quit the handouts cold-turkey, suffer the economic detoxing like men, and in the spirit of our forefathers, start this nation anew.Entitlement programs have exploded under Obama, but we must remember that it is Congress that makes the laws that permit the expansion of these programs. While everyone is focused on the GOP nominee as the being the potential savior of our republic, few are willing to address how our democrat and republican lawmakers are signing off on the majority of Obama’s policies.The majority of people remain myopically ignorant that the right-left, democrat-republican paradigm still exists. One needs only to look at the mid-term elections when the republicans gained control of congress to realize that the difference is indeed an illusion, as illustrated by the actions of the newly elected. Otherwise, we would not be witnessing the continuing erosion of our constitutional rights by the very members supported and endorsed by the Tea Party and other organizations ostensibly favoring smaller government, less bureaucracy and fiscal responsibility.Few in congress want to trim entitlement programs for budgetary control purposes, for such programs are the very mechanisms used to control the masses. Even fewer want to end crony capitalism, as they are the benefactors of such fiscal immorality. But how many men are willing to stand up and say enough? Under Hitler, entitlements exploded to budget-breaking levels, where the fiscal irresponsibility was masked only by the dogs of war. Entitlements under Obama, signed off by the Tea Party backed lawmakers, have increased exponentially. Listen and you will hear the war drums beating once again.The price of entitlements is high: it is an exchange for freedom and liberty. Individually and as a country, we have been betrayed by our elected officials. Nearly all of them.

Real men please come forward

We need real men to stand up and say no more. No more police state, no more touching my son, wife, daughter, mother or anyone under the sham of security, no more crony capitalism, and no more tolerance of the agenda that is enslaving us. We must make it clear that we will no longer tolerate tyranny, fiscal irresponsibility, or fear brought on by illegal and unconstitutional government intrusion.In the words of Thomas Jefferson, resistance to tyranny is obedience to God.If the social and fiscal conservatives, the Tea Party and other groups cannot or will not stand up to all tyranny, then move aside as real men must. Then, and only then, will the tyrants stand down.

Showdown in Syria - Daniel Greenfield Monday, February 20, 2012 CANADA FREE PRESS

The architects of the Libyan disaster in France, the UK, the United States and Qatar have decided that Syria is the next step in replacing dictators with Muslim Brotherhood allied democratic parties. But no matter how eager they are to roll the Arab Spring forward with a month of bombing raids, this won’t be a relative cakewalk like Syria.Gaddafi isolated Libya through his own craziness and then his alliance with the West, which left him with no friends when Sarkozy, Cameron and Obama turned on him in the name of Arab Democracy. Assad is often described as isolated because the Arab League has taken a firm stand against him, but he has a firm ally in Iran, which has few options and is likely to do whatever it takes to keep him in power.
Next up is Russia, which has lost most of its Middle Eastern allies and doesn’t have that many options besides Syria, where it has a naval base and any number of secret and not so secret outposts. That will provide a pipeline of advanced technology, including the kind that can endanger NATO planes. While that isn’t likely to lead to any serious casualties, an attack on Syria will allow Russia to test out some of its latest technology against our aircraft. Just as Iraq provided a testing ground for some advanced Russian technology.And there’s one more catch. The wildly unpopular Russian government might just be itching for a small scale conflict, especially one with the United States. A few planes lost on both sides and the Russians can claim victory. It wouldn’t be a particularly smart move by Moscow from our point of view, but from the point of view of a government that only rules due to massive fraud and force, a heavy dose of patriotism for the motherland might be just what the spin doctor ordered. A direct confrontation between Russian and NATO planes would be a milestone for Russia’s recovery and a way to wash away the shame of Yugoslavia and Pristina Airport.

Even if the Russians don’t fly under their own colors, that doesn’t mean they won’t fly. The Israelis shot down plenty of Russian advisers who were flying as Syrians and Egyptians. Russia might be satisfied with counting coup and testing out some of their new hardware that way.The Arab League may be backing us, but that just means the expensive and useless Gulf Arab armies run by the cousins and nephews of the ruling elites, who can’t exactly be counted on to do much of the fighting. They can and will provide training and weapons to the so-called Free Syrian Army, as they did to the Libyan militias, but then again they have extensive experience arming and training terrorists.

The real determining factor is how much of the Syrian army still answers to Assad

The real determining factor is how much of the Syrian army still answers to Assad. If enough of it does, then Iran can supply Shiite militias and Revolutionary Guard troops as stopgaps for the defections. If it doesn’t and Iranian thugs and Russian military advisers would have to occupy Syria in order to salvage it, then the opposition will have won.The game plan for the Friends of Bombing Syria club will be a No Fly Zone, which neither Russia nor China is likely to vote for after the same maneuver was used for regime change in Libya. Unable to get a NFZ through the UN Security Council, NATO and the Arab League will likely to have to go outside the UN to declare one. The sort of thing that would have touched off outrage during the Bush era will get cheers for decisiveness in bypassing Russian obstructionism.If NATO and the Saudi League declare their own No Fly Zone, it will still be the United States and France doing the actual enforcing. Obama ducked out of Libya as quickly as he could, which mainly leaves the French. That was fine in Libya where the bombings were expensive but not very risky and there weren’t even all that many targets to bomb. French jets and US drones eventually got the job done in Libya. Syria won’t be quite that easy.A No Fly Zone will create a safe space for the Free Syrian Army, whatever that might be, to arm and train, and then take over the rest of the country. But that assumes Assad and his backers have learned nothing from the fall of Gaddafi. The odds are very good that the Libyan civil war has been studied in detail and every possible lesson wrung from it in Moscow and Damascus.Even without that, Libya was a cakewalk. Had Saddam been in Tripoli instead of the insane colonel, then there would have been some real atrocities. The key to understanding the future is to look at the past. For all the media hype, Gaddafi did not really have a history of mass murder. Assad Sr did. Assad Jr hasn’t properly gotten the chance, but Syrian generals and nearsighted optometrist’s backers in Tehran know how to shut down an uprising the hard way.

Syria has an extensive WMD program, it has nerve gas

Syria has an extensive WMD program, it has nerve gas and if things get bad, it may be willing to deploy chemical weapons against its enemies, the way its fellow Baath Party did across the border in Iraq. Those programs will be the first targets of NATO strikes, regardless of whatever the official statement about the No Fly Zone will be, but if the other side aren’t idiots, then finding those weapons will be as hard as it was in Iraq.And that’s the other shoe. Saddam developed and executed a plan to deal with an American invasion that involved building an insurgency and hiding away his deadlier toys.His partners in that plan were in Syria. The people suppressing the insurgency in Syria are the same ones who oversaw the insurgency against NATO in Iraq. There are mutual grudges on both sides, but the Syrians know how to play the other side of the board.Finally there’s one more explosive element. This isn’t the conflict between a dictator and his people that every media outlet is trying to present it as. This is a religious civil war between Alawites and Sunnis. The Alawites have slaughtered plenty of Sunnis and if the Sunnis win then the butcher’s bill will come due. As repugnant as the Syrian elite may be, they are not only fighting for power, but for the lives and futures of their families. And they may be willing to do things that the Libyan forces would be unprepared to do.

The likely scenario is still a No Fly Zone aiming at the destruction of the Syrian air force and much of the heavy stuff on the ground. This should be doable, but it will be more expensive than we envision. Even Libya managed to outlast Obama’s initial assessment by several months. Syria may take even longer unless a great deal of firepower is committed to the task.That could mean another indefinite conflict that ends in another Saddam scenario complete with sanctions and a permanent No Fly Zone. That could have been the outcome in Libya, it still might be the outcome in Syria with Sunni Islamists operating in a limited territory under our protection. If the Democrats screw up that badly and create their own Iraq, then they really will have come full circle.But assuming that Syria’s capabilities are significantly degraded, and that NATO aircraft safely prowl the sky taking out any remaining command and control centers and armor, then the conflict boils down to a straight civil war in which bands of insurgents on both sides do their best to butcher each other. Syria has some rather nasty special forces and its Baath elites have experience running insurgency operations against which NATO airpower will be mostly useless.That breaks down into Iraq, complete with both sides carrying out the kind of Sunni-Shiite terror that sent the country spiraling down into hell. And it’s hardly an implausible scenario. The basic elements of religious fanaticism, guerrilla experience and trainers on both sides are available. With NATO and Qatar providing training and strategy on one side, and Russia and Iran doing the same on the other, this could end up being worse than Iraq, except that American troops probably won’t be in the middle of it.

That raises the question of whose troops will be. The Arab League wants a joint UN Peacekeeping Force. That isn’t likely to happen except as a completely useless paperweight. A UN force would prevent NATO from implementing regime change and prevent the Assad regime from butchering its enemies, thereby serving no one’s purposes. More likely though the UN force would be absolutely useless at both these things and would stand and watch, while providing occasional targets for either or both sides.Turkey’s Islamist AKP thugs are raring to go, but a Turkish deployment might be too much even for the Arab League, which is on the same Islamist page as the AKP, but still might feel about uncomfortable about what might look like a Turkish conquest of Syria. Sarkozy might be dumb enough to commit French ground troops, but that would end up carrying its own price. Some joint Friends of Invading Syria force might be able to throw together the Turks, the French and the Saudis for a comic version of the Coalition of the Willing, to secure Free Syrian Army territory and dispense humanitarian aid. And on the other side of the line would be the Baathists who have some experience fighting occupation armies. The end result might not be very pretty at all.There is still an alternate scenario in which the Russians manage to trump NATO with some coalition of top Baathists and the Islamist opposition, while sidelining Western backed leaders, but that’s not too likely. For one thing the Russians aren’t really any better at this than us. They showed that in Afghanistan. For another this isn’t just about Russia, it’s about Iran and its own religious solidarity. The Alawites are useful for a number of reasons, most of them having to do with being an isolated minority. End the isolation and suddenly Syria wouldn’t make quite as good a pawn.That brings us to the showdown. NATO has become the arsenal of the Arab Spring, much as Al Jazeera has become its propaganda arm. But this time around the scenario is much more complex than a loony colonel with an army that couldn’t beat African militias. And there is no telling who will win or what the cost will be.

Why Pay to Read Lies? Newspapers in Decline - Alan Caruba Monday, February 20, 2012 CANADA FREE PRESS

The job I loved most in my long career as a writer was as a journalist, first on weekly newspapers and then on a daily. I loved breaking news, the deadlines, and the thrill of seeing my words in print. Old enough to remember Linotype, I even would set pages with the newly minted metal strips of text.The day The New York Times Jersey edition published a piece I wrote, I thought I had reached some magical place amongst my fellow journalists. What I had unknowingly reached was being published in a newspaper with a long history of printing lies and doing everything in its power to influence events through its news columns. That’s a no-no.In a long career as a public relations counselor I have counted many reporters and editors among my friends and still do. I have been a member of the Society of Professional Journalists since the 1970s.Sadly, journalism never did and probably still doesn’t pay salaries commensurate with the economy. So, in the words of Mae West, I used to be Snow White, but I drifted.In 1984, I founded The National Anxiety Center as a clearinghouse for information about scare campaigns that were designed to influence public opinion and policy. My primary concern was all the lies being told by self-identified environmentalists. Simply stated, if some Green group tells you something, get a second and third opinion. They are lying.

The worst of it that the media has taken their lies at face value and continue to pass them along to a public that is easily fooled and easily scared. This is especially true of official sources such as the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Energy, and others. All governments lie to their citizens and ours is no exception.The damage that Green lies do can get people killed. Since the publication of Rachel Carson’s The Silent Spring millions, particularly in Africa and subtropical nations have died from malaria because DDT was banned as the result of her book. Similarly, the least reported, but most current story is the deep freeze that has affected much of Europe and which has caused several hundred deaths.
Like a biblical punishment, newspapers are feeling the brunt of the changes the Internet has brought about. With search engines at our fingertips, anyone can research any topic of interest, often finding that what the daily newspaper or news magazine had to say about it is replete with omissions of critical facts or the deliberate dissemination of falsehoods.Then there’s the way the newspapers and other news media tend to focus on stories like the death and funeral of Whitney Houston or some local tragedy that briefly attracts national attention. Wars are usually reported in terms of casualties. Political campaigns are reduced to horse races. Religious and moral issues barely tolerated.Almost anything published about Islam must be read through the thin gauze of political correctness that ignores the menace of Islam to those living in Muslim nations and in nations where they gain a population foothold. It is a religion that sanctions stoning women to death, decapitating infidels, and even sending children into mine fields to clear them. It is pure barbarism and has zero tolerance for freedom of speech, the press, other religions, or independent thought.All of this has much to do with the decline of newspapers nationwide. In January, on the website of Editor& Publisher, Alan D. Mutter, a former editor who blogs at Newsosaur, wrote the Daily Paper Going the Way of the Milkman. That caught my eye because I am old enough to remember a horse-drawn milk wagon (it was during WWII) pulling up at the driveway of my home to make deliveries.

The thought that newspaper delivery will cease in many cities around the nation is disquieting, but circulation is plunging.The result is that reductions of newsroom staffs, reporters and editors, have been surging, with jobs eliminated in 2011 reaching nearly 30% more than the prior year. There have been five years of revenue declines. One blogger, Erica Smith, who follows the trends, estimated that 3,775+ newspaper jobs were eliminated in 2011.According to an annual survey by the American Society of News Editors, nearly one in three newsroom jobs have been eliminated since the number of journalists peaked at 56,900 in 1989. By the end of 2010, there were only 41,600 ink-stained wretches left on the industry’s payrolls.In recent weeks The Wall Street Journal reported Gannett’s Profit Drops 33% and Thompson Reuters Posts Loss.Putting aside why advertisers are seeking greener pastures and platforms to sell their goods, let me suggest that an underlying and largely unexplored reason for the declines being felt throughout traditional print journalism outlets is that people simply do not want to pay for lies every day between the horoscope, the crossword puzzle, and the obituary page.Lies? The print media and its broadcast counterpart fell totally in love with Barack Obama in 2008 and we ended up with a completely unknown and largely unvetted former Senator who hadn’t even served a full term there. People remember stuff like that.They remember years of unmitigated lies about global warming when there wasn’t any threat at all.
They remember being told that coffee was bad for you followed by stories that coffee is good for you.There are many factors at play in the decline of newspapers, but I think one factor is the general disenchantment with the product—the news—that too often tends to turn out to be false.